Nghiên cứu về sự lo lắng và kỹ năng thuyết trình ở các lớp học kỹ năng nói tiếng anh của sinh viên năm 2 trường đại học ngoại ngữ huế

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN THI BICH PHUONG AN INVESTIGATION INTO ANXIETY AND ORAL PERFORMANCE OF SECOND-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS IN SPEAKING CLASSES AT HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES FIELD OF STUDY: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.14.10 M.A THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: TRUONG BACH LE, Ph.D HUE, 2012 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ HUẾ NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH PHƯƠNG NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ SỰ LO LẮNG VÀ KỸ NĂNG THUYẾT TRÌNH Ở CÁC LỚP HỌC KỸ NĂNG NĨI TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI, TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ HUẾ CHUYÊN NGÀNH: LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY DẠY HỌC MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.14.10 LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ GIÁO DỤC HỌC NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC TS TRƯƠNG BẠCH LÊ HUẾ, 2012 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission from associates and have not been published elsewhere Author Nguyen Thi Bich Phuong Acknowlegments First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Truong Bach Le- my supervisor-who never hesitated to spend much of his valuable time to instruct me devotedly Thanks to his enthusiastic help and invaluable suggestions, my research paper becomes better and more professional I wish to express my appreciation to Ms Quy Thu, Ms Thao Phuong, Ms Khanh Tam for giving me the most favorable conditions to complete this graduation research paper My warm thanks go to all my teachers and friends at the Master of Arts class who shared a lot of experience and daily events that enrich my life both professionally and personally I own all the participating students a debt of gratitude for their enthusiasm and help in my fulfillment of my thesis Finally, I wish to extend my heartfelt thanks to my beloved family, my sweetheart, and my close friends for their considerate care and great support during time I was busy with this research project TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Pages SUB COVER PAGE STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ABSTRACT CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 Aims of the study 10 1.3 Significance of the study 11 1.4 Structure of the study 11 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 13 2.1 Anxiety 13 2.1.1 Definitions of anxiety 13 2.1.2 Foreign language anxiety 13 2.1.3 Types of anxiety 14 2.1.4 Construction of foreign language anxiety 16 2.1.5 Sources of language anxiety 17 2.1.6 Measurement of foreign language anxiety: Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) 19 2.2 Foreign language anxiety and speaking skill 20 2.2.1 Foreign language anxiety and oral performance 21 2.2.2 Vietnamese learners at tertiary education 23 2.2.3 Related research in Vietnam 23 CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 25 3.1 Subjects and Teaching context 25 3.1.1 Learners 25 3.1.2 Teachers 25 3.1.3 Teaching context 25 3.2 Research instruments 26 3.2.1 Questionnaire 26 3.2.2 Observations (videoing and assessing presentations) 27 3.2.3 Interviews (stimulated recalls) 27 3.3 Procedure of Data collection and analysis 27 3.3.1 Questionnaire 27 3.3.2 Observations 28 3.3.3 Interviews 30 3.3.4 Data analysis 30 CHAPTER FOUR FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 32 4.1 Results from questionnaire 33 4.1.1 Communication anxiety 34 4.1.2 Negative anxiety (items 2, 23, and 31) 40 4.1.3 Test anxiety (items and 21) 44 4.2 Results from interviews 46 4.2.1 Foreign language anxiety and speaking anxiety 46 4.2.2 Negative evaluation anxiety 49 4.2.3 Test anxiety 53 4.3 Results from oral performance scores 55 CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION 59 5.1 Restatement of the study purposes 59 5.2 Research questions 59 5.2.1 How anxious are second-year English majors when giving oral performance in speaking classes at HUCFL? 59 5.2.2 What is the relationship between anxiety and oral performance of second-year English majors? 