Research on Alleviating College Students' Oral English Anxiety Based on Production-Oriented Approach (POA)

Abstract

This study employed a quasi-experimental design to systematically compare the effects of the Production-Oriented Approach (POA) versus traditional teaching methods on enhancing English speaking confidence and alleviating speaking anxiety among university students. One hundred non-English major undergraduates were randomly assigned to a control group (traditional teaching, n=50) and an experimental group (POA teaching, n=50). Using a pre-test/post-test design and speaking confidence scale data, the study employed independent samples t-tests, paired samples t-tests, and multi-dimensional statistical analysis to investigate the intervention effects. The results showed:1. Pre-intervention speaking confidence levels showed no significant difference between the groups (p > .05), confirming comparability. 2.Post-intervention, the POA group's speaking confidence mean score (81.52) was significantly higher than the traditional group's (67.92), with a highly significant difference (p < .001). 3. Both groups showed significant confidence gains from pre-test to post-test (p < .001), but the POA group's improvement (17.16 points) was significantly greater than the traditional group's (2.74 points). 4. Difference score analysis further validated the significantly greater improvement in the POA group (p < .001). The findings indicate that the POA teaching model, through its core mechanism of "output-driven, input-enabled" learning, effectively enhances learners' oral expression confidence and demonstrates significant advantages in alleviating speaking anxiety. This research provides empirical evidence for reforming English oral instruction, recommending the adoption of POA to improve pedagogical effectiveness.