Teaching Anxiety Iceberg Disclosed: Discerning Anxiety Provoking Factors Among Algerian Efl Pre-service Teachers

Quality of teachers mirrors and impacts the potential of educational systems. Along with teaching, significant challenges, duties, and responsibilities are channeled invoking teaching anxiety. The latter threatens the effectiveness of teachers. This study purported to determine the level of anxiety undergone by pre-service teachers and its provoking factors. The investigation was descriptive entailing a mixed methods approach. 79 pre-service teachers were conveniently selected in the Department of English Language and Literature at Setif 2 university, Algeria. Foreign Language Pre-service Teacher Anxiety Scale and retrospective essays were used to gather quantitative and qualitative data respectively. Results have demonstrated that pre-service teachers undergo high levels of anxiety. The factors from which anxiety stems were revealed encompassing classroom pedagogy, class control, relationships, evaluation, personality factors, lesson preparation and presentation, and lack of knowhow. It is recommended to alleviate pre-service teachers' anxiety, review teacher qualifying, certifying procedures, and education programs.