Communication Apprehension Among Senior Elementary School Students in Serbia

The primary aim of this research is to examine to what degree communication apprehension is present among senior elementary school students and to investigate whether levels of communication apprehension as reported by participants differ along various external and internal factors. A total of 267 participants attending the fifth, sixth and seventh grades of elementary school took part in the research. Communication apprehension was investigated with an 8-item foreign language communication apprehension scale and additional background questions concerning one internal and six external factors. The findings suggest that communication apprehension exists among elementary school students to a moderate degree and that there are statistically significant differences in terms of gender, final grade in English, final average grade, attending private lessons and a perceived importance of learning English.