Oral participation in class and statistical anxiety: Quantile model with affective learning and sociodemographic variables

Oral participation in class reflects academic engagement, but decreases when faced with challenging content such as statistics, which is often linked to student anxiety. This study modeled the relationship between anxiety about asking for help in statistics class and oral participation, considering the role of affective learning toward the content and the teacher, participation grades, and sociodemographic variables. Using quantile regression models, 721 Colombian students (383 women) in secondary school (42.7%) and high school (57.3%) were evaluated. The results showed that anxiety inhibits oral participation, while affection for the subject content stimulates it. Although no explicit moderating effects were found, the impact of anxiety varied according to the level of affect for the content. Grades did not encourage participation, which did differ according to gender and age. The findings highlight the importance of designing pedagogical strategies that include affective learning to reduce statistical anxiety and encourage class participation.