59 5.3 Contributions of the study 60 5.4 Implications of the study 60 5.4.1 For students 60 5.4.2 For teachers 60 5.5 Further research 61 5.6 Limitations of the study 62 REFERENCES 63 APPENDICES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a Foreign Language FLA: Foreign Language Anxiety FLCAS: Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale HUCFL: Hue University College of Foreign Languages H1: High-anxious student No.1 H2: High-anxious student No.2 H3: High-anxious student No.3 H4: High-anxious student No.4 L1: Low-anxious student No.1 L2: Low-anxious student No.2 L3: Low-anxious student No.3 L4: Low-anxious student No.4 SPSS: Statistics Package for the Social Science LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 3.1: Distribution of Questionnaire Items Table 4.1: The reliability of the piloted questionnaire Table 4.2: The reliability of the questionnaire Table 4.3: The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) scores Table 4.4: Statistics of questionnaire item 1, item 9, item 24, and item 27 Table 4.5: Frequency of questionnaire item 14 Table 4.6: Frequency of questionnaire item 18 Table 4.7: Statistics of questionnaire item 2, item 23, and item 31 Table 4.8: Statistics of questionnaire item and item 21 Table 4.9: Frequency of questionnaire item Table 4.10: A comparison of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and oral performance scores Table 4.11: Correlation between Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and oral performance scores Figure 4.1: Frequency of questionnaire item Figure 4.2: Frequency of questionnaire item Figure 4.3: Frequency of questionnaire item 24 Figure 4.4: Frequency of questionnaire item 27 Figure 4.5: Frequency of questionnaire item Figure 4.6: Frequency of questionnaire item 23 Figure 4.7: Frequency of questionnaire item 31 Figure 4.8: Frequency of questionnaire item 21 58 CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION 5.1 Restatement of the study purposes This study is to investigate how anxious are the second-year English majors when they give oral performance in speaking classes at HUCFL Additionally, it presents the relationship between foreign language anxiety scores and oral performance scores of the second-year English majors Multiple data collection methods, namely questionnaires, observations, and interviews were adopted to explore issues under investigation 5.2 Research questions 5.2.1 How anxious are second-year English majors when giving oral performance in speaking classes at HUCFL? It is found that in general second-year English majors experienced foreign language anxiety and speaking anxiety differently, both positively and negatively Among the three components of anxiety (communication anxiety, negative anxiety, and test anxiety), negative anxiety was reported to be suffered most by the participants, followed by test anxiety and communication anxiety With the two anxiety groups, the high anxiety students showed more anxiety towards giving a presentation as well as more negative feelings to foreign language and speaking They were also more worried about presenting a negative impression to their teacher and classmates In contrast, the low-anxious learners focused more on appearing natural and relaxed In other words, they performed more confidently and revealed a more positive attitude about their oral presentations 5.2.2 What is the relationship between anxiety and oral performance of second-year English majors? An attempt in this project was discovering the relationship between anxiety and oral performance of second-year English majors The finding reveals 59 that there was a negative relationship between the two subjects above In other words, the lower anxious the students were about speaking English, the higher mark they received Specifically, students with higher anxiety tended to get lower marks compared with those who suffered lower anxiety 5.3 Contributions of the study This investigation can help learners be aware of anxiety in speaking foreign languages They can self-check as well as self-evaluate their anxiety when speaking English, in particular, to overcome or improve not only their speaking skill but also oral presentation skills In addition, it may awaken teachers’ attention and interest in teaching speaking particularly and teaching foreign language generally The following section presents some practical implications drawn from the findings of the study 5.4 Implications of the study Based on the findings and discussion, especially on the negative relationship between anxiety and oral performance, some implications are proposed with the hope that teachers and learners at HUCFL can deal with anxiety more effectively in speaking classes 5.4.1 For students The students should be aware of the anxiety when learning speaking If they are conscious of this issue, they can make the anxiety facilitating effect that motivates them to speak Only when they are conscious about this, can they improve themselves Although there are