La ansiedad y la tipología de las actividades orales en la clase de español como lengua extranjera

Abstract

Since the oral expression in a foreign language is known to be the most difficult communicative competence to master, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between anxiety and typology of activities for oral expression in Spanish as a foreign language. The analysed activities are designed to encourage the active role of students, especially their oral expression. They differ, however, in the level of anxiety they produce in students, depending on their age and language level. Different types of activities and dynamics needed for their execution provide a larger and more diverse spectre of activities but also enable the teacher to choose the activities that best address the needs of his/her students in order to overcome the anxiety and express themselves more fluently in Spanish. A much bigger emphasis must be placed on tasks and activities that include various dialogues, comments and conversations through which they develop into independent speakers well-equipped with different language strategies, tools and skills that enable efficient, fluent and accurate oral expression in Spanish.