Non english major students anxiety in speaking english a case study at university of information technology, vietnam national university ho chi minh city m a

Then semi-structuredinterviews with 10 highly anxious students were administered one after another todetect the causes of speaking anxiety as well as the students’ coping strategies.The

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HO CHI MINH CITY

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby declare that this thesis entitled“Non-English major students’ anxiety in speaking English: A case study at University of Information Technology, Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City” is my own work.

This paper has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in anyinstitutions All the work from other authors, which has been used as references inthis study, was cited with acknowledgement

Ho Chi Minh City, August 2022

DUONG THI HIEN

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, Duong Thi Hien, being the candidate for the degree of Master

in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention anduse of Master’s Thesis Deposited in the Library

In terms of conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in theLibrary should be accessible for the purpose of study and research in accordancewith the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan orreproduction of the theses

Ho Chi Minh City, August 2022

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards mysupervisor, Dr Le Thi Thanh, for her great support and advice during the time Iconducted this study Thanks to her valuable academic guidance and constructivefeedback, I have overcome the difficulties to finalize my Master’s thesis

Secondly, I am indebted to all the lecturers in the Faculty of English Linguisticsand Literature for their precious assistance, scholarly knowledge and enthusiasmwhich have kindled my interest in teaching and research

Thirdly, I would like to send my appreciation to all the participants who provided

me rich and detailed data, including my colleague - Ms Tran Ngoc and 40 English major students from her classes at UIT Without their participation, thisstudy could not achieve its aims

non-I also want to say a big thank-you to my close friends for always being by my side

to support me during the Corona pandemic Without their huge encouragement,this thesis would have been far from complete

Most importantly, I heartily thank my parents, my older sister and brothers fortheir support in every single moment of my life Without their unconditional loveand trust, I would not have become who I am today I am proud and fortunate to bepart of their family

Over the past decades, language speaking anxiety has never failed to attractresearchers’ attention from all over the world Especially, one of the notablematters is how to bolster students’ willingness to communicate in English withoutbeing impeded by apprehension This study aims at exploring potential triggers ofEnglish speaking anxiety among non-English major students at University ofInformation Technology, Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City andthe strategies which might be used by them to overcome such problems Thequalitative case study employed two main instruments which are sixteen in-classobservations and semi-structured interviews with 10 out of 40 students from twoGeneral English classes at University of Information Technology The datacollection began with a series of observations in class to realize the students’manifestations of anxiety during speaking sessions Then semi-structuredinterviews with 10 highly anxious students were administered one after another todetect the causes of speaking anxiety as well as the students’ coping strategies.The findings of the study disclosed eight factors provoking non-English majorstudents’ speaking anxiety at University of Information Technology They wereclassified into two groups including intrinsic factors (lack of communicativecompetence, lack of self-confidence, low self-esteem, low motivation) and theextrinsic factors (peers, teachers, previous teaching curriculum, limited exposure toEnglish) The main coping strategies reported by the students were learningadditional vocabulary and undertaking more speaking practice Based on thefindings, pedagogical implications were drawn to help the researcher recognize thesources of this psychological phenomenon and propose several efficient solutionsfor teachers, administrators and tertiary students to enhance the teaching andlearning of English in this context Further research considering factors which arenot scrutinized in the current study may contribute to a fuller understanding ofspeaking anxiety

Key words: students’ anxiety, speaking English, factors of anxiety, speaking

anxiety

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii

ABSTRACT iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

LIST OF TABLES ix

LIST OF FIGURES x

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xi

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 Personal motivation 3

1.3 Aims of the study 5

1.4 Research questions 5

1.5 Significance of the study 5

1.6 Scope of the study 6

1.7 Organization of the thesis 6

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 Overview of speaking 8

2.1.1 Definition of speaking 8

2.1.2 The importance of speaking in EFL classrooms 8

2.1.3 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity 9

2.2 Anxiety 9

2.2.1 Definition of anxiety 9

2.2.2 Anxiety and fear 10

2.2.3 Types of anxiety 11

2.3 Foreign language anxiety 12

2.3.1 Definitions of FLA 12

2.3.2 Debilitating and facilitating effects of FLA 13

2.3.3 Components of FLA 14

2.3.4 Manifestations of FLA 15

2.4 Anxiety and speaking English 16

2.4.1 Speaking anxiety 16

2.4.2 The effects of anxiety on speaking 17

2.5 Potential causes of foreign language speaking anxiety 18

2.5.1 Intrinsic causes 18

2.5.1.1 Lack of communicative competence 18

2.5.1.2 Lack of self-confidence 19

2.5.1.3 Low self-esteem 20

2.5.1.4 Low motivation 20

2.5.2 Extrinsic causes 21

2.5.2.1 Peers 21

2.5.2.2 Teachers 22

2.5.2.3 The previous teaching curriculum 22

2.5.2.4 Limited exposure to English 23

2.6 Students' strategies to reduce speaking anxiety 23

2.7 Previous studies 25

2.8 Conceptual framework 29

3.1 Research design 30

3.2 Research site 32

3.3 English courses at UIT 32

3.4 Research participants 33

3.5 Materials 34

3.6 Research instruments 34

3.6.1 Classroom observations 34

3.6.2 Semi-structured interviews 37

3.7 Data collection procedure 39

3.8 Data analysis procedure 40

3.9 Reliability and validity 41

3.10 Ethical considerations 42

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 43

4.1 Intrinsic factors 43

4.1.1 Lack of communicative competence 43

4.1.2 Lack of self-confidence 45

4.1.3 Low self-esteem 46

4.1.4 Low motivation 47

4.2 Extrinsic factors 48

4.2.1 Fear of friends' attitude 48

4.2.2 Fear of negative feedback from others 51

4.2.3 The previous teaching curriculum 52

4.2.4 Limited exposure to English 52

4.3 Solutions to overcome English speaking anxiety 54

4.5 Discussions 62

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 66

5.1 Overview of the study 66

5.2 Pedagogical implications 67

5.3 Limitations of the study 68

5.4 Recommendations for further study 69

REFERENCES 71

APPENDICES 79

APPENDIX A Consent Form Interview - Student participants 79

APPENDIX B Interview questions 81

APPENDIX C Interview transcript sample 82

APPENDIX D Thematic network 92

APPENDIX E Observation Scheme 93

APPENDIX F Textbook: Business Partner A2+ 103

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.5 The unit contents in Business Partner A2+ 34

