RATIONALE
Learning a second language seems to be exciting for many people while others struggle and even fail to achieve their desired level of language proficiency It is believed that second language acquisition (SLA) is determined and affected by many different factors Since the ground- breaking research of the Canadian psychologists R.C Gardner and Wallace Lambert about attitudes and motivation in second language learning in the 1970s, SLA researchers have also considered affective or emotional variables and how these factors may facilitate or hinder language acquisition (Horwitz, Tallon, & Luo, 2010, p 95) Among various affective variables like attitude, anxiety, interest, motivation, inhibition, and self- esteem, “anxiety is quite possibly the affective factor that most pervasively obstructs the learning process” (Arnold & Brown, 1999, cited in Dornyei, 2005, p
198) As a result, Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) has been gradually becoming the research focus and interest of many language professionals as well as educators
They have provided detailed understanding of FLA from different aspects: theoretical models and frameworks of FLA (e.g., Tobias, 1977; Horwitz et al., 1991; MacIntyre & Garner, 1994a, 1994b); sources and characteristics of FLA (e.g., Horwitz,1988; Koch & Terrell,1991; Young 1991); FLA effects on FL proficiency and performance ( e.g., Kleinman, 1977; Madsen, 1982; Young, 1986); and anxiety management strategies (e.g., Long & Porter, 1985; Price, 1991; Young, 1991)
Although a large number of studies in FLA have been carried out to investigate the nature of FLA, to the best of the author‟s knowledge, little has been done on anxiety experienced by Vietnamese learners in their English learning process
In Vietnam, English has been now widely taught in almost all educational institutions, at every level Thus, learning English in Vietnam has gained a remarkable achievement However, in comparison with other developed countries, learning speaking skill in Vietnam is not really efficient As a teacher of English at
Academy of Policy and Development (APD), from her own observations and experience, the present researcher has noticed that the feeling of anxiety, apprehension and nervousness are common phenomena experienced by her first - year students Notably, the level of anxiety has been observed to be higher in speaking classes compared with other ones, therefore, the outcome of oral English speaking is not satisfactory These negative emotional factors seem to maintain a barrier that prevents students from actively participating in speaking activities Such situation has aroused her interest and inspired the author to conduct a research on the topic: “Factors influencing first-year non-English major students’ anxiety in speaking classes at Academy of Policy and Development- Some possible techniques to overcome the problem”.
A IMS OF THE STUDY
The aim of the study is to find out the main causes that make first - year students at Academy of Policy and Development stressful and anxious in speaking English classrooms and then suggest some possible techniques for dealing with students‟ anxiety in speaking classes.
R ESEARCH QUESTIONS
The study is carried out with an attempt to answer the following question:
What are the main factors influencing first year non - English major students’ anxiety in speaking classes at APD? What is the most common factor?
S COPE OF THE STUDY
FLA exists in the process of learning all the four skills: listening, reading, speaking and writing (Aida, 1994; Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986; Young, 1986; Cheng, Horwitz & Schallert, 1999; Cheng, 2002; Saito et al., 1999; Vogely, 1998)
However, this study only focuses on anxiety of speaking skill with its causes as speaking is the best in expressing the students‟ participation as well as their feelings For its strong evidence- bearing capacity, speaking is chosen as a major indicator to measure participation Moreover, due to the time constraints, this study only involves a small number of APD students in their first academic year
The data serving the research analysis are collected by using both quantitative and qualitative methods A survey questionnaire for informants of 50 first- year non majors of English at Academy of Policy and Development was used to gather information and evidence for the study In addition, to gain more in-depth information of the issue, semi- structured interviews with the informants were also applied
The study consists of three parts:
Introduction presents the rationale, the aims, the research question, the scope, the method and the design of the study
+ Chapter I: Literature Review provides the basic theoretical background from literature in terms of speaking, foreign language anxiety in general and speaking anxiety in particular Especially, the effect and possible causes of anxiety, which are the main issues of the study, are discussed thoroughly in this chapter
+ Chapter II: Methodology deals with the overall picture of how the research was carried out
+ Chapter III: Data Analysis and Findings interprets the answer of research question: What are the main factors influencing first year non - English major students‟ anxiety in speaking classes at APD? What is the most common factor?
