Learners’ anxiety in speaking lessons at Nguyen Quan Nho upper secondary school Causes and solutions = Sự băn khoăn lo lắng của học sinh trường THPT Nguyễn Quán

Based on students’ explanations, factors viewed as causing anxiety was divided into four categories: the content of the lessons, communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of nega

ABSTRACT

The present study is concerned with sources of speaking anxiety on the basis of learners’ responses presented in the survey questionnaire and in the informal interview The quantitative questionnaire first examined the existence of speaking anxiety and factors causing students’ anxiety when speaking English The qualitative interview further looked at sources of students speaking anxiety A total of 135 tenth form students at Nguyen Quan Nho high school, Thanh Hoa province participated in the survey The results showed that the tendency of students’ nervousness was obvious Based on students’ explanations, factors viewed as causing anxiety was divided into four categories: the content of the lessons, communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative feedback From the students’ suggestions in the interview, the researcher proposed some strategies for students and teachers to ameliorate negative effects of speaking anxiety It is also hoped that this research will be of some help to Vietnamese learners and teachers in general in having a better understanding of the nature of FLA and speaking anxiety in particular to improve the teaching and learning of English

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Chart 1: Student’s anxiety in speaking lessons

Table 1: Student’s attitudes toward speaking skills

Table 2: Speaking anxiety associated with content of the lessons

Table 3: Speaking anxiety associated with communication apprehension

Table 4: Communication apprehension associated with students’ previous learning experience Table 5: Communication apprehension associated with learners’ speaking environment Table 6: Communication apprehension associated with learners’ personality

Table 7: Factors associated with learners’ self perception of their inability to speak English Table 8: Learners’ communication apprehension associated with teachers’ factor

Table 9: Speaking anxiety associated with test

Table 10: Learners’ speaking anxiety associated with teacher’s negative feedback

Table 11: Learners’ speaking anxiety associated with peers’ negative feedback

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATION iv

LIST OF TABLE AND CHART v

TABLE OF CONTENTS vi

PART A : INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Significance of the study 3

6 Method of the study 3

7 Design of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Overview of anxiety 5

1.2.1 Definition and types of anxiety 5

1.2.2 Foreign language anxiety 6

1.2 Overview of speaking 8

1.2.1 Definition of speaking 8

1.2.2 The role of speaking in language teaching and learning 8

1.2.3 Principles of teaching speaking 9

1.3 Speaking Anxiety 10

1.3.1 Related studies of language anxiety in speaking skills 11

1.3.2 Sources of foreign language anxiety and speaking anxiety 12

CHAPTER 2 : THE STUDY 2.1 Overview of current teaching and learning speaking at Nguyen Quan Nho high school 16

2.2 Data gathering instruments 17

2.3 Procedures 17

2.4 Techniques of data analysis 18

2.5 Data analysis and findings 18

2.5.1 Student’s attitudes toward speaking skills 18

2.5.2 Student’s general speaking anxiety 19

2.5.3 Sources of speaking anxiety experienced by students at Nguyen Quan Nho high school 20

2.5.3.1 Speaking anxiety associated with the contents of the lessons 20

2.5.3.2 Speaking anxiety associated with communication apprehension 21

a Communication apprehension associated with learner’s factors 22

Previous learning experience 22

Learners’ learning environment 23

Learners’ personality 24

Learners’ self-perception of their own speaking ability 25

b Communication apprehension associated with teachers’ factors 27

2.5.3.3 Speaking anxiety associated with test 28

2.5.3.4 Speaking anxiety associated with fear of negative feedback 29

a Speaking anxiety associated with teacher’s negative feedback 29

b Learners’ speaking anxiety associated with peer’s negative feedback 30

CHAPTER III: SUGGESTIONS FOR CLASSROOM PRACTICE

3.1 Solutions related to the contents of the lessons 32

3.2 Solutions related to learners’ communication apprehension 33

3.3 Solutions related to test anxiety 35

3.4 Solutions related to learners’ fear of negative feedback 35

PART C: CONCLUSION 1 Summary of the findings 37

2 Limitations of the study 40

3 Suggestions for further study 40

REFERENCES 42

APPENDIX 1: I APPENDIX 2: IV

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Nowadays, English is considered as an international language, which is spoken by millions

of people all over the world The number of people who desire to learn English has multiplied Some learn English to get more wisdom, some wish to get well-paid jobs, some learn English for other purposes That is why English has been now widely taught in almost all educational institutions, at every level