Table 3.6.1a Observation sheet 36

Table 3.6.1b The schedules for classroom observations 37

Table 3.7 The summary of the research procedures 40

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.8 Conceptual framework 29 Figure 4.1 Intrinsic factors of non-English major students’ speaking anxiety 43 Figure 4.2 Extrinsic factors of non-English major students’ speaking anxiety 48

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

UIT, VNU-HCMC: University of Information Technology, Vietnam NationalUniversity – Ho Chi Minh City

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

ESL: English as a Second Language

L1: First language/mother tongue

L2: Second language/foreign language/target language

FLA: Foreign Language Anxiety

FLCAS: Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents a brief exposition of the study, which consists of (1)background to the study, (2) personal motivation, (3) aims of the study, (4)research questions, (5) significance of the study, (6) scope of the study, and (7)outline of the thesis

1.1 Background to the study

Under the impact of globalization and integration, it is irrefutable to see thatEnglish is well on its way to becoming the dominant global language ofcommunication As a matter of fact, English has become the official workinglanguage of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) (Kirkpatrick,

2012, p.131) Therefore, learning English is of great significance to promote one’sskills and abilities in this competitive world Specifically, university graduates inthe Industrial Revolution 4.0 area are advisable to achieve a good communicativeEnglish competence for better employment opportunities and career development

in life

Among the four language skills, speaking is broadly considered as the mostchallenging but crucial skill in L2 language acquisition (Ur, 1999; Nguyen & Tran,2015) Thus, English speaking skills should be developed in order to improvecommunication achievement (Boonkit, 2010) For many students who are non-major in English and their ability in English is low, they often face many problemswhen speaking English Although many students have acquired a variety ofgrammatical rules and lexical items, they may not apply them well in making aspeech or making conversations with their peers in English fluently and smoothly(Larsen-Freeman, 2000) This problem is triggered by various affective factors,especially anxiety (Brown, 2007)

Noticeably, studies on foreign language speaking anxiety has been flourishing inrecent decades (Liu, 2005) Accordingly, when students are designated to speak orposed questions by the teacher in class, they feel more apprehensive (Liu, 2006)

As Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) articulated in their study, both teachers and

students are aware and generally feel strongly that anxiety is a major hurdle to beovercome in learning to communicate in another language They also mentionedcommunication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation as thetriggers for foreign language anxiety To explore more reasons for reticentlanguage learners in the foreign language speaking classrooms, advocates haveimplemented a plethora of studies worldwide such as Woodrow (2006) inAustralia, Tóth (2010) in Hungary, Zhiping and Paramasivam (2013) in Malaysia,Rajitha and Alamelu (2020) in India, to name but a few Due to the suffering ofanxiety, students are often hesitant to speak English publicly, resulting in poorlanguage performance in class.

In Vietnam, where English has become the most widely-used foreign language, theMinistry of Education and Training (MOET) in 2008 also indicated that the goal oflearning this language should be communication, fostering a competitive economywith a skilled workforce However, tertiary students in EFL classrooms, especiallynon-English majors, are supposed to experience anxiety in learning (Tran, Baldauf,

& Moni, 2013) Students who have higher levels of anxiety tend to gain loweracademic proficiency in speaking (Le & Tran, 2020) Moreover, Tran et al (2013)has discovered both positive and negative aspects of Foreign Language Anxiety(FLA) among university students Those who favored FLA in learning Englishperceived it as a motivator to learn; the debilitating effects of FLA, on the otherhand, inhibited students from excelling in the target language A student’slinguistic achievement in L2 is determined by the levels of FLA he or she reaches

in the classroom (Szyszka, 2017)

At UIT, English has been included as one of the compulsory subjects in theteaching curriculum The English courses here especially focus on teachingEnglish for non-English major students with all four skills, mainly oncommunication activities Normally, in some other universities, non-Englishstudents are predominantly taught reading and writing skills; whereas listening andspeaking skills are often neglected However, students at UIT are taught and testedstrictly based on “The Common European Framework of Reference for

Languages” (CEFR) and the minimum level required is B1 (equivalent to intermediate level) on graduation As a result, students of UIT are required to learnand practise the speaking skill as it is part of the final test Despite that, from theresearcher’s experience and observation, a great number of students in thisenvironment are still struggling with anxiety when conveying their ideas orally,leaving them a big gap in conquering speaking skills.

pre-Although myriad studies to date related to language anxiety has been undertakenabroad, few in Vietnam have probed into its sources in speaking skill (Bui, 2016)and the number of participants is quite limited Therefore, the findings could not

be applied for most Vietnamese language classes (Tran et all., 2012) Moreover, tothe best of the researcher’s knowledge, the study on non-English majors delvinginto qualitative data to better understand an individual’s anxiety experience isscant; especially at UIT, there has been a paucity of research on non-Englishmajors’ anxiety in speaking English up to present Most importantly, during theEnglish teaching process at UIT, the researcher also have noted that students’anxiety is one of the most outstanding problems that need to be paid more attention

Given the elaboration above, the researcher analyzed this thesis entitled:

“Non-English major students’ anxiety in speaking “Non-English: A case study at Ho Chi Minh University of Information Technology, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City”

1.2 Personal motivation

The researcher teaches English for non-English major students at Center forForeign Languages of University of Information Technology, VNU-HCMC Theycome from different faculties such as Information Systems, InformationTechnology, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Networksand Communications, Information Security, E-Commerce, Computer Science, and

so on Most of them are fairly good at doing written tests that focus on vocabularyand grammar but their speaking skill is quite limited There are some justificationsfor that

First of all, in Vietnam, English is still considered as a foreign language, not asecondary language Therefore, English is widely used in many large cities ofVietnam, not much in other provinces Plus, nearly 70% of the researcher’sstudents come from the countryside, so they told her they did not get enoughpractical opportunities to practice communicating in English in real-life situations,which turns out to be a great disadvantage for them.