The findings of potential sources of speaking anxiety are reported and discussed in this chapter
+ Chapter IV: Dicussion and Conclusion summarizes the main contents and findings of the study as well as the limitations of the study and suggestions for further study and suggests possible techniques for both teachers and students with an aim to reduce and cope with anxiety in speaking classes
1 Theoretical background of anxiety 1.1 Definition of anxiety
Anxiety, one of the most prominent and pervasive emotions has been a focus of research in foreign language learning since early 1970s In the twentieth century, May (1977) thought of anxiety as the apprehension cued off by a threat to some value that the individual holds essential to his existence as a personality (p 205)
According to Horwitz et al (1986), anxiety is “the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry consisted of an arousal of the autonomic nervous system” “Anxiety is a psychological construct, commonly described by psychologists as a state of apprehension, a vague fear that is only indirectly associated with an object” (Hilgard, Atkinson, & Atkinson, 1971 cited in Scovel, 1991: 18) Anxiety refers to an emotional state that can have both positive and negative influences, and which fosters and facilitates or disturbs and impedes learning (MacIntyre, 1995)
To sum up, we find that anxiety is a complex psychological construct, difficult to precisely define as it arises from many sources In general, it can have physical, emotional, and behavioral manifestations and these manifestations can differ with each individual
MacIntyre and Gardner (1991b) identified three perspectives to the study of anxiety, which are: trait anxiety, state anxiety, and situation-specific anxiety Trait anxiety, a motive or acquired behavioral disposition that predisposes an individual to perceive a wide range of objectively non-dangerous circumstances as threatening, and to respond to these circumstances with anxiety state reactions disproportionate in intensity to the magnitude of the objective danger, is relatively permanent and steady personality feature (Spielberger, 1966) State anxiety is apprehension experienced at particular moment in time, for example, prior to taking exams This anxiety can be provoked in the confrontation of the perceived threat (MacIntyre &
Gardner, 1991b) However, it is temporary and altered in time In order to attribute the experience to a particular source, researchers adopt situation- specific perspective to the study of anxiety This perspective examines anxiety reactions in a
“well-defined situation” such as public speaking, during tests, when solving mathematics problems, or in a foreign language class (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991b, p 90) Specific situations can offer more understanding to particular anxiety in diverse situations
Anxiety has been found to interfere with many types of learning but when it is associated with leaning a second or foreign language it is termed as
„second/foreign language anxiety‟ It is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon (Young, 1991: cited in Onwuegbuzie et al., 1999: 217) According to Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986), foreign language anxiety belongs to situation- specific anxiety, which refers to the apprehension experienced when a situation requires the use of a second language with which the individual is not fully proficient (Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993)
Horwitz et al (1986, p 128) defines foreign language anxiety as “ a distinct complex of self-perceptions, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process” and Gardner and MacIntyre (1993, cited in Arnold 1999:59) portraits language anxiety as “fear or apprehension occurring when a learner is expected to perform in the second or foreign language.”
Researchers have been unable to draw a clear picture of how anxiety affects language learning and performance (Horwitz and Young, 1991: xiii) Some researchers reported a negative relationship between language anxiety and achievement However, anxiety has occasionally been found to facilitate language learning Therefore, it is important that FL researchers and teachers understand better the nature of FLA in order to find out effective teaching methods to reduce the negative effects of anxiety
1.4 Effect of anxiety on Foreign Language Learning
Most language FL researchers have focused on investigating the relationship between anxiety and language learning Although the results conflict, language anxiety displays the negative effects in most cases (Chan and Wu, 2004, p 291)
D ESIGN OF THE STUDY
The study consists of three parts:
Introduction presents the rationale, the aims, the research question, the scope, the method and the design of the study
+ Chapter I: Literature Review provides the basic theoretical background from literature in terms of speaking, foreign language anxiety in general and speaking anxiety in particular Especially, the effect and possible causes of anxiety, which are the main issues of the study, are discussed thoroughly in this chapter
+ Chapter II: Methodology deals with the overall picture of how the research was carried out
+ Chapter III: Data Analysis and Findings interprets the answer of research question: What are the main factors influencing first year non - English major students‟ anxiety in speaking classes at APD? What is the most common factor?
The findings of potential sources of speaking anxiety are reported and discussed in this chapter
+ Chapter IV: Dicussion and Conclusion summarizes the main contents and findings of the study as well as the limitations of the study and suggestions for further study and suggests possible techniques for both teachers and students with an aim to reduce and cope with anxiety in speaking classes.