In Vietnam, English is being taught as a compulsory subject and it is one of the six subjects

in the national examination that students have to pass if they want to get General Certificate of Secondary Education (G.C.S.E) In recent years, the teaching of foreign language in Vietnam has seen a remarkable change in methodology, followed by a new approach to language teaching That is Communicative Language Teaching This approach represents a fundamental shift in the teaching-learning process from structure mastery to communicative competence Accordingly, learners’ ability to communicate becomes its first priority, which means that when learning English, learners have to grasp all the four skills: speaking, reading, writing, and listening because those skills are integrated with one another Speaking well is of great importance to students when communicating with others

in a second language, not only in teaching and learning environments, but also outside the classroom The students should be able to speak in a well structured way and develop their ability to take part in conversations, discussions and negotiations and to express with subtlety their own views and consider those of others Speaking does not only reflect the speaker’s social and cultural background, but is also a part of speaker’s identity However, among the four skills, speaking seems to be the most difficult one but paid the least attention to in most high schools Speaking has only become a compulsory skill in the curriculum since the new English textbook was officially put into use in 2006 This results

in numerous problems inflicting students in learning the speaking skills, one of which is Foreign Language Learning Anxiety Besides, having considerable levels of anxiety in the classroom has been regarded as an experience that is more likely to occur in foreign language lessons than in other subjects This seems natural as in foreign language

classroom the students have to use foreign language - an instrument they are not familiar with - to sustain communication As a teacher of English, I have noticed that my students often experience foreign language anxiety in speaking skills Some students experience pressure when being asked to speak in front of the whole class because they fear criticism Some may feel nervous since they lack of vocabulary to express their ideas; consequently, they may tremble and stutter, etc Such situation has inspired me to carry out a study on learners’ anxiety in speaking skills to identify the causes and give solutions to alleviate students’ anxiety in learning speaking

2 Aims of the study

The major purpose of the research is to find out factors or causes that make students stressful and nervous in speaking English and suggest some solutions to alleviate English speaking anxiety in the students

3 Research questions

To fulfill the above aims, the study is carried out with an attempt to answer the following questions:

1 What are the possible causes that make students at Nguyen Quan Nho upper

secondary school anxious and nervous in learning speaking?

2 What are the possible solutions to reduce speaking anxiety of the students?

4 Scope of the study

FLA exits in the process of learning all the four skills However, only students’ speaking anxiety is focused on in this research with its causes in terms of contents of the lessons, communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative feedback and solutions based on each source of anxiety Due to the local condition constraints, this study only involves one hundred and thirty-five 10th form students at Nguyen Quan Nho High School

5 Significance of the study

This study could be of some help to teachers and students at Nguyen Quan Nho upper secondary school:

(i) to improve the teachers’ theoretical understanding of foreign language anxiety,

especially the causes of speaking anxiety

(ii) to enhance the students’ awareness of causes of speaking anxiety they have in

foreign language, and from this they can control and overcome their nervousness in speaking skills Hopefully, the possible solutions suggested in this research can help learner reduce the speaking anxiety and motivate them to learn and make progress in speaking

6 Method of the study

In order to realize the above aims of the study, quantitative method was mainly used The data collected for the study came from the 10th grade students Survey questionnaire was used to gather information and evidence for the study

In addition, to make the data collected more reliable and authentic, qualitative method was applied with two instruments: a follow up interview and an informal observation

All the comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion provided in the study were based on the data analysis of the study.

7 Design of the study

This study is divided into three parts:

Part A – Introduction presents the rationale, the aims, the research questions, scope, significance, methods as well as the design of the study

Part B – Development contains three chapters Chapter one reviews the literature in terms

of speaking, foreign language anxiety in general and speaking anxiety in particular Chapter two presents the study Chapter three mentions some suggested solutions to reduce speaking anxiety

Part C – Conclusion presents a summary of the study and concluding comments derived from the findings of the study It also discusses the limitation of the study and suggestion for further research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

The main aim of this chapter is to review the literature on second language anxiety in general and speaking anxiety in particular The chapter starts with a literature review on anxiety This is followed by an overview of speaking The end of the chapter is a discussion of speaking anxiety

