The Application of Communication Strategies by Students with Different Levels of Communication Apprehension in EFL Context

The purpose of this study is to examine different kinds of communication strategies employed by students with different levels of communication apprehension in Iranian EFL context. It also investigates which communication strategies are the most and the least frequent ones used by students with high and low levels of communication apprehension. The research participants watched a short visual story and then retold what they found out. The participants employed thirteen communicative strategies which were ranged from the most to the least frequent for both groups of EFL learners. In terms of the type and the frequency of communication strategies, the outcomes of research revealed that EFL learners with high level of communication apprehension employed a larger number of communicative strategies than EFL learners with low level of communication apprehension. Index Terms--EFL context, anxiety, language learning anxiety, communication apprehension, communication strategies