LITERATURE REVIEW
T HEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF ANXIETY
Anxiety, one of the most prominent and pervasive emotions has been a focus of research in foreign language learning since early 1970s In the twentieth century, May (1977) thought of anxiety as the apprehension cued off by a threat to some value that the individual holds essential to his existence as a personality (p 205)
According to Horwitz et al (1986), anxiety is “the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry consisted of an arousal of the autonomic nervous system” “Anxiety is a psychological construct, commonly described by psychologists as a state of apprehension, a vague fear that is only indirectly associated with an object” (Hilgard, Atkinson, & Atkinson, 1971 cited in Scovel, 1991: 18) Anxiety refers to an emotional state that can have both positive and negative influences, and which fosters and facilitates or disturbs and impedes learning (MacIntyre, 1995)
To sum up, we find that anxiety is a complex psychological construct, difficult to precisely define as it arises from many sources In general, it can have physical, emotional, and behavioral manifestations and these manifestations can differ with each individual
MacIntyre and Gardner (1991b) identified three perspectives to the study of anxiety, which are: trait anxiety, state anxiety, and situation-specific anxiety Trait anxiety, a motive or acquired behavioral disposition that predisposes an individual to perceive a wide range of objectively non-dangerous circumstances as threatening, and to respond to these circumstances with anxiety state reactions disproportionate in intensity to the magnitude of the objective danger, is relatively permanent and steady personality feature (Spielberger, 1966) State anxiety is apprehension experienced at particular moment in time, for example, prior to taking exams This anxiety can be provoked in the confrontation of the perceived threat (MacIntyre &
Gardner, 1991b) However, it is temporary and altered in time In order to attribute the experience to a particular source, researchers adopt situation- specific perspective to the study of anxiety This perspective examines anxiety reactions in a
“well-defined situation” such as public speaking, during tests, when solving mathematics problems, or in a foreign language class (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991b, p 90) Specific situations can offer more understanding to particular anxiety in diverse situations
Anxiety has been found to interfere with many types of learning but when it is associated with leaning a second or foreign language it is termed as
„second/foreign language anxiety‟ It is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon (Young, 1991: cited in Onwuegbuzie et al., 1999: 217) According to Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986), foreign language anxiety belongs to situation- specific anxiety, which refers to the apprehension experienced when a situation requires the use of a second language with which the individual is not fully proficient (Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993)
Horwitz et al (1986, p 128) defines foreign language anxiety as “ a distinct complex of self-perceptions, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process” and Gardner and MacIntyre (1993, cited in Arnold 1999:59) portraits language anxiety as “fear or apprehension occurring when a learner is expected to perform in the second or foreign language.”
Researchers have been unable to draw a clear picture of how anxiety affects language learning and performance (Horwitz and Young, 1991: xiii) Some researchers reported a negative relationship between language anxiety and achievement However, anxiety has occasionally been found to facilitate language learning Therefore, it is important that FL researchers and teachers understand better the nature of FLA in order to find out effective teaching methods to reduce the negative effects of anxiety
1.4 Effect of anxiety on Foreign Language Learning
Most language FL researchers have focused on investigating the relationship between anxiety and language learning Although the results conflict, language anxiety displays the negative effects in most cases (Chan and Wu, 2004, p 291)
According to MacIntyre and Gardener (1991b), anxiety has been found to negatively affect performance in the second language In this sense, anxiety, in variety of studies, has displayed significantly negative correlations with students' performances in terms of final course grades (Aida, 1994; Horwitz, Horwitz, &
Cope, 1986; Liao, 1999), standardized tests (Gardner, et al., 1987), and the grades in mid-term exams (Liao, 1999) In addition, anxiety motivates the learner to withdraw from the language task and leads him to adopt avoidance behaviours (Alpert & Haber, 1960; Scovel, 1978) Horwitz et al (1986) claims that highly anxious students avoid conveying complex messages in the foreign language, or take more time to learn vocabulary items (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1989) Moreover, MacIntyre and Gardner (1991b) found out that if the student‟s experience and proficiency increase, anxiety declines in a fairly consistent manner In contrast, if their proficiency and experiences with the foreign language are not positive, foreign language anxiety develops Poor foreign language performance reinforces foreign language anxiety As a result, these two variables affect each other constantly
Furthermore, almost all studies nowadays have shown that in the three stages of language acquisition, that is, input, processing and output negatively correlated with anxiety (Horwitz et al., 1986; Tobias, 1986; Price 1991; MacIntyre & Gardner 1991a; Ellis, 1994) Besides, there have been some studies conducted to point out the negative relationship between anxiety and four aspects of language learning, especially, speaking and listening MacIntyre and Gardner (1991) further claims that speaking is by far the main agent of anxiety- arousal, and that students with high anxiety perform worse than those with low anxiety