1.1 Overview of anxiety

1.1.1 Definition and types of anxiety

In the nineteenth century, Darwin (1872) thought of anxiety as an emotional reaction that

is aroused when an organism feels physically under threat At the beginning of the twentieth century, Freud (1920) thought anxiety was akin to “fear” or fright” In later decades: “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) In another definition, Scovel (1978: 134) suggests that anxiety is associated with feelings of uneasiness, frustration, self-doubt, apprehension, or worry Horwitz, et al (1986), define anxiety as

“the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system”

According to MacIntyre and Gadner (1991b), anxiety in general can be experienced at three perspectives: trait anxiety, state anxiety, and situation specific anxiety The first considers anxiety as a general possibility trait that is relevant across several situation The second perspective is interested in the here- and-now experience of anxiety as an emotional state The third approach examines the specific forms of anxiety that occur consistently over time within a given situation

1.1.2 Foreign language anxiety

Research on the affective factors in second language acquisition has been mounting steadily for a number of decades because students are “physical and cognitive, but primarily emotional, being” (Rogers, cited in Brown, 2007: 97) “Among the affective factors influencing language learning, anxiety ranks high” (Arnold, 1999: 59) The construct of anxiety has been recognized as one of the most important predictors of foreign language performance

Foreign language anxiety is a universal phenomenon that has a significant factor adversely affecting the language learning process Gardner & MacIntyre (1993, cited in Arnold 1999:59) refer to language anxiety as “fear or apprehension occurring when a learner is expected to perform in the second or foreign language."

Scholars have studied anxiety and its effect on foreign language learning for many years However, “for all the work conducted in this area, many fundamental questions remain unanswered” (Speilmann & Radnofsky, 2001) “Teachers have long been aware of the fact that many of their students experience discomfort in the course of language learning [yet] researchers have been unable to establish a clear picture of how anxiety affects language learning and performance (Horwitz and Young, 1991: xiii) Alpert and Haber (1960) determined that anxiety could have a beneficial or facilitative effect on student performance (as cited in Elkhafaifi, 2005: 208) In 1977, Kleinmmann’s (cited in Aida, 1994) study of Spanish-speaking and Arabic-speaking ESL students found that facilitating anxiety was correlated with students’ oral production of linguistically difficult (thus challenging) English structures (e.g., infinitive complements and passive sentences) However, there was no evidence that debilitating anxiety negatively influenced oral performance Spielman and Radnofsky (2001) concluded that anxiety has a detrimental effect on language acquisition Horwitz (2001) reiterated that the issue of understanding the relationship between anxiety and achievement is unresolved

A more detailed description of language anxiety was provided by Horwitz, et al (1986) They regarded communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation

as the conceptual building blocks for the description of foreign language anxiety Communication apprehension is considered as fear or anxiety related to communicating

with people They suggested that the inability to express one’s thoughts and ideas in the foreign language or the inability to comprehend another person were potential sources of anxiety for language learners Test anxiety is a type of performance anxiety due to a fear of failure (Gordon & Sarason; Sarason, as cited in Horwitz, et al., 1991) Test-anxious students often set excessively high standards for themselves and get anxious when they fail

to show perfect test performance Students who are anxious in foreign language class suffer a lot owing to the frequent assessment inherent in the learning Fear of negative evaluation is defined as the apprehension about the evaluation from others, the avoidance

of being involved in evaluative situation, and the expectation that one is negatively evaluated by others (Watson& Friend, as cited in Horwitz, et al., 1991) Fear of negative evaluation is not limited to test-taking situations, which separates it from the concept of test anxiety

Although communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation are useful for describing foreign language anxiety, Horwitz, et al (1986) suggested that foreign language anxiety was not merely the sum of these fears They consider foreign language anxiety as a distinct complex of self- perceptions, beliefs, feeling and behavior connected with, and arising from language learning situations Foreign language anxiety is

a form of situation specific anxiety: it is stable over time but limited to the particular situations of language learning Except the foreign language anxiety defined by Horwitz, et

al (1986), the anxiety related to specific language skills, such as writing, reading, listening and speaking are all situation specific anxieties The situation-specific anxiety is different from the state anxiety, because it is the tendency to become anxious, rather than the real- time anxious feeling It is different from the trait anxiety, for it is limited to a specific type

of situation, rather than across various type of situations MacIntyre and Gardner (1991a) suggested that situation-specific anxiety can be seen as trait anxiety in a given context

In other words, FLA is the “fear” or “apprehension” occurring when a student is required

to perform in the second or foreign language Anxiety refers to an emotional state which can have both positive and negative influences, and which fosters and facilitates or disturbs and impedes learning (MacIntyre, 1995) Anxiety can harm learners’ performance in many ways such as not participating in the activities or not using the language in public In

contrast, it can be helpful in some ways such as keeping student alert and trying to make the necessary preparation beforehand for the learning activities

