The Effect of Communicative Language Teaching Strategies on the Reduction of the Speaking Anxiety in the Iraqi students in the Secondary School

The issue of Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety (FLSA) is devastating to the process of cultivating oral communication in students of Iraqi secondary schools and is not helped by the traditional, teacher-centered pedagogies. This was a mixed-methods research which assessed the effectiveness of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) interventions as a measure to help decrease this anxiety. Using the sequential explanatory design, the study utilized 320 students during a 16 weeks span. A statistically significant decrease in the levels of speaking anxiety was observed using quantitative data gathered through administrations of an adapted Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) before and after the interventions (t(319) = 15.42, p =.001t(319) = 15.42, p =.001, Cohen d =1.38d=1.38). The semi-structured interviews with 12 teachers and 20 students, and classroom observations revealed that there are three important mechanisms of this reduction: the establishment of a psychological safety net, a changed attitude to mistake correction, and an increased relevance of the tasks and self-efficacy. The combined analysis shows that CLT will be effective in reducing the affective filter since it creates a psychologically safe platform during oral practice. The research clarifies the exact processes by which CLT reduces speaking anxiety under a less studied condition and gives evidence-based recommendations that are culturally-contextualised and applicable to educators and policymakers. The results recommend the application of CLT concepts to English language instruction in Iraq and other exam-oriented environments to enhance linguistic and the well-being of learners.