The most embarrassing story the researcher has heard comes from two students ofher class When they came to Ho Chi Minh City for the first time, they met someforeigners asking for directions but they just smiled and said sorry for not knowingwhat to say despite knowing grammar rules and vocabulary items quite well Someeven used body language or drawing to instruct international tourists What ismore, whenever the researcher posed a question in English for her students in classand required them to answer, the majority of them were reluctant to speak andtended to exert certain anxiety over speaking in English From her observation,some of them were likely to avoid looking at her, use filler or stutter in an effort toproduce long sentences; others even remained silent or just raised their voiceswhen they were invited by the teacher

Secondly, Vietnamese education system focuses mainly on theoretical knowledgeand teaching English is no exception For example, the amount of time forteaching speaking at many schools is so restricted in comparison with that forteaching other skills like reading and writing Also, both of the National HighSchool Graduation exam and University Entrance exam are written forms As aconsequence, students may pay little attention to speaking skill Besides, someother factors including individual interests, confidence, motivation, learning styles,etc may affect their speaking level to some extent

Personally, the researcher comes from the countryside of Vietnam Her hometownseems to lack many favorable conditions for country students to learn English such

as the Internet, native English teachers, language centers, and so forth As a result,she is deeply empathetic with her students, especially those from remote areas Allthe aforementioned concerns have given her a motive to delve into the current

matter of speaking anxiety among non-English major students at UIT andsynthesize some strategies which can motivate them to speak more andcommunicate in English more effectively.

1.3 Aims of the study

The present study endeavors to examine different factors permeating Englishspeaking anxiety among non-English major students at University of InformationTechnology, Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City and proposeseveral practical solutions to help non-English major students mitigate the anxietywhen speaking English

1.4 Research questions

To this end, the study attempts to address the following questions:

(1) Do non-English major students at UIT, VNU-HCMC feel anxious when speaking English? If yes, what are the factors that cause their anxiety when speaking English?

(2) How do non-English major students at UIT, VNU-HCMC overcome their anxiety in speaking English?

1.5 Significance of the study

In terms of theoretical implications, the findings of this study may contribute to theknowledge of speaking anxiety in the field of teaching ESL/ EFL and secondlanguage acquisition (SLA) For instance, teachers and researchers are likely tobroaden their knowledge regarding several factors that make non-English majorstudents anxious when speaking English As for practical implications, with thediscovery of the underlying problems, it is anticipated to benefit both languageteachers and students alike with better understanding their strengths andweaknesses Particularly, the students can arrive at better solutions to minimize theproblem of speaking-in-class anxiety and the teachers can devise more effectivetechniques that could encourage their students to speak more Professionally, bypinpointing the strategies that the students have been using, teachers and other

educators could yield additional insights into the issue of language speakinganxiety and initiate better recommendations for a low-anxiety classroomenvironment in the future Consequently, the quality of teaching and learning atschools or universities may be enhanced to some extent.

1.6 Scope of the study

The study is conducted on first-year non-English major students at UIT, HCMC The participants from two English classes took their General Englishcourses during the second semester of the school year 2021, specifically from thebeginning of March to the end of May, 2021 The study merely targets a specificpopulation who are at pre-intermediate level at a university in Vietnam and theresearcher only centers on some emerging factors inflicting non English majorstudents’ speaking anxiety in two English classes, not all the impediments thatthey were facing Moreover, due to the short span of data collection procedure, thefindings of the current study might be a reflection of the attitudes of just theseparticipants to the approach in the context, and the findings cannot be widelygeneralized to all non-English major students in Vietnam

VNU-1.7 Organization of the thesis

The thesis consists of five chapters namely (1) Introduction, (2) Literature review,(3) Research methodology, (4) Findings and discussion, (5) Conclusions andRecommendations, accompanied by the Acknowledgments, Abstract, Referencesand Appendices

Chapter 1 offers the background information of the study, research motivation,

the aims, research questions, significance of the study and its scope

Chapter 2 critically reviews theoretical foundations for the study including

speaking skill, the definitions, different types of anxiety, foreign language anxiety,speaking anxiety, reasons for foreign language speaking anxiety, several strategies

to cope with anxiety, and major recent studies on anxiety factors which influencenon- English majors’ involvement in speaking English The conceptual framework

in this study is formulated in the last part in chapter 2 to guide for this study

Chapter 3 elaborates research methodology consisting of research design,

research site, description of the participants, corresponding research instruments,and the procedures of data collection and analysis

Chapter 4 interprets and discusses the results of observations and interviews from

students’ responses

Chapter 5 completes the thesis with a brief summary of the findings and

pedagogical contributions that this study has made to the field of students’speaking anxiety It also mentions the limitations and suggestions for furtherresearch on the same field

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter focuses on an overview of speaking skill, followed by anxiety,foreign language anxiety, speaking anxiety with reference to their definitions,different types, causes, effects, and manifestations Then, internal and externaltriggers of speaking anxiety within the scope of this study are described Next,several strategies to cope with anxiety are also discussed before mentioning priorstudies At the end of this chapter, the conceptual framework was developed tosystematize the content and shed light on this study

2.1 Overview of speaking

2.1.1 Definition of speaking

Language may be viewed as a means of expressing hopes, thoughts, feelings andneeds When we learn a language, the natural procedure seems to start withlistening first and then to continue with speaking, reading, and writing respectively.According to Widdowson (1994), speaking means producing language orally inorder to interact and communicate with two or more people for a specific purpose

It is “the process of creating and sharing meaning in a variety of environmentsusing verbal and non-verbal symbols” (Chaney & Burke, 1998, p.13) It is alsostated by Bygate (1987) that speaking should be paid more attention in learningEnglish and it is the skill by which learners are most frequently judged and throughwhich they make and lose friends