However, although a certain level of anxiety may be detrimental, some researchers found positive correlations between foreign language anxiety and language achievement, e.g anxiety “motivates the learner to „fight‟ the new learning task; it gears the learner emotionally for approach behavior” (Scovel, 1991, cited in Tanveer, 2007, p 11) or it is believed to enhance the learning process (Alpert & Haber, 1960; Kleinman, 1977) Additionally, in Bailey‟s (1983) study of competitiveness and anxiety, it was found that anxiety was one of the keys to success, and closely related to competitiveness It means that in active learning atmosphere, students‟ anxiety will make them feel passive, reticence when taking part in speaking activities in groups, pairs or responding the teachers Consequently, their achievements are not good, so they have to deal with the problem by many ways in order to overcome it
On the whole, the researchers agree that the relationship between anxiety and language learning is probably not a simple linear one Therefore, it is important that
FL researchers and teachers understand better the nature of FLA in order to find out effective teaching methods to reduce the negative effects of anxiety
1.5 Sources of foreign language anxiety
According to Horwitz, Howtitz and Cope (1986), while learning a foreign language, approximately one-third learners experience some types of foreign language anxiety Researchers had indicated that, there are a number of factors that can cause anxiety for language learners Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) claim that students were anxious in ESL/ EFL classroom due to communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation Bailey (1983) concluded from his studies and interviews that competitiveness, tests and learners‟ perceived relationship with their teachers are all possible causes of anxiety Another conclusion was supported by Price (1991) that language anxiety originated from 4 aspects: difficulty level of foreign language classes, personal perception of language aptitude, certain personality variables and stressful classroom experiences Through a review of the literature on language anxiety, Young (1991) also offers an extensive list of six potential sources of language anxiety He claims that language anxiety can be broken down into six main sources: personal and interpersonal anxiety, learner beliefs about language learning, instructor beliefs about language teaching, instructor-learner interactions, classroom procedures, and language testing The author will in turn discuss the six potential sources of language anxiety below
S PEAKING
Speaking has been defined differently by a lot of researchers Brown (2001) defined speaking as “spoken language consists of short, fragmentary utterance, in range of pronunciation There is often a great deal of repetition and overlap between one speaker and another, and speaker use non- specific references.” Florez (1999) refer to speaking as “an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information.” (cited in Balley, 2005, p 2)
According to Bygate (1997), speaking was a skill which is often thought of as a
“popular” form of expression that uses the unprestigious “colloquial” register
Speaking is in many ways an undervalued skill Mackey (1965) stated that speaking was an oral expression and it is a complicated skill and it “ involves not only the use of the right sounds in the patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also the choice of words and inflections in the right order to convey the right meaning.” (cited in
2.2 Roles of speaking in language teaching and learning
Speaking helps to identify who knows or doesn‟t know a language and it is a very important skill among the four basic ones When people mention knowing or learning a language, they mean being able to speak the language, (Pattison, 1992)
The mastery of speaking skill is “the single most important aspect of learning a second language or foreign language, and success is measured in terms of ability to carry out a conversation in the language.” (Nunan, 1991, p 39) Kayi (2006) confirms that the ability to communicate in the second language clearly and efficiently contributes to the success of the learners in school and success later in every phase of their lives Learners often evaluate their ability and proficiency of second/ foreign language learning based on how well they feel they have improved in their speaking skill In the classroom, teachers pay much attention to teaching speaking skill and they design a lot of speaking activities such as giving presentation, working in groups/pairs, role- playing, discussing and so on to get the improvement of students However, these activities are quite difficult and stressful to language learners so they may suffer language anxiety
Due to the importance of oral skills in language teaching and learning, language teachers should pay more attention to teaching speaking skills It is necessary for learners to speak with confidence to carry out many of the most basic transactions.
METHODOLOGY
S ETTING
The study was conducted at Academy of Policy and Development All students at this academy are required to complete five semesters of English as part of their general education requirements In the first and second semester (first year), students finish the General English program English is taught during the first and the second term with the total of 120 periods (50 minutes each) with the aim of developing students‟ ability of conducting English conversations in which students can communicate and interact with each other orally with fluent English The textbook chosen is New Cutting Edge, Elementary by Sarah Cunningham, Peter Moor
The number of first year students at APD is estimated at 328 They come from 5 faculties: the External Economics Faculty, the Development Plan Faculty, the Public Policy Faculty, the Public Finance Faculty and the Development Planning Faculty Their levels of English proficiency are different The students face a great variety of difficulties in learning the four language skills, of which speaking seems to be the most difficult and anxiety- provoking one.
