Intermediate EFL Learners’ Shyness, Communication Apprehension, and the Accuracy/Fluency of Their Oral Performance

Achieving proportionate levels of accuracy and fluency in oral proficiency seems extremely far-fetched to many adult learners whose enthusiasm to learn through participation in communicative tasks is adversely influenced by aversive affective factors like shyness and communication apprehension (CA). The present correlational study explored Iranian English learners’ shyness and CA, and the accuracy and fluency of their task-based performance for any probable association. The research participants comprised a homogenous sample of 50 female learners from a pool of 70 intermediate learners. The revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale (RCBS) (Cheek, 1983), and Personal Report of Communication Apprehension-24 (McCroskey, 1982) were employed to measure the participants’ shyness and CA. A narrative picture-description task was used to elicit and record the participants’ oral performance. Further statistical analyses of the data verified that the group was within the shyness and apprehension range and that these features were negatively correlated with the fluency and accuracy of their speech. The findings underscore the need to help learners overcome these deterrent variables to enhance their disrupted and inaccurate performance. Pedagogical implications will be discussed in the paper.