2.1.2 The importance of speaking in EFL classrooms

Since speaking is one of the most effective way to communicate successfully,Thornbury (2005) asserts that “an average person produces tens of thousands ofwords a day” (p.8) As stated by Harmer (2007), there are three main reasons whyEnglish is significant to be taught in EFL classrooms The first benefit of speaking

is that it provides students with opportunities for rehearsal, allowing them topractice real-life speaking in the safety of the classroom Another advantage ofspeaking tasks is that they can provide feedback to both the teacher and studentsand the feedback will indicate how much progress the students have made The

final benefit is that it assists students in becoming autonomous in their learning; as

a result, they can use the language elements fluently without too muchconsideration for them

In the same respect, Baker and Westrup (2003) also claim that students who canspeak English well may have a better chance of receiving a better education,securing a decent job, and advancing in their careers

2.1.3 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity

According to Ur (2012), there are four characteristics of a successful speakingactivity The first thing is to let learners talk a lot The time given to the activityshould be occupied by learner talk as much as possible but frequently most time istaken up with teacher talk or pauses The second aspect is that participation is even.The classroom discussion is not dominated by a small group of talkative studentsand contributions should be evenly distributed so that all students get anopportunity to speak Next, students need high motivation Learners are eager tospeak since they are engaged in the topic and willingly share their opinions toachieve the task objective Finally, language is of an acceptable level Aside fromfluency, accuracy also plays a vital role in assessing a learner’s speaking skill.However, learners are required to express themselves in utterance that is relevantand easily comprehensive to each other at an acceptable level of language accuracy,with only a few minor mistakes

2.2 Anxiety

2.2.1 Definition of anxiety

Anxiety has long been studied and regarded as a foundational human emotionsince the early twentieth century (Zeidner, 2014) The definition of anxiety hasbeen discussed continuously by psychologists and linguists

In the field of psychological studies, anxiety is viewed by Spielberger (1983) asthe “subjective experience of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worryassociated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system” (p.15) According to

Scovel (1978), anxiety is an emotional state of “apprehension, a vague fear that isonly indirectly associated with an object” (p.134) while Ormrod (2011) asserts thatanxiety is “a feeling of uneasiness, nervousness, and apprehension concerning asituation with an uncertain outcome.” (p.401)

It is stated by Liu (2005) that anxiety emerges when people are uncertain aboutforthcoming events, when they are aware that their performance will be evaluated,

or when they are concerned about the outcome of an event Particularly, theconcept of anxiety pertains to cognitive concern about the consequences of failure(Szyszka, 2017)

In general, it can be inferred that anxiety is a personal psychological feeling oftension, apprehension, and nervousness in response to a specific circumstance orsetting

2.2.2 Anxiety and fear

Since anxiety and fear are easily to be overlapped, some professionals make adistinction between the two terms

According to Zeidner and Matthews (2011), fear is objective and identifiable bynature of threat, whereas anxiety is subjective and the source of risk isundetermined Regarding the degree of certainty of danger, fear is high buttransient, whereas anxiety is low but lingering

To be more specific, anxiety is described by Zeidner and Matthews (2011) as apsychological state in which the individual’s sense of unease and worry isgenerated by ambiguous circumstances It is associated with a state of uncertaintyand the absence of a specific object For instance, an individual might get anxiouswhen he or she suspects that something bad will happen; however, he or she isunsure of what to do due to the uncertain future and expectation that somethingnegative will occur It is also more difficult to deal with the ambiguous threatbecause it is unclear what the threat is or where it is coming from

On the other hand, fear refers to an “extreme biologically adaptive physiologicaland behavioral response to the occurrence of a specific, identifiable stimulus”(Zeidner and Matthews, 2011, p.5) That is, a person may feel the fear when there

is a specific object to be scared of, for example, a snake or a cockroach Because

of the actual and specific threat, the person is compelled to take action against thethreat

In conclusion, anxiety refers to the uncontrollable feeling of forthcoming threats

or danger, meanwhile, fear refers to current and unavoidable danger

State anxiety is described as more temporary in nature and suggests that the personhas an inclination to develop anxiety feelings in specific conditions (Spielberger,1983) As a consequence, state anxiety emerges in response to a perceivedthreatening scenario and eventually fades away once the threat is over or thesituation changes

Situation-specific anxiety, like state anxiety, is associated with anxiety-breedingsituations According to MacIntyre and Gardner (1991), this type of anxiety isexperienced in a well-defined situation It can be explained that situation-specificanxiety is triggered by a particular situation or event such as public speaking andits symptoms are predominant in these set contexts rather than in other short-termones

Foreign language learning falls under the category of specific-situation anxiety.This apprehension frequently arises when an individual is not completely adept inthe context of using a second language In certain circumstances, state anxiety candevelop into trait anxiety and never decreased (Ay, 2010).

In conclusion, psychologically studied, anxiety is a subjective experience defined

by unpleasant or uncomfortable attributes It mainly occurs when people have tohandle situations in which they are uncertain or threatened Depending on eachsituation and individual response, this feeling might be detrimental or beneficial topeople Anxiety is divided into three types in which situation-specific anxiety laysthe groundwork for future research in foreign language anxiety

2.3 Foreign language anxiety

2.3.1 Definition of foreign language anxiety (FLA)

When associated with learning a second or foreign language, anxiety is labeled assecond/ foreign language anxiety (Horwitz, 2001)

A burgeoning body of literature on FLA has been discussed for years (Horwitz etal., 1986; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994; MacIntyre, 1998; Horwitz, 2001) Oneparticularly influential research in the field of FLA is Horwitz et al (1986) In thisstudy, foreign language anxiety is described as a “distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom language learningarising from the uniqueness of the language learning process” (Horwitz et al, 1986,p.128) In other words, the concept of FLA is formulated on the subjectivity of alearner’s viewpoint while learning a foreign language in the classroom