P ARTICIPANTS
The group of subjects for questionnaire was constituted by 50 first- year students To increase the reliability and validity of the research study, a random sampling procedure was applied
No and percentage of students
D ATA COLLECTION
To address the research question, the researcher used both quantitative (survey questionnaire) and qualitative (semi- structured interview)
A questionnaire was designed based on a review of the literature about factors viewed as causing anxiety that influence speaking skills The questionnaire consists of two parts Part one aims at obtaining some background information of the subjects including their name, age, sex and the number of years they have been learning English Part two consists of 20 items Some items were partly formulated on the basis of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope 1986) More specifically, items 1, 2, and 20 were respectively reconstructed from items 1, 23, and 21 of the FLCAS In the questionnaires, the respondents were asked to express agreement or disagreement to each item on a five- point Likert response scale (Strongly disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree nor disagree, Agree, Strongly Agree) The data obtained from the questionnaire was tabulated, presented, and frequencies and percentages were calculated
The second research tool employed in this study was semi- structured interviewing (see appendix 2) The major concern is students‟ opinion of why each problem of speaking skills, which was shown in the second part of the questionnaire, made them nervous and stressful in speaking classes 10 items for the interview had been prepared in advance in light of the potential sources of anxiety proposed by Young (1991) These questions were open enough to allow the interviewees to express their opinions freely
There are three parts to the interview For the first part, question 1 related to the subjects‟ experience of anxiety was raised The purpose of this part is to find out whether they had experienced the feelings of anxiety or nervousness before The second part with 9 questions focused on the sources of anxiety on speaking classes
Specifically, to probe anxieties related to student‟s belief as well as personal and interpersonal issues, questions 2 and 3 were designed Questions 4 and 5 aimed to explore anxieties caused by erroneous instructor beliefs about language teaching To examine students‟ attitudes towards the impacts of instructor - learner interactions on the classroom atmosphere, questions 6, 7 and 8 were constructed Question 9 was designed to provide more information on anxieties related to classroom procedures Finally, question 10 was asked to know whether students felt anxious about language tests The last part of the interview (question 11) involved asking the subjects to make recommendations for alleviating speaking anxiety concerning both sides of teachers and students The data obtained from the informal interviews will be transcribed and analyzed so that the researcher of this study can gain a deep understanding of the problems, from those giving possible solutions to help students overcome their anxiety
In the first phase, the questionnaire was administered when students had completed the second- term of the academic year 2012- 2013 The entire procedure took about 15 minutes of their class time
After the questionnaire data was analyzed, to gain further insights into the students‟ attitudes, opinions and beliefs, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 5 students The interviews were conducted in the participants‟ native language, which is Vietnamese, in order to overcome the incapability of self-expression in the target language The interviews were tape- recorded and transcribed for analysis
The interviews were conducted in location students feel at ease and at time they suggested At the beginning of the interview, the students were explained clearly about the nature of the study The length of each interview was from 20 to 25 minutes.
D ATA ANALYSIS
The data obtained through the questionnaire and the interviews were organized and analyzed based on Young‟s (1991) six categories of FLA sources, namely, personal and interpersonal anxiety, learner beliefs about language learning, instructor beliefs about language teaching, instructor-learner interactions, classroom procedures, and language testing (section… )
While the data from the questionnaire were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively, the data from the interview were analyzed qualitatively The audio- recorded interviews were first transcribed by the researcher The researcher read through the transcriptions carefully and coded the participants‟ responses into meaningful concepts After that, the concepts were put into categories on the basis of common themes These categories were given suitable headings like “personal and interpersonal anxiety”, “beliefs about language learning”, “personal and interpersonal anxiety”, etc., and were used to explain the phenomenon under investigation (English language learning anxiety)
For descriptive convenience, the researcher used pseudo- initials for each participant (A, G, H, K, and T).
DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
S OURCES OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY
Disagree Partly agree Agree Strongly agree
1 I never feel quite sure of myself when I am speaking in my English class
2 I always feel that the other students speak English better than I do
Table 1: Speaking anxiety associated with personal and interpersonal anxiety
The first two statements 1 and 2 (appendix 1) refer to students‟ personal and interpersonal anxiety when speaking English The data in table 1 shows that, 1st- year students at APD appear to lack confidence in their oral ability: only around 16% of the students felt sure of themselves when speaking English while 84% of the students partly agreed or agreed that they are not confident in their speaking ability
In addition to low self-confidence in speaking ability, another prevalent issue among 1st-year APD students is competitiveness: 43% believed they could not speak English as well as other students Based on the data, it can be seen that the survey students have the tendency to compare themselves with other students and form a negative self-concept, which may discourage them from speaking in class or hinder their performance in English classes
From the interview, in response to question 2 (appendix 2), all of the interviewed students (A, G, H, K and T) attributed their language learning anxiety mostly to personal factors As revealed by these students, the most common anxiety- generating factors which are related to learner‟s personality included: shyness, quietness, reservedness and low self-esteem Several students claimed that their shy personality and quietness prevented them from performing well in class, which made them feel anxious Gradually, these students become passive learners and occupy the majority of the class Students H and G expressed that they always feel shy and reserved most of the time in their English classes so they constantly keep silent in thei speaking classes
Also, some interviewees seem to hold a negative thought about them They admitted that their low self – esteem or low self- perception obstruct them in the process of participation in the class The three male subjects (T, K and G) tended to assume that their English ability was limited which causes anxiety in their speaking classes
I feel that my English is not good and my communication is bad too I feel nervous when being called on by my teacher I wish I could express my ideas in Vietnamese, instead of English (Student T)
To be honest, I am not self- confident when I am asked to answer questions in English because I think that I cannot speak English well (Student G)
It is clear for the fact that individuals with a self-perceived low ability level in the target language are likely to be anxious because they may perceive themselves as less worthy than others and they perceive their communication as less effective than that of their peers When asked question 3 “Do you feel anxious in English speaking classes?” all of the five students who participated in the interviews replied “Yes”
They responded to this question in a quite extensive manner by offering different factors causing their anxiety They also give some interesting and illustrative examples
Similarly to what has been found in survey questionnaire (item 2), competitiveness was reported to be the major factor contributing to anxious feelings in 1 st - year students at APD Three among the five interviewees (K, G, and T) are concerned about their perceived poor performance in the class discussions or oral presentations compared to that of their classmates Student K, for example, shared his feeling of speaking English because he often compares himself with other students He felt so nervous because he did not want to be worse than others
These students agreed that, to some extent, competitiveness might be a motivation for their learning process However, they also pointed out that competitiveness had a negative effect in most cases
The second reported source was fear of negative evaluation Three students (A, H and T) admitted that their feelings of apprehension in English classes are associated with various kinds of situations in which their knowledge and performance of English were evaluated by their teacher and classmates They expressed that they are just too self-conscious or sensitive of others' evaluative eyes because they fear of being negatively evaluated by their peers and their teachers They did not want to create a stupid image for themselves The statements below highlight this issue:
Everyone‟s eyes in my class seem to seize my mistakes while doing my presentation If I get stuck they may laugh at me I really fear of being laughed by the other students who learn English better than me (Student A)
I do not want to talk in my speaking class If I make mistakes when speaking English, my classmates will think I have a poor knowledge so this thought irritates me a lot (Student H)
In short, it appears that personal and interpersonal anxieties may be a potential source of speaking anxiety in the class of the first year students at APD
1.2 Learner beliefs about language learning
The next items attempt to find out the learners‟ speaking anxiety associated with learner beliefs about language learning Table 2 is the summary of the result of the responses to the items 3 to 6 in the questionnaire (appendix 1)
Disagree Partly agree Agree Strongly agree
3 I believe that English speaking learning primarily involved memorizing vocabulary words and grammatical rules
4 I believe that English speaking learning primarily involved translating from Vietnamese into English
5 I believe that pronunciation is the most important aspect of learning speaking skill
6 I believe that the success of English learning limited to a few individuals who are gifted for language learning
Table 2: Speaking anxiety associated with learner beliefs about language learning
As being shown in the above table, most of the survey students have the tendency to hold some unrealistic and erroneous beliefs about learning speaking skill The most significant thing needed to mention here is the thought that pronunciation is the most important aspect of learning speaking skill (item 5) which attracts 38% if the responses of “agree” The next highest percentage of agreement was obtained from item 3 31% of the subjects agreed that learning English primarily involved memorizing vocabulary and grammatical rules In addition, 28% of the students believed that learning speaking English is basically an act of translating from Vietnamese into English (item 4) In addition, it is quite alarming that around one third of the students (29%) agreed that the success of English learning limited to a few individuals who are gifted for language learning (item 6) This implies many 1st-year students at APD believe that they never have chance to become good learners as they are not gifted for English learning Such erroneous beliefs about language learning are obstacles to their progress in class which may lead to disappointment and frustration among students