Bygate (1997) stated that speaking was a skill which deserved attention every bit as much

as literacy skill It is often thought of as a “popular” form of expression that uses the unprestigious “colloquial” register Speaking is in many ways an undervalued skill Perhaps this is because we can almost speak, and so take the skill to much for granted In his own view, Mackey (1965) defines “Oral expressions 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 Bygate, 1997: 5) According to him, for the students who want to be good at speaking, he/ she has to choose the right forms, put them in correct order, sound it like native speaker and even produce the right meanings Therefore, speaking skills generally have to be learnt and practiced carefully before giving a presentation

1.2.2 The role of speaking in language teaching and learning

Speaking plays an utmost important role among the four language skills since it helps to identify who knows or does not know a language Pattison (1992) confirms that when people know or learn a language, they mean being able to speak the language

In language teaching and learning, speaking is a medium through which much language is learnt, and which is particularly useful for learning The ability to communicate in a second

language clearly and efficiently contributes to the success of the learners in school and success later in every phase of life (Kayi, 2006)

More than this, speaking is regarded as the first step to confirm who knows or does not know a language Ur, P (1996) shows that people who knows a language are referred to as

“speaker” of that language as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing

To many language learners “ mastering the art of speaking 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: 39) It can be inferred from Nunan’s view point that speaking is a very important skill among the four basic ones Therefore, having dealt with the importance of oral skills in language teaching and learning

is essential that language teachers should pay more attention to teaching speaking skills In order to carry out many of the most basic transactions, it is necessary for learners to speak with confidence

1.2.3 Principles of teaching speaking

In order to have a successful speaking lessons, teachers and learners should pay attention

to its principles suggested in EST methodology II (To Thu Huong, et at., 2008)

First of all, teaching speaking skills is closed to “receptive skill work” Students learn this through texts which offer them models to follow They can imitate the way native speakers use the languages and their intonation Besides, when people want to keep their conversation, they have to listen to others, receive what partners say to produce new sentences, so it is also reception

Secondly, teachers ought to “give students practice with both fluency and accuracy” As being mentioned by Brown & Nation (1997), students must learn both knowledge and the way native speakers use the language to speak well

On the other hand, it is recommended to “provide opportunities for students to talk by using pair work and group work, and limit teacher talk” Pair work and group work are

good tools to encourage students to talk in the class, so it will reduce teacher’s talking time easily

Moreover, tasks planned should “involve negotiation of meaning” By asking for explanation or clarification, students can understand the speech and maintain the talk for a long time

Lastly, “design classroom activities that involve guidance in both transactional and interactional speaking.” Students have chances to communicate in various and unpredicted topics related to the real life so that they are stimulated to talk in speaking lessons

To conclude, these principles are not all, but they are more important than others, so they are reviewed to help teachers and learners have good speaking classes

1.3 Speaking anxiety

The anxiety associated with second language speaking performance is called speaking anxiety Speaking anxiety has been supposed to be the result of speaking and has also been found to influence speaking

MacIntyre (1999: 33) claimed speaking seems to be “the single most important source of language anxiety” Students have been found to feel most anxious when they respond to the teacher or are singled out to speak in class (Liu, 2007) The predominance of the number of items related to speaking on instruments designed to measure general foreign language anxiety also reflects the widely held view of speaking being the most anxiety- provoking aspect of foreign language learning for many students

1.3.1 Related studies of language anxiety in speaking skills

A great deal of foreign language anxiety research has centered on anxiety with respect to specific classroom activities such as speaking and listening suggesting that oral classroom activities are most problematic and anxiety provoking for foreign language learners (Horwitz, et al., 1986; MacIntyre, 1995; Price, 1991; Young, 1991)

Kitano (2001) looked at sources of speaking anxiety among 212 learners of Japanese According to him, a fear of negative evaluation as a personality trait and self-perception of speaking ability in the target language are the two potential sources leading to foreign language speaking anxiety

Liu (2007) made an investigation into the factors contributing to student anxiety in oral production and the strategies used by the students to cope with this anxiety The findings of the study revealed that anxiety was experienced by many students while speaking English

in class There were several factors leading to anxiety such as lack of vocabulary, low English proficiency and memory disassociation The researcher underlined the importance

of the awareness of the teachers with regard to the existence of anxiety among EFL learners and showed empathy to them in class