lots of students who are shy in nature, they can improve this shyness by practicing speaking more and more Besides, learners should try to hold a positive attitude or get rid of negative thinking to reduce anxiety It is believed that if students are self-confident, they will perform better 5.4.2 For teachers In their seminal article, Horwitz and her colleagues stated: “In general, educators have two options when dealing with anxious students: (1) they can 60 help them learn to cope with the existing anxiety-provoking situations; or (2) they can make the learning context less stressful (Horwitz et al., p.131) For coping with or reducing language anxiety, teachers could: Have students recognize their irrational beliefs or fears through group work activities and games designed specifically for this Suggest students relaxation exercise and practice self-talk Participate in language teaching workshops and action research designed to promote state-of-the-art teaching practices and pedagogical approach Assess error-correcting approach as well as attitudes towards learners and learn to give students more positive feedback, help them develop more realistic expectations, be more friendly, relaxed and patient etc Test what you teach in the context of how you teach it Provide pretest practice of test item-types For making the learning context less stressful, teachers could: Dispel misconceptions about foreign language/second language learning so that learners can understand that: they will make mistakes, mistakes are a natural part of language learning, they will be able to understand much more than they will be able to speak Provide effective and engaging language instructions: Focus in processing language before requiring complete language production, encourage learners to teach each other, engage learners in collaborative tasks, such as information gap activities, surveys, role-plays, and peer evaluations 5.5 Further research The topic needs further research in the future in which the scale should be extended with a larger number of subjects and schools Moreover, further research may focus on anxiety in language classroom Hence, the scope of the study will be larger and the study can cover all aspects of English learning Based 61 on the scope and the findings of this research, some recommendations are made for further research: (1) A further study may compare the anxiety between English majors and non-majors at HUCFL (2) A further study might investigate anxiety in other skills, such as reading, listening, or writing (3) A further study could compare the anxiety between different school years, for example, first-year and second-year, second-year and third-year (4) A further study could explore causes of anxiety in learning foreign language 5.6 Limitations of the study Due to the constraint on implementation time, the study was conducted on a small scale It was administered to collect the data from 74 second-year English majors and two teachers at HUCFL This small sample cannot represent all second-year English majors at HUCFL Nevertheless, the adoption of both quantitative and qualitative methods helps overcome the limitation of the study to a certain extent It is hoped that subsequent research will be carried out with a larger sample to ensure more reliability and validity of the data gathered 62 REFERENCES Aida, Y (1994) Examination of Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope’s construct of foreign language anxiety: The case of students of Japanese The Modern Language Journal, 78, 155-168 Crystal, D (1997) English as a global language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Glense, C & Peshkin, A (1992) Becoming qualitative researchers: an introduction New York: Longman Ho, T H P (2011) Anxiety and its effects on English speaking learning of students at Quoc Hoc High school in Hue HCFLs Hoang, T H (2010) A study on anxiety in speaking class of the first-year nonEnglish major students at Hung Yen University of Education and Technology Retrieved May 13, 2011, from http://tainguyenso.vnu.edu.vn/xmlui/handle/123456789/38715 Hoang, V V (2007) The current situation and issues of the teaching of English in Vietnam Retrieved April 20, 2011, from http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/acd/re/k-rsc/lcs/kiyou/pdf_221/RitsIILCS_22.1pp.7-18_HOANG.pdf Hornby, A S (2005) Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Oxford: Oxford University Express Horwitz, E K (2001) Language anxiety and achievement Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 21, 112-126 Horwitz, E K., Horwitz, M B., & Cope, J (1986) Foreign language classroom anxiety scale The Modern Language