According to MacIntyre and Gardner (1994), foreign language anxiety is viewed

as “the feeling of tension and apprehension specifically associated with secondlanguage context including speaking, listening and learning” (p.284) That is to say,when a language learner is required to perform in a foreign language, either inwritten or oral form, he may experience high levels of anxiety

Later, MacIntyre (1998) expands FLA definition beyond learning contexts to use contexts, “language anxiety is the worry and negative emotional reactionaroused when learning or using a second language” (p.27) Language anxiety mayhappen when a language learner is presumed to handle a threatening languagelearning situation with feelings of tension, nervousness, and worry.

real-2.3.2 Debilitating and facilitating effects of foreign language anxiety

Anxiety is believed to bring both positive and negative effects to foreign languagelearners

Dörnyei (2005) elaborates two significant anxiety distinctions which are usuallymade in the literature namely facilitating and debilitating anxiety As the namessuggest, the former stimulates action and enthusiasm, paving the path for success;contrarily, the latter results in impaired performance A salient example offacilitating anxiety is that when students believe they are in competition with oneanother, this type of anxiety might often push them to work harder in class andearn higher grades Thus, anxiety is likely to keep an individual poised, aware, andjust fairly off-balance to the point that he or she cannot fully relax Debilitatinganxiety, on the other hand, is linked to subpar learning and performance, impedingthe language learning process

Scovel (1978) articulates that both facilitating and debilitating anxiety can functiontogether in an ordinary individual at the same time This combination of anxietymotivates a person for any new phenomenon in language learning Notably, aconsensus of studies focuses on debilitating anxiety, which exerts a detrimentalimpact on learners’ performance (Brown, 2007; Horwitz et al, 1986; Oxford,1999)

In this study, the researcher focuses more on the negative aspects of foreignlanguage anxiety since they have been widely acknowledged as one of the mostchallenging issues in the foreign language learning process

2.3.3 Components of foreign language anxiety (Horwitz et al., 1986)

As explicated by Horwitz et al (1986), FLA typically arises in the context oflistening and speaking learning, comprising the activity, test, attitude, belief, and

so on They also generate a theoretical framework to investigate learners’ levels offoreign language anxiety, which indicates three major contributing factors oflanguage anxiety

Communication Apprehension

The first component inducing foreign language anxiety is communicationapprehension It is mentioned by Horwitz et al (1986) as “a type of shynesscharacterized by fear of or anxiety about communicating with people” (p.127),whether individually or in groups It is assumed that learners have opinions andideas to offer, but they lack the necessary foreign language vocabulary to expressthemselves This inability to convey their ideas or comprehend information fromothers causes anxiety and makes people fearful of speaking in a foreign language.They may exhibit uneasiness, perplexity, or even panic

Test Anxiety

Another source of FLA is test anxiety, which is elaborated by Horwitz et al (1986)

as a kind of performance anxiety arising from a fear of failure in tests andexaminations When students are aware that their teacher will value theircommunicative activities, test anxiety influences their speaking andcommunication As a result, this condition eventually affects students’performance and achievement since communication skill is a critical component to

be evaluated That is to say, in order to obtain a high score, students are required towork well on speaking tasks when being tested Unfortunately, test anxietyprevents them from succeeding in speaking activities

According to Young (1991), students with low oral competence are more likely toexperience test anxiety than students with good oral proficiency The researcheradds that unfamiliar and official conditions are found to heighten the level of

anxiety Students of this type are under the obligation to perform at their greatestlevel on tests; otherwise, they would be considered to have failed.

Negative Evaluation

Negative evaluation also contributes to provoking anxiety As stated by Horwitz et

al (1986), students might feel apprehensive towards others’ evaluation, avoidance

of evaluative situations, and the expectation of negative evaluation either from theteacher or peers Foreign language students frequently experience this feeling sincethey are insecure about themselves The students are unsure of what they aretalking about and how they will be seen by others Although fear of negativeevaluation is quite comparable to test anxiety, it is not confined to test-takingsituations but may occur in any social, evaluative situations

2.3.4 Manifestations of FLA

When students suffer from anxiety, they are likely to exhibit noticeable orperceivable behaviors Researchers and teachers have accrued a body of signs thatmay specify the experience of FLA in terms of physiological, behavioral, cognitiveand affective behaviour of learners

As posited by Horwitz et al (1986), anxious learners tend to freeze up in role-playactivities and participate unfrequently They also report the common psychologicalsymptoms associated with anxiety including tenseness, perspiring, trembling,palpitations, and sleep disturbance Moreover, the inability in controlling stagefright may activate the motor components of emotions such as forming of a smile

or other facial expressions (Szyszka, 2017)

Young (1991) identifies the reactions of anxious students’ as distortion of sounds,

an inability to produce the intonation and rhythm of the language, a freezing whencalled upon to perform in the target language, forgetting newly learned words orphrases, or simply refusing to speak and remaining in silence Additionally, somestudents may experience intense heart palpitations due to their anxiety; others mayfeel shy and perspire when speaking in front of others; they may be concerned that

they cannot control what occurs in communicative activities and that othersfrequently evaluate their performance.

Significantly, Oxford (1999) supposes that without an instrument like the FLCAS,language anxiety can be recognized by several observable signs as follows:

General avoidance: Forgetting the answer, showing carelessness, low levels of verbal production, lack of volunteering in class, seeming inability to answer even the simplest questions.

Physical actions: Squirming, stuttering or stammering, displaying jittery behavior, conversational withdrawal, lack of eye contact, image protection or masking behavior (exaggerated smiling, laughing, nodding, joking), and being unable to reproduce the sounds or intonation of the target language even after repeated (Oxford, 1999, p.66).

Later, Gregersen and Horwitz (2002) add that students who are vulnerable toanxiety tend to sit passively in class, withdraw from activities that could help themimprove their language skills, and even skip the class

2.4 Anxiety and speaking English

According to Horwitz et al (1986), speaking anxiety is “a type of shynesscharacterized by fear of or anxiety about communicating with people” (p.127) Thenature of a learner’s interactions and level of achievement in the language learningclassroom can be influenced by his or her experience of speaking anxiety Based

on Horwitz et al (1986)’s review of the literature, speaking anxiety frequentlyassociated with foreign language or L2 learning classroom situations for tworeasons: first, the student in the classroom perceives a lack of control over the

communicative situation; and second, he or she is aware that his or her speakingperformance is being monitored.