Tsiplakides and Keramida (2009) examined the characteristics of anxious students in order

to implement classroom interventions to reduce foreign language speaking anxiety and provide teachers with strategies to cope with anxiety stemming from students’ fear of negative evaluation from their peers and perception of low ability Fifteen students participated in the study and the researchers used three techniques of qualitative data collection: semi-structured interviews, group discussion and direct observation The data analysis showed that six of those students were experiencing English language speaking anxiety as a result of fear of negative evaluation from their peers and perception of low ability in relation to their peers Having established the sources for English language speaking anxiety, the researchers implemented the following classroom interventions to overcome it: project work, establishing community and a supportive classroom atmosphere

by considering teacher-student relations, providing indirect rather than direct correction, accepting the need for self-worth protection, employing teacher’s immediacy and praise The researchers also pointed out that oral production in a foreign language is a potentially

stressful situation for some students and therefore, the teachers should help their students

to overcome foreign language anxiety

1.3.2 Sources of foreign language anxiety and speaking anxiety

It has been estimated that approximately one third of students learning a foreign language experience some types of foreign language anxiety (Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope, 1986) Research has shown that there are a number of ways that learning a foreign language can cause anxiety for the language learners The causes can be broken down into three main sources: learners’ characteristics, teacher characteristics and classroom procedures

Learner characteristics that can cause foreign language anxiety include low self-esteem,

competitiveness, self-perceived low level of ability, communication apprehension, lack of group membership with peers, and beliefs about language learning

Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) stated that anxious students often cite speaking in the foreign language to be their most anxiety-producing experience This is part due to the fact that it is hard to be one’s self in the target language (i.e feelings of uncertainty and threats

to the ego due to the unknown element of the second language; as cited in Guiora et al., 1972), which can thus trigger anxiety The foreign language learners are put in the position

of communicating something that is meaningful to him/her without having sufficient command of the language to do so Self-aware language learners are confronted with the probability that people will perceive them differently from the way they perceive themselves Thus learners can experience anxiety as a result of fear of experience of

“losing oneself” in the target culture

Student beliefs about language learning can also be associated with anxiety (Horwitz,

horwitz and Cope, 1986; Horwitz, 1988; Price, 1991; Young, 1991) Students can have unrealistic expectations as to how a person should perform in a foreign language classroom; when those expectations are not met it can lead to negative feelings about one’s intelligence and abilities Young (1994) listed the following role-related beliefs which have been shown to evoke feelings of anxiety; it is necessary for the teacher to be intimidating at

times; the instructor is supposed to correct every single mistake made by the students; group or partner work is not appropriate because it can get out of control; the teacher should do most of the talking; and the instructor’s role is that of a drill sergeant

Palacios (1998) found that the following student beliefs are associated with anxiety: the feeling that mastering a language is an overwhelming task; the feeling that one needs to go through a translation process in order to communicate in the target language; the difficulty

of keeping everything in one’s head; and the belief that learning a language is easier at an earlier age These are all faulty beliefs that may cause the students to have unrealistic expectations about the language learning process, and thus cause some anxiety

As far as teacher factors are concerned, a judgmental teaching attitude (Samimy, 1994)

and a harsh manner of teaching (Aida, 1994) are linked to student fear in the classroom Palacios (1998) found the following characteristics of the teacher to be associated with anxiety: absence of teacher support, unsympathetic personalities, lack of time for personal attention, favoritism, a sense that the class does not provide students with the tools necessary to match up with the teacher’s expectations, and the sense of being judged by the teacher or wanting to impress the teacher Young (1999) noted that teaching too much grammar or avoiding grammar altogether as well as using speaking activities that put the learner “on the spot” in front of peers without allowing prior preparation are also sources

of anxiety for many students Ando (1999) found that having a native speaker for a teacher can cause anxiety, as the teacher may lack the sensitivity of the learning process or the teacher may be hard to understand in English

A third source of foreign language anxiety is classroom procedures Young (1990)

compiled a list of classroom activities which are perceived by students as producing anxiety: (1) spontaneous role play in front of the class; (2) speaking in front of the class; (3) oral presentations or skits in front of the class; (4) presenting a prepared dialogue in front of the class; and (5) writing work on the board