Journal, 70, 125-132 10 Liu, M (2007) Anxiety in oral English classrooms: A case study in China Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching, 3(1), 119-137 11 MacIntyre, P D., & Gardner, R C (1991) Language anxiety: Its relationship to other anxieties and to processing in native and second languages Language Learning, 41(4), 513-534 63 12 MacIntyre, P D., & Gardner, R C (1994) The subtle effects of language anxiety on cognitive processing in the second language Language Learning, 44(2), 283-305 13 Nguyen, T H (2002) Vietnam: Cultural Background for ESL/EFL Teachers Retrieved April 12, 2011, from http://hmongstudies.com/VietnamforESOLteachersVS2002.pdf 14 Onwuegbuzie, A J., Bailey, P., & Daley, C E (1999) Factors associated with foreign language anxiety Applied Psycholinguistics, 20, 217-239 15 Park, H & Lee, A R (2004) L2 Learners’ Anxiety, Self-confidence and Oral Performance Retrieved April 9, 2011, from www.paaljapan.org/resources/proceedings/PAAL10/ /hyesook.pdf 16 Phillips, E M (1992) The effects of language anxiety on students’ oral test performance and attitudes The Modern Language Journal, 76, 14-25 17 Phillips, L (2005) A study of the impact of foreign language anxiety on tertiary students’ oral performance Retrieved April 10, 2011, from http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/view/B31649579/ft.pdf 18 Scovel, T (1978) The effect of affect on foreign language learning: A review of the anxiety research In E K Horwitz & D J Young (Eds.) Language anxiety: From theory and research to classroom implications (pp 15-23) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall 19 Subaşı, G (2010) What are the main sources of Turkish EFL students anxiety in oral practice Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry, 1(2), 29-49 20 Toth, Z (2006) First-year English majors’ perceptions of the effects of foreign language anxiety on their oral performance In M Nikolov & J Horvath (Eds.), UPRT 2006: Empirical Studies in English applied linguistics (pp 25-37) Fecs: Lingua Franca Csoport 21 Woodrow, L (2006) Anxiety and Speaking English as a Second Language Regional Language Centre Journal, 37(3), 308-328 64 22 Young, D J (1991a) An investigation of students’ perspectives on anxiety and speaking Foreign Language Annals, 23, 539-553 23 Young, D J (1991b) Creating a low-anxiety classroom environment: What does language anxiety research suggest? The Modern Language Journal, 75, 426-437 24 Young, D J (1992) Language anxiety from the foreign language specialist’s perspective: Interviews with Krashen, Omaggio Hadley, Terrell, and Rardin Foreign Language Annals, 2, 157-172 25 Young, D J (1998) Affect in foreign language and second language learning: A practical guide to creating a low-anxiety classroom atmosphere McGraw-Hill College 65 APPENDICES APPENDIX Reliability of Questionnaire Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized Items N of Items 701 700 33 Summary Item Statistics Maximum / N of Mean Minimum Maximum Range Minimum Variance Items Item Means Item Variances 3.032 903 2.257 578 3.486 1.230 1.303 725 1.545 2.254 Item-Total Statistics Scale Corrected Squared Scale Mean if Variance if Item-Total Multiple Item Deleted Item Deleted Correlation Correlation 091 031 33 33 Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted Q1 97.28 85.138 382 442 683 Q2 96.95 92.490 -.019 500 711 Q3 97.22 89.131 166 505 698 Q4 97.03 85.807 312 604 688 Q5 96.86 90.557 072 436 705 Q6 97.41 87.285 212 351 695 Q7 96.70 87.445 272 527 691 Q8 97.16 94.439 -.125 461 714 Q9 96.66 87.049 319 512 688 Q10 96.55 85.812 324 397 687 Q11 97.11 87.029 273 462 691 Q12 96.66 86.282 324 590 687 Q13 97.23 87.878 216 718 695 Q14 97.11 93.906 -.094 556 718 Q15 96.86 84.995 374 552 683 Q16 96.92 85.856 307 489 688 Q17 97.78 88.281 259 419 692 Q18 96.91 95.511 -.190 660 718 Q19 97.73 85.625 374 604 684 Q20 96.72 88.288 297 351 691 Q21 97.08 85.747 357 525 685 Q22 96.91 90.964 085 307 703 Q23 96.82 86.202 359 648 685 Q24 96.84 90.138 137 564 700 Q25 97.05 84.764 455 618 679 Q26 97.24 86.050 387 538 684 Q27 97.00 84.712 490 705 678 Q28 96.62 95.143 -.165 566 717 Q29 96.86 83.790 455 665 677 Q30 97.20 87.479 319 505 689 Q31 97.43 86.797 300 436 689 Q32 96.64 96.153 -.212 488 722 Q33 96.74 89.399 174 488 697 APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire is designed to collect information for my Master’s thesis on the topic: “Anxiety and oral performance of second-year English majors in speaking classes at Hue University College of Foreign Languages” I appreciate your willingness to participate in this project by answering the questions in this survey Your responses are very important to