Teachers’ Speaking Anxiety

Speaking is one of those stress-prone areas in learning and teaching a foreign language, and speaking anxiety is influenced by a host of factors. This study explored the predictor roles of age, self-efficacy, and teaching experience of Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers on their speaking anxiety. Furthermore, it examined the relationship between teachers’ gender and their level of self-efficacy and anxiety in speaking English. The participants of the research consisted of 109 male and female Iranian teachers teaching in different language institutes and public schools in three provinces of Iran. The Teacher Self-efficacy Scale developed by Bandura (1997) and the Public Speaking Anxiety Scale developed by Bartholomay and Houlihan (2016) were used in this research as the data collection instruments. The data were analyzed by SPSS software (Version 24) using regression and one-way ANOVA. The findings revealed that only self-efficacy was a predictor of speaking anxiety. Moreover, the participants’ level of self-efficacy and speaking anxiety did not change relying on their gender.