From Anxiety to Oral Competence A Multi-Stage Mixed-Methods Evidence Synthesis of Self-Efficacy and Classroom Climate as Mediating Mechanisms in English Speaking Classrooms

The relationship between foreign language speaking anxiety and oral communication competence has conventionally been framed as a direct causal pathway, yet emerging theoretical frameworks posit that this association is substantially mediated by psychological and contextual variables. We conducted a multi-stage, mixed-methods evidence synthesis integrating four interconnected procedures: a scoping-level evidence matrix mapping AI ethics, epistemic justice, and Indian Knowledge Systems; a synthesis of web-based evidence on AI-driven pedagogical innovation and adaptive learning outcomes; a source-level extraction of hardware-software co-design evidence for 6G-enabled autonomous systems; and a knowledge-enhanced neural network and explainable AI method extraction. For the core investigation, linguistic self-efficacy and social self-efficacy were specified as parallel mediators linking speaking anxiety to oral communication competence, with classroom climate modeled as both mediator and moderator. Multilevel mediation and daily diary methods were then proposed to test whether climate strengthens reattribution-self-efficacy pathways. The synthesis yielded a recurring structural finding that technical optimization metrics are insufficient on their own and must be embedded within broader validity, equity, and accountability frameworks. Moreover, the functional analysis identified audience evaluation resilience and effort allocation mechanism as the most critical sub-components requiring improvement, with teacher feedback valence for anxiety reappraisal and dynamic reallocation of cognitive resources identified as the most critical missing functions. These findings establish a testable process model for classroom intervention that integrates attributional retraining, interoceptive awareness, and socially situated learning, hence providing a foundation for targeted instructional interventions that address proximal mechanisms rather than merely attempting to reduce anxiety directly.