The effect of literature circle application on the speaking anxiety of fourth grade primary education students

This study was designed to investigate the impact of implementing literature circles on the speaking anxiety experienced by fourth-grade primary school students. Executed in a quasi-experimental framework, the study employed a pre-test and post-test control group design. The sample comprised fourth-grade students from two distinct public schools located in the urban area of Düzce during the 2021-2022 academic year. The research engaged a total of 14 participants, segmented into an experimental group of eight students and a control group of six students. The investigation spanned a period of 12 weeks, incorporating both pre-test and post-test evaluations. Prior to the intervention, the comparability of the experimental and control groups was rigorously assessed using appropriate statistical tests, confirming their equivalence. Following a 10-week period of literature circle sessions, both groups underwent post-test assessments. The Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was applied to analyze the pre-test and post-test scores within the experimental group, as well as between the experimental and control groups. The findings revealed a statistically significant improvement in the post-test scores of the experimental group when compared to their pre-test scores, indicating a reduction in speaking anxiety. Conversely, the control group did not exhibit a significant difference between their pre-test and post-test scores. These outcomes suggest that the literature circle intervention positively influenced the speaking anxiety of the fourth-grade participants. Consequently, the research supports the efficacy of literature circle applications in mitigating speaking anxiety among primary school students.