Coping Strategies used by Teachers and Students at Addis Ababa University

Abstract

Anxiety and language learning are highly interwoven. It is obvious that for many students language courses are the most anxiety-provoking courses they take (Kondo & Ying-Ling, 2004). This happened due to the fact that language classes are interactive and students are asked to reveal themselves in a way which seems to be very threatening. In view of this, it is imperative for teachers to understand the existence of anxiety in language classes and the coping strategies used by teachers and students. Thus, the objective of this study is to figure out the coping strategies employed by both students and teachers. The participants of the study were both teachers and students drawn from the English Department at Addis Ababa University. The study was completely qualitative and it used interview and focus group discussion for data collection. The results of the study portrayed that students used avoiding participation and shortening presentation as mechanisms to reduce anxiety whereas teachers employed strategies such as forming close proximity with students, grouping students, brainstorming, giving extra time, briefing about mistakes and making learning resources available to reduce anxiety. Furthermore, other coping strategies have been suggested based on the findings of the study.