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The current research aimed at the following:- Knowing the level of feeling of speaking anxiety among middle school students and the significance of the statistical differences according to the gender variable (male-female). And to identify the level of social interaction among middle school students and the significance of statistical differences according to the gender variable (male-female). Is there a relationship between speaking anxiety and social interaction among middle school students? The current research was limited to middle school students of both sexes in Anbar Governorate, Ramadi District. The researcher adopted the steps of the descriptive correlative approach. The current research community consisted of (63605) students and the sample was chosen by random method. The research sample consisted of (120) male and female students. To achieve the objectives of the research, the researcher built a scale for speaking anxiety and a scale for social interaction. After processing the data by appropriate statistical means. The results showed the following: 1.The level of feeling anxious about speaking is less than the average among the sample members, and there are no differences attributed to gender 2.The level of social interaction is higher than the average among the sample members, and there are differences in favor of males.

In the English as a Foreign Language EFL contexts from different settings, the issue of language learning anxiety has been extensively studies and investigated. However, in the Kurdish settings a few studies carried out about this issue, specially about speaking anxiety in English classes. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to investigate the level, major factor of foreign language speaking anxiety among the Kurdish EFL students and the students’ perspectives about foreign language speaking anxiety in the context of a university in Kurdistan. For achieving the study purpose, first year students (N=91) from English Department at a state university participated. The data regarding the level of EFL speaking anxiety gathered through administering a questionnaire (Foreign Language Anxiety Classroom Scale FLCAS) by (Horwitz et al. 1986), as well as through a semi-structured interview with the participants (N=18). The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics by using the SPSS software program (version 25), and the qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis. The results of the quantitative data illustrated that the students experienced a moderate level of EFL speaking anxiety, and the qualitative data confirmed the results whilst the participants perceived speaking as the most anxiety provoking factor. It was also found that fear of making mistakes, fear of negative evaluation, fear of speaking in front of others and immediate questions were as the major causes of the students’ speaking anxiety. This research contributes to the literature as it is the first to target FL speaking anxiety among Kurdish freshmen EFL learners.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness ofreaders theater in developing speaking skills of EFL secondary schoolstudents and reducing their speaking anxiety. The sample of the studyconsisted of fifty-five first year secondary school at El- Lozy SecondarySchool for girls in Damietta Governorate. The two group quasiexperimental design, based on pre-post, non- equivalent control groupdesign was used. The instruments of the study included a speaking skillstest, a speaking skills rubric, and a speaking anxiety scale. The results ofthe study revealed that readers theater significantly developed overallspeaking skills of EFL secondary school students and reduced theirspeaking anxiety. On the other hand, there were no statisticallysignificant differences concerning speaking sub skills: content, accuracy,and pronunciation.