Abstract
This study explores how the emotional climate of the classroom influences student speaking engagement in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) course at the university level. Although communicative teaching methods are widely used, many students remain reluctant to participate actively in speaking tasks, even when they have sufficient language proficiency. The research suggests that this reluctance may be connected not only to linguistic factors but also to the emotional atmosphere in the classroom. A short-term pilot experiment was conducted with 48 undergraduate students divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group experienced targeted strategies aimed at creating a supportive and psychologically safe environment, including delayed error correction, positive feedback, humor-based warm-ups, and cooperative peer interaction. The results showed a significant increase in voluntary participation and longer student responses in the experimental group. The findings demonstrate that emotional climate is a manageable pedagogical factor that can directly enhance students’ willingness to speak and engage more actively in EFL classrooms.References
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