2.4.2 The effects of anxiety on speaking

Anxiety has long been acknowledged by educators as a potential problem inspeaking class Since the 1970s, researchers have investigated the effects ofanxiety on learning a foreign language (Liu, 2006)

In general, students will be disturbed by unpleasantness generated by such anxiety

It unquestionably has an impact on students’ speaking effort and effectiveness.Students who are anxious are likely to think less clearly and make more mistakes.Additionally, because anxiety generates worry and diverts their attention fromlearning, they have to work harder to perform a task

When it comes to the significance of interaction, Vygotsky (1978) argues thatsocial interactions in the classroom affects greatly on learning in the classroom.One of the most harmful effects of English language anxiety may be that peoplewithdraw from this interaction as a result of their high levels of English languageanxiety

According to Ormrod (2011), anxiety can obstruct several components ofcognition in speaking process Anxious students may find it difficult to learn,retrieve knowledge properly, and demonstrate their new skills Speaking will bechallenging for anxious students since anxiety impairs cognitive processing Inother words, speaking anxiety belongs to debilitating anxiety because it can hinderlanguage learning

In a similar vein, Tobias (1979) asserts that anxiety can affect students’ cognitiveprocessing The researcher uncovers the link between language anxiety and L2cognitive processing by presenting a model of cognitive effects of anxiety onlearning from instruction, which includes three stages: input, processing, andoutput Additionally, any or all three stages of a student’s cognitive performancemight be affected by anxiety It implies that information is not transferred to thenext level if anxiety interferes with cognitive work at one stage

At the input stage, Tobias (1979) stresses that speaking anxiety functions as a filterthat prevents some information from entering the cognitive processing This issimilar the well-known concept of the “affective filter” put forth by Krashen(1985) According to Krashen (1985), anxiety can increase affective filter andshape a mental block that precludes the use of comprehensible input for languageacquisition For instance, anxious students might not be able to gather information

on speaking rules and vocabulary since anxiety interfere their capacity to processinformation

Throughout the processing stage, it is enunciated by Tobias (1979) that anxietyserves as a distraction, which distracts students from processing informationefficiently When they are worried, anxious students may learn less and find itdifficult to digest new words, phrases, grammar, and other concepts They mayalso take longer to process the lesson

When anxiety reaches the output stage, it can influence the quality of students’speaking performance Anxious students may not be able to demonstrate what theyhave learned at this point (Tobias, 1979)

Based on the description above, it can be concluded that the existence of speakinganxiety can impede the fluency of students’ speech and learning in general

2.5 Causes of foreign language anxiety in speaking

2.5.1 Intrinsic factors

2.5.1.1 Lack of communicative competence

According to Hymes (1971), communicative competence is a way of describingwhat a language speaker knows which enables him or her to interact effectivelywith others In addition, Johnson (1995) claims that the second language studentsneed communicative competence to participate in and learn from their classroomexperience and Nunan (1999) confirms that we need linguistic competence, anadequate vocabulary and mastery of syntax to speak in another language

Littlewood (1981) indicates that efficient speakers are determined not by theirstructural knowledge, but by their understanding of functional and social meanings

in a given situation Therefore, Canale and Swan (1980) divide communicativecompetence into four components: grammatical competence, sociolinguisticcompetence, discourse competence, and strategic competence In sum,communicative competence involves all the abilities needed to communicate withother people

Park and Lee (2005) investigate the relationships between second languagelearners’ anxiety, self-confidence and speaking performance The results revealedthat learners’ anxiety level was negatively associated with their oral performance.Tanveer (2007) examines the factors that cause language anxiety among languagelearners in learning speaking skills and the impact of anxiety on communication inthe target language Notably, he finds similar results to what Park and Lee (2005)figure out The findings propose that students’ feelings of stress, anxiety ornervousness may hamper their language learning and performance abilities Heclaims that English language pronunciation, irregular grammar rules andvocabulary are also responsible for speech anxiety when learners are required tocommunicate in English Finally, he concludes that “the higher the anxiety, thelower the performance” (p.10)

2.5.1.2 Lack of self-confidence

Non-English major students at UIT are also affected by the lack of self-confidencewhen speaking English in class Self-confidence is the second intrinsic cause thatplays an essential role in the process of foreign language learning

Self-confidence is defined by Brown (2001) as “learners’ belief that indeed arefully capable of accomplishing a task is at least partially a factor in their eventualsuccess in attaining the task” (p.62) Brown (2007), Harris (2009), and Dörnyei(2005, p 87) agree that “students lack of confidence is a particularly sensitive area

in primary/second school learning because students are in the developmental ageand doubts and worries about oneself are more common feelings than confidence

or pride, which emerge from the accumulation of inter and intrapersonalexperiences”.

According to Cheng et al (1999), there is a correlation between language learninganxiety and low self-confidence in language ability He states that “some anxiousstudents in second language classes may be afflicted primarily by low self-confidence in speaking the target language” (p 436) Therefore, lack of self-confidence should be considered as one of the intrinsic causes leading to anxiety inspeaking English

Similarly, “certain beliefs about language learning also contribute to the students’tension and frustration in the classroom” (Horwitz et al., 1986, p.127) This alsosuggests that anxiety can be generated by low self-esteem

As noted by Price (1991), anxious students believe their language abilities areinferior to those of other students, which mostly comes from their speakingexperience This perception is relatively sufficient to cause students to thinknegatively about everything related to language language learning, includingpreparation for classroom activities or a test

2.5.1.4 Low motivation

Harmer (2007) points out that intrinsic motivation is concerned with what takesinside the wish to integrate themselves into the culture of the target language

community and instrumental (students believe that mastery of the target languagewill be instrumental in getting them a better job, position or status) Besides,intrinsic motivation can be affected by physical conditions, method, the teacherand success.