the success of my research project I guarantee that the data collected will be used only for the purpose of the research, NOT for any other purposes Please fill in the information and answer the following statements by circling the appropriate letter Name:…………………………………………… Male/Female:……………… Age: …………………………………… Class: ………………………………… Years of learning English: ……………………………………………………… SA = STRONGLY AGREE A = AGREE N = NEITHER AGREE NOR DISAGREE D = DISAGREE SD = STRONGLY DISAGREE I never feel quite sure of myself when I am speaking in my English class SA A N D SD I don’t worry about making mistakes in English class SA A N D SD I shake when I know I’m going to be called on in English class SA A N D SD It frightens me when I don’t understand what the teacher is saying in English SA A N D SD It wouldn’t bother me at all to take more English classes SA A N D SD During English class, I find myself thinking about things that have nothing to with the course SA A N D SD I keep thinking that other students are better at English than I am SA A N D I am usually at ease during tests in my English class SD SA A N D SD I start to panic when I have to speak without preparation in class SA A N D SD 10 I worry about the consequences of failing my English class SA A N D SD 11 I don’t understand why some people get so upset over English classes SA A N D SD 12 In English class, I can get so nervous I forget things I know SA A N D SD 13 It embarrasses me to volunteer answers in my English class SA A N D SD 14 I would not be nervous speaking English with native speakers SA A N D SD 15 I get upset when I don’t understand what the teacher is correcting SA A N D SD 16 Even if I am well prepared for English class, I feel anxious about it SA A N D SD 17 I often feel like not going to my English class SA A N D SD 18 I feel confident when I speak in English class SA A N D SD 19 I am afraid that my English teacher is ready to correct every mistake that I make SA A N D SD 20 I can feel my heart pounding when I am going to be called on in English class SA A N D SD 21 The more I study for an English test, the more confused I get SA A N D SD 22 I don’t feel pressure to prepare very well for English class SA A N D SD 23 I always feel that the other students speak English better than I SA A N D SD 24 I feel very self-conscious about speaking English in front of other students SA A N D SD 25 English class moves so quickly I worry about getting left behind SA A N D SD 26 I feel more tense and nervous in my English classes than in my other classes SA A N D SD 27 I get nervous and confused when I am speaking in my English class SA A N D SD 28 When I’m on my way to English class, I feel very sure and relaxed SA A N D SD 29 I get nervous when I don’t understand every word the English teacher says SA A N D SD 30 I feel overwhelmed by the number of rules you have to learn to speak English SA A N D SD 31 I am afraid that the other students will laugh at me when I speak English SA A N D SD 32 I would probably feel comfortable around native speakers of English SA A N D SD 33 I get nervous when English teacher asks questions which I haven’t prepared in advance SA A N D SD Thank you very much for taking the time to answer these questions for me APPENDIX Interview questions How you feel about speaking in front of other people in class? How would you compare your English level with other students in class? Do you feel other students will laugh at you? Why? Why you feel that other students are better than you? How you feel about taking a test in class? How you feel about taking a foreign language class? Would you like to take other foreign language class? Do you have any other comments about giving a presentation? APPENDIX Oral presentation assessment form, comments, and grade Criteria Name: Class: Interest (1.0 pt)  Did the presentation arouse the interest of the audience?  Was the presentation creative & original? Organization (3.0 pts)  Was it clearly structured with appropriate information in each section?  Were there clear explanations & illustrations?  Was there explicit signposting?  Did the presentation achieve its purpose? Language & delivery (2.5 pts)  Was there natural spoken language?  Was it fluent & intelligible?  Were varied pacing, intonation, stress, & pausing used?  Was pronunciation clear & comprehensible?  Was the grammar accurate & content comprehensible? Body language (2.0 pts)  Did the posture & gestures demonstrate confidence?  Was there good eye contact?  Was there appropriate use of notes or slides? Visual aids (1.5 pts)  Were they clear & readable?  Did they support the presentation?  Was equipment used competently? Other comments: