Abstract

Speaking skills are an important element in gaining a place in one’s community. These skills are very valuable for children as they create their sense of self, try to acquire a social environment for themselves, and participate in social life, allowing them to be more successful, assertive, and self-confident. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between secondary school students’ self-efficacy in speaking and social anxiety levels. The research was carried out in Samsun, Turkey, with data collected from four different schools selected by a simple random sampling method. The sample of the study included 595 students who agreed to participate in the research and answered all questions. Data were collected using a sociodemographic data collection form, the Speaking Self-Efficacy Scale for Secondary School Children, and the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents. The findings revealed a significant correlation between speaking self-efficacy and the social anxiety levels of the participants. Simple regression analysis showed that the speaking self-efficacy levels of the participants explained 16% of the variance in social anxiety levels (F=113.243, p<0.001). A statistically significant weak inverse relationship was revealed between speaking self-efficacy and social anxiety. Accordingly, it may be beneficial to increase the activities for the development of speaking skills in educational institutions.

Keywords: Self-efficacy, Speaking self-efficacy, Social anxiety, Social skills, Speaking skills

References

  1. Ahmadi, S. (2020). Academic self-esteem, academic self-efficacy, and academic achievement: A path analysis. Journal of Forensic Psychology, 5(1), 155.
  2. Anaya, G. (1999). Accuracy of self-reported test scores. College and University, 75(2), 13-19.
  3. Angshana, B. (2020). An analysis on students’ reading behavior through extensive reading in drama class at sixth semester students of TBI IAIN Bengkulu academic year 2019/2020 (Doctoral dissertation). Bengkulu State Islamic Institute, Bengkulu.
  4. Aydın, A., & Sütçü, S. T. (2007). Ergenler için sosyal kaygı ölçeğinin (ESKÖ) geçerlik ve güvenirliğinin incelenmesi. Çocuk ve Gençlik Ruh Sağlığı Dergisi, 14(2), 79-89.
  5. Aysel, A. (2018). Investigation of secondary school students’ reading anxiety and academic self-efficacy beliefs in terms of various variables. International e-journal of Educational Studies, 2(3), 26-43.
  6. Barbot, B., Safont-Mottay, C., & Oubrayrie-Roussel, N. (2019). The multidimensional scale of self-esteem (EMES-16): Psychometric evaluation of a domain-specific measure of self-esteem for French-speaking adolescents. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 43(5), 436-446.
  7. Bariaud, F. (2006). Le Self-perception profile for adolescents (SPPA) de S. Harter. Un questionnaire multidimensionnel d’évaluation de soi. L'Orientation Scolaire et Professionnelle, 35(2), 282-295.
  8. Biemans, M., Halteren, A., Dijk, B., Rijckenberg, J., & Poortinga, R. (2008). We’ll stay in touch: intuitive communication means for social connectedness. In Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (pp. 179-186). Pittsburgh: ACM.
  9. Blöte, A. W., Kint, M. J., Miers, A. C., & Westenberg, P. M. (2009). The relation between public speaking anxiety and social anxiety: A review. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 23(3), 305-313.
  10. Blöte, A. W., Miers, A. C., Heyne, D. A., & Westenberg, P. M. (2015). Social anxiety and the school environment of adolescents. In K. Ranta, A. La Greca, L. J. Garcia-Lopez, & M. Marttunen (Eds.), Social anxiety and phobia in adolescents (pp. 151-181). Cham: Springer.
  11. Blum, R. W., Astone, N. M., Decker, M. R., & Mouli, V. C. (2014). A conceptual framework for early adolescence: a platform for research. International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 26(3), 321-331.
  12. Bowles, T. V. (2017). The focus of intervention for adolescent social anxiety: Communication skills or self-esteem. International Journal of School & Educational Psychology, 5(1), 14-25.
  13. Carroll, A., Houghton, S., Wood, R., Unsworth, K., Hattie, J., Gordon, L., & Bower, J. (2009). Self-efficacy and academic achievement in Australian high school students: The mediating effects of academic aspirations and delinquency. Journal of Adolescence, 32(4), 797-817.
  14. Cheung, P. P., Siu, A. M., & Brown, T. (2017). Measuring social skills of children and adolescents in a Chinese population: Preliminary evidence on the reliability and validity of the translated Chinese version of the social skills improvement System-Rating Scales (SSIS-RS-C). Research in Developmental Disabilities, 60, 187-197.
  15. Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94(1), 95-120.
  16. Desmaliza, D., & Septiani, T. (2017). Student’s self-efficacy and their speaking skill at lower secondary school. In International Conference on Education in Muslim Society (ICEMS 2017) (pp. 122-127). Atlantis Press.
  17. Dewi, N., & Jimmi, J. (2018). The correlation between vocabulary mastery and self-esteem on students’ speaking skill. Wanastra, 10(1), 78-83.
  18. Gosselin, J. T., & Maddux, J. E. (2003). Self-efficacy. In M. R. Leary, & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (pp. 218-238). New York: Guilford Press.
  19. Grigorenko, E. L., & O’Keefe, P. A. (2004). What do children do when they cannot go to school? In R. J. Sternberg, & E. L. Grigorenko (Eds.), Culture and competence: Contexts of life success (pp. 23-53). Washington: American Psychological Association.
  20. Gürsoy, E., & Karaca, N. (2018). The effect of speaking anxiety on speaking self-efficacy of children in a FLL context. International Journal of Language Academy, 6(3), 194-210.
  21. Hasırcı Aksoy, S., Arıcı, M. A., & Murat, K. A. N. (2021). Speaking Self-Efficacy scale development study for secondary school students. OPUS International Journal of Society Researches, 18(41), 3631-3653.
  22. Heslin, P. A., & Klehe, U. C. (2006). Self-efficacy. In S. G. Rogelberg (Ed.), Encyclopedia of industrial/organizational psychology (2nd ed., pp. 705-708). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
  23. Iancu, I., Bodner, E., & Ben-Zion, I. Z. (2015). Self esteem, dependency, self-efficacy and self-criticism in social anxiety disorder. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 58, 165-171.
  24. Jaffee, S. R., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Polo-Tomas, M., & Taylor, A. (2007). Individual, family, and neighborhood factors distinguish resilient from non-resilient maltreated children: A cumulative stressors model. Child Abuse & Neglect, 31(3), 231-253.
  25. Jazaieri, H., Morrison, A. S., Goldin, P. R., & Gross, J. J. (2015). The role of emotion and emotion regulation in social anxiety disorder. Current Psychiatry Reports, 17, 1-9.
  26. Khanlou, N. (2004). Influences on adolescent self-esteem in multicultural Canadian secondary schools. Public Health Nursing, 21(5), 404-411.
  27. Koç, M., & Dündar, A. (2018). Research on social anxiety level and communication skills of secondary school students. Asian Journal of Education and Training, 4(4), 257-265.
  28. La Greca, A. M., & Lopez, N. (1998). Social anxiety among adolescents: Linkages with peer relations and friendships. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 26(2), 83-94. doi:10.1023/a:1022684520514
  29. Lane, J., Lane, A. M., & Kyprianou, A. (2004). Self-efficacy, self-esteem and their impact on academic performance. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 32(3), 247-256.
  30. Lightsey Jr, O. R., Burke, M., Ervin, A., Henderson, D., & Yee, C. (2006). Generalized self-efficacy, self-esteem, and negative affect. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 38(1), 72.
  31. Little, S. G., Swangler, J., & Akin-Little, A. (2017). Defining social skills. In J. L. Matson (Ed.), Handbook of social behavior and skills in children (pp. 9-17). Cham: Springer.
  32. Liu, C., & Chung, K. K. H. (2022). Effects of fathers’ and mothers’ expectations and home literacy involvement on their children's cognitive–linguistic skills, vocabulary, and word reading. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 60, 1-12.
  33. Magnuson, K. (2007). Maternal education and children's academic achievement during middle childhood. Developmental Psychology, 43(6), 1497.
  34. Maharani, S. (2016). The use of puppet: Shifting speaking skills from the perspective of students’ self-esteem. Register Journal, 9(2), 170-186.
  35. McNeeley, C., & Blanchard, J. (2010). The teen years explained: A guide to healthy adolescent development. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
  36. Mehta, C. R., & Patel, N. R. (2011). IBM SPSS exact tests. Armonk: IBM Corp.
  37. Morrison, A. S., & Heimberg, R. G. (2013). Social anxiety and social anxiety disorder. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 9, 249-274.
  38. Oettingen, G., & Hagenah, M. (2005). Fantasies and the self-regulation of competence. In A. J. Elliot & C. S. Dweck (Eds.), Handbook of Competence and Motivation (pp. 647-665). New York: Guilford Press.
  39. Phan, H. P. (2012). Relationship between informational sources, self-efficacy, and academic achievement: A developmental approach. Educational Psychology, 32(1), 81-105.
  40. Porter, K., Smart, S., Hennessey, N., & Cocks, N. (2024). Chewing skills in two and three year old children: Gender and age comparisons on an adapted version of the Test of Mastication and Swallowing (TOMASS-C). International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 26(1), 38-44.
  41. Reed, V. A., McLeod, K., & McAllister, L. (1999). Importance of selected communication skills for talking with peers and teachers: Adolescents’ opinions. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 30(1), 32-49.
  42. Rudy, B. M., Davis, T. E. 3rd, & Matthews, R. A. (2012). The relationship among self-efficacy, negative self-referent cognitions, and social anxiety in children: A multiple mediator model. Behavior Therapy, 43(3), 619-628.
  43. Schmidt, L. A., Poole, K. L., Hassan, R., & Willoughby, T. (2022). Frontal EEG alpha-delta ratio and social anxiety across early adolescence. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 175, 1-7.
  44. Singh, L., Yeung, W. J. J., Cheng, Q., & Heng, E. Y. T. (2023). The home literacy environment mediates the effects of socioeconomic status on infant vocabulary development. Developmental Science, 26(4), e13349.
  45. Sirin, S. R. (2005). Socioeconomic status and academic achievement: A meta-analytic review of research. Review of Educational Research, 75(3), 417-453.
  46. Spear, L. (2010). The behavioral neuroscience of adolescence. London: W. W. Norton.
  47. Stein, M. B., & Stein, D. J. (2008). Social anxiety disorder. Lancet, 371(9618), 1115-1125.
  48. Şahin, E., Barut, Y., & Ersanlı, E. (2013). Parental education level positive affects self-esteem of Turkish adolescents. Journal of Education and Practice, 4(20), 87-97.
  49. Vahab, M., Shahim, S., Oryadizanjani, M. M., Jafari, S., & Faham, M. (2012). The relationship of expressive language development and social skills in 4-6-year-old Persian-speaking children. Audiology, 21(4), 28-36.
  50. Willemse, M. (2008). Exploring the relationship between self-efficacy and aggression in a group of adolescents in the peri-urban town of Worcester (Doctoral dissertation). Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch.

Copyright and license

Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

How to cite

Sezin, R., & Sal, S. (2025). Evaluation of Speaking Self-Efficacy and Social Anxiety in Secondary School Students. Education and Science, 50(222), 129-139. https://doi.org/10.15390/EB.2025.13011