Tran, Moni and Baldauf (2012) stress that low proficiency and motivation are twomain contributing factors of non-English majors’ anxiety since they do not haveenough time and attention for English at university In addition, non-Englishmajors are unmotivated to learn English or they learn English just because it isobligatory (Tran and Baldauf, 2007)

It can be concluded that motivation have an impacts on students’ success inparticipating in classrooms This is because when they have intrinsic motivationtowards learning English speaking, they may take advantages of more chances totake part in class activities

2.5.2 Extrinsic causes

2.5.2.1 Peers

When learners interact with peers, they become the active ones (Jacobs &Renandya, 2016) and the student-talk time is therefore lengthened Jacobs andRenandya also add that “students, with guidance from family, teachers, peers andothers, take increasingly greater control of their own learning, in preparation forbecoming lifelong learners” (p.5) to emphasize the importance of peers in learning.However, peers can also cause negative effect on learners Chan and Wu (2004)point out that the negative evaluation from teachers and especially peers serves asthe source of language anxiety Their study shows that the negative evaluationmainly originated from peers They continue to add that some learners experiencedthe embarrassment when being watched and laughed at if they had poorperformances in the lesson

According to Rajitha and Alamelu (2020), one of the external factors thatinfluences students’ anxiety in language acquisition is peer pressure Zhiping and

Paramasivam (2013) also share the same view when stating that students who wereconcerned about their classmates’ evaluations would always experience anxiety.Fear of being judged by others, fear of speaking in public, and feeling ashamed aresources of language anxiety.

With the potential negative impacts, peers should be considered as one of theextrinsic causes that results in language anxiety among non-English major students

2.5.2.2 Teachers

Chan and Wu (2004) claim that many students struggle to understand what theirteachers talk about and they feel stressful because they cannot comprehend theinput from the teachers In addition, teachers produce language at such a highspeed that a number of students suffer from “incomprehensible input” (Chan &

Wu, 2004, p 311) Other problems are teachers’ method of correcting andproviding feedback Learners may feel humiliated and embarrassed when teachersgive them negative evaluation in front of the class; hence, they feel nervous toraise their voice in class (Tanveer, 2007) It is worth noting that teachers can also

be a cause of anxiety in English speaking in class

2.5.2.3 Previous teaching curriculum

According to Le (2013), in both lower secondary and secondary schools, the focalpoint of English teaching and learning is on accomplishing English grammar andvocabulary exercises in order to pass the final exams, including many universitiesand colleges entrance exams in Vietnam which primarily comprise grammar andvocabulary tasks only This means that, the Vietnam classroom culture just focuses

on accuracy to pass the examinations rather than focusing on fluency andcommunicative competence

Likewise, Toan (2013) affirmatively asserts that the grammar-dominated examsare one of the identified issues with English instruction in high schools, resulting

in teachers’ using the grammar translation method excessively in class (Ho &Binh, 2014)

2.5.2.4 Limited exposure to English

EFL learners’ speaking performance is also influenced by the limitations of theEnglish learning setting (Tanveer, 2007) According to Harmer (2007) and Ur(1999), people who learn English as a second language and have the same mothertongue tend to communicate in their native language even in English classroomssince it is easier to express what they really want to convey, especially when theyare asked to discuss unfamiliar speaking topics (Harmer, 2007) Moreover,Nguyen and Tran (2015) adds that students are usually given limited time todemonstrate their speaking ability in class, which turns out to be a one of thegreatest barriers to them

As a result of the factors mentioned, it is inevitable that EFL students mayexperience FLA that adversely affects speaking performance and spokencommunication

2.6 Students’ strategies to reduce speaking anxiety

According to Horwitz et al (1986), several recent approaches to foreign languageteaching, such as communicative language learning and suggestopedia, areexplicitly directed at reducing learner anxiety They lay emphasis on pair or groupwork and learning through communication in the target language as a way toreduce language anxiety

Horwitz et al (1986) posits that language teachers should either actively addressthe current anxiety-inflicting situation or reduce the stress associated with thelearning process Following this advice, several studies have suggested a variety ofapproaches to lower FLA levels in students

To illustrate, Price (1991) recommends that less stressful settings can be producedthrough familiarity with other students, a smaller class size, an early start tolanguage instruction, positive reinforcement, and an approachable instructor

Kondo and Yang (2004) propose five different strategies that students can employ

to alleviate anxiety about performing in front of the class These includepreparation, relaxation, positive thinking, peer seeking, and resignation

The first solution is preparation Students attempt to maintain self-control bybettering their study habits and study techniques such as studying diligently andcapturing good summaries of lecture notes These techniques is anticipated torelieve students’ anxiety in the classroom and accelerate their subjectiveunderstanding of the material (Kondo & Yang, 2004)

The second strategy by Kondo and Yang is relaxation, aiming to lessen somaticsymptoms of anxiety which is making the body calm through action Through asoothing breath release, exercise transforms negative energy into positive energy.The third category is positive thinking, which is distinguished by calmingcomplicated cognitive processes that underpin students’ anxiety and make thembelieve that everything can be fine These techniques aim to calm the nervouslearners by drawing their focus away from the stressful environment and towardpleasant and encouraging cues (Kondo & Yang, 2004)

The fouth is peer seeking This strategy is characterized by students’ willingness tolook for other students who appear to be struggling in class and their ability tomanage their anxiety The realization that other students are experiencing the sameissue may provide the anxious student with a source of emotional regulationthrough social comparison (Kondo & Yang, 2004)

The last tactic is resignation Students describe this as trying to avoid the issue anddistancing themselves from the activity in order to lessen the effects of theiranxiety Giving up and napping in class are two examples of the activities in thismethod (Kondo & Yang, 2004)

Alrabai (2014) emphasizes the role of the instructor and learners’ opportunities topractice the target language in limiting speaking anxiety According to theresearcher, teachers should encourage, reassure, provide positive reinforcement,and demonstrate empathy to help students develop their self-esteem and

confidence in their ability to speak a foreign language in addition to lowering theiranxiety Since motivation is adversely and strongly correlated with anxiety,teachers should foster a friendly environment to encourage their students to learnEnglish; thus, increased student motivation leads to decreased anxiety (Alrabai,2014).

