The Relationship between Classmate Support and English Speaking Confidence of Eighth Grade Students

Mella Disa (Universitas Muhammadiyah Riau, Indonesia)
Qonaah Nuryan Arif (Universitas Muhammadiyah Riau, Indonesia)
Prih Febtiningsih (Universitas Muhammadiyah Riau, Indonesia)
Wandi Syahfutra (Universitas Muhammadiyah Riau, Indonesia)

ARMADA : Jurnal Penelitian Multidisiplin
Vol. 4 No. 9 (2026): ARMADA : Jurnal Penelitian Multidisplin, September 2026

Speaking confidence is an important psychological factor that influences students’ participation and performance in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning. One factor assumed to contribute to speaking confidence is peer support through emotional encouragement, academic assistance, and feedback during the learning process. This study aims to analyse the relationship between peer support and speaking confidence among eighth-grade students enrolled in an EFL programme at Jareeyatam Islam Foundation School, Satun, Thailand. The study employed a quantitative correlational design involving all 25 eighth-grade students through total sampling. Data were collected using two five-point Likert-scale questionnaires and analysed using descriptive statistics, the Shapiro-Wilk normality test, and Spearman’s Rank Correlation. The results showed that peer support (M = 76.92) and speaking confidence (M = 90.16) were at high levels. The analysis revealed a positive but weak relationship between peer support and speaking confidence (ρ = 0.299; p = 0.147 > 0.05), indicating that the relationship was not statistically significant. These findings suggest that speaking confidence is influenced by multiple factors, including motivation, speaking anxiety, instructional practices, and classroom environment.