Exploring the Impact of Socio-affective Learning Strategies on Test Anxiety of Iranian EFL Learners

In language learning context, students often experience anxiety when they are going to be evaluated, such as when they are taking a test or giving a public performance. When test anxiety is harsh, it can have outstanding negative effects on a student’s ability to carry on at an optimum level. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of socio-affective strategies on male and female high school students' test anxiety across different genders. The participants of the study were 100 EFL Iranian students, including 56 male and 44 female, aged 15-16. The students were selected randomly and divided into four groups. The experimental groups consisted of one male class and one female class. Likewise, the control groups included one male class and one female class. In experimental groups, the teacher used socio-affective strategies; however, in control groups, no socio-affective strategies were used. The results of the ANCOVA statistical analysis indicated that there is a significant difference between experimental and control groups in terms of level of anxiety. Another finding of the study revealed that the difference between test anxiety of male and female was significant. The results of this study might be of interest for practitioners, especially, material developers and teachers in terms of various input-oriented tasks enriched by socio-affective strategy-based tasks to increase learners’ autonomy and lower their test anxiety

کلیدواژه ها:

socio-affective strategies ، test anxiety ، gender