The Effect of a Two-Week Study Abroad Program on Speaking Fluency and the Relationship Among Fluency, English Use Anxiety, and English Classroom Anxiety

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of attending a two-week study abroad program on speaking fluency, English use anxiety (EUA), and English classroom anxiety (ECA) and also the relationship among fluency, EUA, and ECA. Participants of this study were 24 2nd and 3rd year students at a national college of technology who participated in two-week Sydney Study Abroad Program and Rotorua Study Abroad Program. In order to examine how participants change their English speaking fluency, an oral interaction task in a group of three was administered as a pre-test and post-test before and after the study abroad program. Also, questionnaire of EUA and ECA were conducted as a pre-test and a post-test before and after the programs. The results of the oral interaction task showed that the participants improved their fluency in terms of temporal variables but not hesitation phenomena. The result of anxiety questionnaire indicated that they reduced their anxiety by attending the study abroad program. Although the participants' fluency improved and their anxiety decreased, there was no definite relationship among fluency, EUA, and ECA.