The Effects of Scaffolded and Unscaffolded Feedback on Speaking Anxiety and Self-efficacy

The main objective of this study was to check the comparative effects of scaffolded and unscaffolded feedback on EFL learners’ speaking anxiety and self-efficacy. The participants included a sample of 90 intermediate male English Language learners at Safir Language Institute in Tehran. They were selected out of a total number of 120 participants who took a standard PET test. The participants were in three groups; they were assigned randomly to two experimental groups and one control group. They were given questionnaires of speaking anxiety and speaking self-efficacy as pretests followed by 10 sessions of treatment using scaffolded feedback, unscaffolded feedback and no feedback. Then, they filled out the same questionnaires as posttests. The collected data were analyzed using the one-way ANCOVA procedure. It was observed that scaffolded feedback could reduce the amount of speaking anxiety, while increasing speaking self-efficacy. This was followed by unscaffolded feedback, which was presented through recast. These findings have theoretical implications for researchers and theoreticians as well as pedagogical implications for language teachers and learners.