In the semi- structured interviews, when asked why they felt anxious about speaking English in their speaking classes (item 3- appendix 2), some unrealistic beliefs about language learning were reported in all the highly anxious interviewees‟ answer The first reported belief was that language learning is a special gift not possessed by all Student G maintained that he is not gifted for learning foreign language so this belief makes him disappointed and frustrated Another important belief is that it is necessary if we learn a foreign language we need to live or travel to an English- spoken country
I am Vietnamese so it is difficult for me to speak English like native speaker I think the only way to improve my English; especially speaking skill is talking to native speaker or travelling to some countries in which English is the mother tongue (Student H)
Student K believes that speaking English is basically an act of translating from Vietnamese into English
In fact, I often think about what I want to say in my mind, after that I translate them into English Sometimes I get struck because I cannot do it quickly Besides,I make a lot of mistakes in pronunciation, grammar and word collocation
Moreover, student G and A also assumed that their language performance should be perfect They fear of making mistakes and they tended to believe that nothing should be said in their English classes until it could be said correctly The following statement exemplify this point:
When I speaking English, I always think that what I say must be correct and fluent
However, I often forget grammatical rules and pronounce incorrectly So, I hesitate to speak during English lesson because I fear of making mistakes (Student G)
1.3 Instructor beliefs about language teaching
Among the six potential sources of language anxiety proposed by Young (1991, p
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
S OLUTIONS RELATED TO LEARNER BELIEFS ABOUT LANGUAGE LEARNING
It is obvious that most of the participants hold some unrealistic and erroneous beliefs about learning speaking skill so it is recommended that teachers should help students have realistic expectations about language learning It is recommended that teachers should confront students‟ erroneous and irrational beliefs by cultivating in them “reasonable commitments for successful language learning”
(Horwitz, 1988: cited in Onwuegbuzie et al., 65 1999,p 232) These beliefs can be confronted by instilling realistic expectations and reasonable performance standards in the learners and by raising their awareness regarding the speed with which fluency in the target language can be achieved More importantly, students should be guided as to how to direct their attention away from self-centred worries when they are speaking a second/foreign language (1999, p 233)
In addition, to reduce speaking anxiety, students themselves must try their best to improve their English It is suggested that students access authentic sources of communication themselves by watching television, listening to the radio, logging onto the Internet and reading books, newspapers and magazines in English By doing so, they could get used to both spoken and written English and feel more confident in themselves.
S OLUTIONS RELATED TO INSTRUCTOR BELIEFS ABOUT LANGUAGE TEACHING
To reduce the negative impacts on learners in speaking lessons, instructors themselves should consciously examine their own language teaching beliefs To start with, teacher‟s expectations about the oral performances of their students should be adjusted depending on what they know about the personality characteristics of their students and the relative anxiety- provoking situations in which students are required to speak Teachers should show the low proficient students that they always care for them, give them more time for preparation and accept such a variety of their answers This will help them to speak more confidently and with less anxiety in the class In this study, many students said that they got nervous when they did not understand what their teachers said Just as we have mentioned previously, using too much English as the instructional language could be one of the reasons that caused incomprehensible input Surely, using English as the only instructional language in English class has an advantage in giving students more English input However, it is still debatable if it really works in the present learning environment that the teaching time is limited and students‟ exposure to English is insufficient (Chan & Lin, 2002) Therefore, the balance of using both English and Vietnamese as the instructional languages was good for students‟ understanding.
S OLUTIONS RELATED TO INSTRUCTOR - LEARNER INTERACTIONS
Most students reported that their mood is affected by the classroom atmosphere and they also emphasized the positive effect of positive classroom atmosphere on their emotional state, especially in speaking lessons Therefore, it is strongly recommended that teachers should establish a close and good relationship with the students
To achieve this, teachers should be very friendly, relaxed, and patient in the classroom Moreover, as suggested by the respondents, teachers ought to encourage positive personality types such as patience, a sense of humor to make students more comfortable with their language learning process Teachers should remember the students‟ name and then use their names instead of common calling “you” to narrow the permanent gap between students and teachers Furthermore, teachers should apply an encouraging rather than threatening style of questioning, avoid intimidation and give students more positive feedback Teachers had better discuss and share successful language learning strategies with students throughout the semester Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope (1986) stated: “ In general, educators have two opinions when dealing with anxious students: (1) they can help them learn to cope with the existing anxiety provoking situation; or (2) they can make the learning context less stressful” Only in such a supportive, motivating and stress-reduced learning environment might teachers be able to create opportunities for shy individuals to practice speaking in front of others without making them feel highly anxious
In addition, to establish a good relationship with learners, it might be helpful for teachers to consciously examine their own language teaching practices to help reduce those that negatively impact learners As students appeared to be acutely sensitive to fear of making mistakes and being negatively evaluated by their peers and their teachers, teachers should have a tolerant attitude towards students‟ errors
They should adopt an attitude that making mistakes are a part of the language learning process so there is no need to correct every single mistake produced by students To eliminate the nervousness or frustration of students, the manner of teacher correction must not be harsh According to Young ( 1991), one way to provide feedback without much anxiety is to model students‟ responses that are, repeating the correct version of what the students are attempting to express instead of pointing out their mistakes directly Another useful way to provide feedback without causing anxiety is to introduce peer correction so that learners “ might feel less threatened” ( Tanner and Green, 1998, p 19) Moreover, teachers should choose the right time to correct students‟ errors Teachers should not interrupt students in mid-flow to point out their mistakes It is advisable for teachers to correct them at the end of students‟ speech as suggested by the participants in this study.