Similarly, researchers suggest that reducing the unwillingness by encouragingstudents to practice the target language in an engaging, nonthreatening learningsetting can help them overcome FLA (Peng & Woodrow, 2010)

In short, the above suggesting strategies have been proven effective to assiststudents to successfully deal with and overcome their foreign language anxiety

Liu (2006) investigated 547 Chinese undergraduate non-English majors at threedifferent proficiency levels in oral English classrooms by adapting FLCAS ofHorwitz et al (1986) and employing classroom observations, reflective journals,and interviews Research findings pointed out that more than one-third of thestudents in each group are likely to be anxious while more proficient students

tended to be less worried The students exhibited their highest level of anxietywhen talking to the teacher and speaking alone in front of the class; by contrast,they felt the least anxious when working in pair or in group Many of the students

in Liu’s study claimed that because they did not practice speaking in front ofothers at schools, they were anxious when required to speak in English atuniversity This is similar to Vietnamese situation where students rely excessively

on writing skills in order to achieve good marks and increase their chances ofentering universities

Continuing the discussion, Liu (2007) made in investigation into the factorscontributing to non-English major students’ anxiety in oral production and thestrategies used by the students to cope with this anxiety The findings of the studyrevealed that anxiety was experienced by many students while speaking English inclass There were several factors leading to anxiety such as lack of vocabulary,fear of committing mistakes, low English proficiency, lack of preparation, andmemory disassociation However, the study was conducted in a small classroomwith only 27 participants, which made the study less reliable and required furtherresearch on the issue

Tóth (2010) examined the interplay between language anxiety and oralperformance among Hungarian advanced language students of English by adaptingFLCAS and recorded semi-formal interviews with a native speaker The findingsindicated that a half of students are slightly anxious in English language classroom.Students who experience high and low levels of language anxiety have differentresults in oral performance in terms of effectiveness of communication, fluency,grammatical and lexical resources, pronunciation

In the same vein, a survey study with the participation of 313 Chinese ESL firstyear university students in China using Horwitz et al.’s FLCAS was administered

by Mak (2011) It was concluded that lack of preparation, being corrected whilespeaking, insufficient time and not being allowed to use the first language were theanxiety-inducing factors Significantly, he reported that 72.9% of learners feltstressed while the teacher was assessing their performance during speaking

In the research of Language Anxiety among gifted learners in Malaysia,Kamarulzaman (2013) proved that although the learners are elite, they also faced aslight degree of anxiety when learning foreign language One standout point in theresearcher’s findings was that Communication Apprehension played the most vitalrole in foreign language anxiety Many other researchers also focused oninvestigating the anxiety that learners may encounter when they participate in oralactivities in class.

In the study of English-speaking anxiety among Thai students of Akkakoson(2016), the findings showed that students experienced a moderate level of anxietywhen speaking English in class One noticeable point of these findings was thatTest Anxiety and Fear of Negative Evaluation were two dominant componentsaccounting for English-speaking anxiety in this group of participants.Communication Apprehension played minor role in creating speaking anxiety.This revealed the fact that Communication Apprehension was not always the maincomponent in constituting foreign language anxiety In different cultural contexts,students’ perspectives of achievements in foreign language classes are different Inthis case, these university Thai students considered performance appraisal andother people’s judgments are important As a result, they might feel stressful andnervous when speaking English in class because they did not not want to fail thetests or be embarrassed in front of their friends This led to students’ English-speaking anxiety It can be seen that cultural background is an interesting factorthat affect learners’ anxiety, which should be taken into consideration whenconducting the present study in Vietnamese background

Lisewise, Sadighi and Dastpak (2017) discovered in another study that among 154Iranian EFL students, fear of making mistakes, fear of being negatively assessed,and limited vocabulary knowledge were respectively the three main contributors tostudents’ anxiety

Rajitha and Alamelu (2020) conducted a qualitative study of English-speakinganxiety among 40 Indian final year tertiary students employing questionnaires andone-on-one interviews The findings indicated that internal and external factors of

speaking anxiety which are language factor, lack of knowledge of grammar,pronunciation factor, stage fear, lack of confidence, shyness, and peer factor aremajor triggers of speaking anxiety.

Vietnamese learners are without exception to foreign language anxiety in speaking.Tran, Moni and Baldauf (2013) reported that although Foreign Language Anxietyhave both positive and negative impacts, students suffer from anxiety more thanbenefiting from it Specifically, Foreign Language Anxiety adversely affectedstudents’ EFL learning attitudes and emotions as well as their EFL learning abilityand performance The most common noticeably negative effects of ForeignLanguage Anxiety were found include failing to perform well and unwillingness tocommunicate in English

Le (2016) investigated EFL students’ foreign language anxiety at Gio Linh highschool but the study did not focus on the students’ perspectives concerning FLA.Tran (2019) revealed that students at Hanoi University of Education experienced ahigh level of anxiety in foreign language classes and the components thatcontributed the most to foreign language anxiety were tests and lack of confidence

in communication However, the relationship between anxiety and learningoutcomes as well as students’ strategies to alleviate anxiety were not pointed out.Recently, a quantitative study with 128 EFL non-English major students at ThaiNguyen was implemented by Le and Tran (2020) to examine the levels, causes,and impacts of anxiety in speaking in relation to academic achievement Theresearchers found that these students experienced a moderate level of Englishspeaking anxiety in class Additionally, fear of being laughed, fear of makingmistakes, lack of confidence and negative evaluation are the main determinantsthat inhibit EFL non-English majors from speaking They also concluded that themore anxious the students feel, the lower their academic proficiency in speaking is.Overall, empirical research evidence has lent credence to the adverse effects ofFLA on students and solutions to tackle such problems Despite the inconsistence

in results and findings among research in different fields and for different language