Журнал депрессии и тревоги
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Problem-Based Learning Affecting Learners’ Willingness to Communicate, Self-Efficacy and Classroom Anxiety

Abbas Ali Zarei

This study aims at investigating the effects of the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) approach on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ psychological factors of willingness to communicate, self-efficacy and classroom anxiety. According to Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and based on purposeful sampling method, ninety pre-intermediate EFL students were selected and grouped into three groups of online PBL, face-to-face PBL and control group with 30 learners in each. The students in both online PBL and face-to-face PBL classes were exposed to 10 sessions of teaching the speaking skill according to the framework of the PBL approach. Meanwhile, the control group received speaking instruction based on a conventional method other than the PBL. Three questionnaires of Willingness to Communicate (WTC), English self-efficacy and foreign language classroom anxiety scale were administered before and after the course to all the participants. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was employed to analyze the data. The results showed that EFL learners in the online and face-to-face PBL classes outperformed those in the control group in their Willingness to Communicate (WTC) and self-efficacy. In addition, learners in the online and face-to-face PBL groups meaningfully experienced a lower level of classroom anxiety compared with the control group.