S OLUTIONS RELATED TO CLASSROOM PROCEDURES
The participants in this study expressed a strong preference for group and pair work as means to both practice the language and interact with their classmates Hence, it might be helpful if teachers have students work more in cooperative learning groups to provide them with more student- student interaction They will feel more confident and less nervous when making mistakes Also, teachers should make a conscious effort to ensure that all students have the opportunity to participate in their group, not just the ones who take the initiative
More importantly, the activities in English speaking class should be varied to change the atmosphere of classroom, create authentic situations for students to practice speaking with confidence and prevent boredom Such activities not only address students‟ needs but narrow the gap between teachers and students as well
Teachers can introduce some extra-curricular activities such as games, songs, quizzes to help students reduce their anxiety Regarding to some anxiety- provoking activities, it would be advisable for teachers to precede these activities with other less- stressful activities such as playing games or working in groups Hence, students will have more time to prepare for the given activities and have sufficient ideas, lexis as well as confidence to complete the task successfully
To reduce speaking anxiety, students themselves must cooperate with their teachers in the process of learning In class, students should participate actively in such activities as pair and group discussions and get fully involve in different extra- curricular activities.
S OLUTIONS RELATED TO LANGUAGE TESTING
In order to allay students‟ test anxiety, teachers should avoid focusing on possible negative consequences of low marks and instead encourage students to put out their best effort and work carefully Teachers should test fairly what the students know rather than by giving “tricky questions” ( Kondo, 1997) Exams should cover what was taught in the context of how it was taught ( Zeidner, 1998) For example, if the students were never allowed to actually practice speaking the language in the classroom (preferably in small groups), an oral exam would not be appropriate In addition, the teacher should provide pre-test practice for the test The teacher can provide the students with an outline of the exam sections (including the instruction on the test) so that the students will know what to expect and will not be surprised.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
Although the study was designed and conducted with optimal care, limitations are unavoidable Firstly, the study was limited to first year students at Academy of Policy and Development It might not be the representative of all students at all the universities at the same level Secondly, in order to investigate the complex issue of language anxiety, only a limited time was available for teacher- student interviews (20- 25 minutes for each) Finally, only some suggested solutions have been recommended to cope with students‟ anxiety in speaking classes
Despite of the above drawbacks, the researcher believes that this study is beneficial to the teaching of speaking skills to the students at Academy of Policy and Development
This study has only made a limitedly partial investigation into language anxiety
Both interviews and questionnaires used as research tools in this study have provided different insights into the nature of speaking anxiety; however, future researchers should combine other research instruments like observation to gain more reliable and valid results
Researchers comtemplating future studies in this area may wish to explore testing anxiety- a constituent of FL anxiety or anxieties in the other language skills, namely reading anxiety, listening anxiety and writing anxiety Future researchers can further explore techniques to reduce students‟ anxiety in speaking classes or some practical activities for language learners and teachers to deal with anxiety in speaking lesson
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Các bạn sinh viên thân mến Tôi đang tiến hành một nghiên cứu có tựa đề “ Nghiên cứu các yếu tố ảnh hướng đến lo lắng trong giờ học kỹ năng Nói của sinh viên không chuyên năm thứ nhất ở Học Viện Chính sách và Phát triển: Một số thủ thuật khắc phục” Dưới đây là những câu hỏi với những thông tin cần thiết để thu thập dữ liệu tin cậy cho nghiên cứu, rất mong được các bạn đóng góp ý kiến Tôi xin cam đoan tất cả những thông tin mà các bạn cung cấp sẽ được giữ bí mật tuyệt đối Xin chân thành cảm ơn sự hợp tác của các bạn
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