Error correction also turned out to play an important role: being negatively evaluated by either the teacher or peers is often associated with anxiety Palacios (1998) found the

following classroom characteristics to be anxiety-producing: demands of oral production, feelings of being put on the spot, the pace of the class, and the element of being evaluated (i.e fear of negative evaluation)

Oxford (1999) emphasized learning and teaching styles as a potential source of language anxiety If the instructor’s teaching style and a student’s learning style are not compatible,

“style wars” can trigger or heighten anxiety levels

In addition, language testing may lead to foreign language anxiety (Young, 1991;

Daly,1991) For example, difficult tests, tests that do not match the teaching in class, and unclear or unfamiliar test instructions can all produce learner anxiety

In short, there are various causes of anxiety In the context of speaking English as a second language, Young (1991) listed six potential causes of language anxiety which include both personal and interpersonal factors, learners’ beliefs about language learning, instructors’ beliefs about language teaching, instructor-learner interactions, classroom procedures and language tests However, to date, findings by Horwitz, et al (1986) have been the most influential They identified three causes of language anxiety, that is, communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation Based on these three components they also designed a Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale comprising thirty-three items This scale was later used widely by researchers to measure foreign language learners’ anxiety and examine the effect of anxiety on learning in different contexts

Most studies on foreign language anxiety are quantitative in nature From a qualitative perspective, Price (1991) interviewed highly-anxious students to gain insight into the subjective experience of language anxiety In general, the interviews were consistent with the foreign language anxiety construct identified by Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) The participants spoke about their test anxiety, communication apprehension, and fear of negative evaluation All of them identified speaking target language to be the greatest source of anxiety Just like Young (1990), the interviews conducted by Price emphasized the importance of low self-esteem Many of her subjects compared themselves to other

language learners and believed their language skills to be weaker In addition, the participants’ responses suggested that perfectionism is another personality trait that can come into play (cited in Gregersen and Horwitz, 2002) According to Price (1991), anxious learners often engage in self-comparison with classmates and peers – a practice which can lead to anxiety

To sum up, the chapter reviews the literature on many issues related to anxiety and speaking anxiety These include a definition of foreign language anxiety and its types, definition and the role of speaking in language teaching and learning, principles of teaching the skills, factors causing speaking anxiety and previous studies related to language anxiety in speaking skills This knowledge, therefore, serves as a basis for further work in the latter chapters

CHAPTER II: THE STUDY

This chapter presents the study It includes information about the overview of current teaching and learning speaking at Nguyen Quan Nho high school, the data collection instrument, the procedure, the data analysis

2.1 Overview of current teaching and learning speaking at Nguyen Quan Nho high school

The study was conducted at Nguyen Quan Nho high school, Thanh Hoa province One hundred and thirty five students from three classes 10A1, 10A4 and 10A7 participated in this study They have been learning English since they were in 6th grade (i.e they have had four years of English learning at junior secondary school.) However, like most other students in Vietnam they rarely have chance to communicate with English speaking people

in both classroom and outside classroom Consequently, their ability to speaking English can not be improved Besides English in general and speaking in particular has not been paid much attention to due to the fact that students do not have to take English tests in the Graduation Exam from junior secondary school and in Entrance Exam into High School

The students are studying English in large classes of about forty to forty five students each They are learning the newly and revised textbook “TIENG ANH 10” by Hoang Van Van,

et al (2006) This textbook is theme-based including 16 units, equivalent to 16 topics divided into 6 themes namely: Personal information, Education, Community, Health, Recreation, The World Around Us Within the frame work of each unit, the language input

is respectively introduced with five sections: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and Language Focus Each section is designed to be taught in forty-five minutes According to the syllabus, students have three English classes a week Accordingly, time located for speaking skills is one period every two weeks In addition to the time constraint for speaking, students do not have much chance for further practice Consequently, students at Nguyen Quan Nho high school face a great variety of problems with speaking skills, one of which is their anxiety when speaking English In the following sections, the factors causing their nervousness will be revealed

2.2 Data gathering instruments

The instruments used in this study were: (1) a questionnaire, (2) informal interview with the students

The questionnaire consists of three parts Firstly, students were asked to give their personal information about gender, their years of learning English Secondly, the students responded about their attitudes toward speaking skills Thirdly, the subjects were asked to identify their problems that increase their anxiety in speaking lessons by responding to statements

on the basis of the five-point scale (never, seldom, sometimes, often, and always) The questionnaire was designed after a review of the literature about factors viewed as causing anxiety that influence speaking skills The data obtained form the questionnaire was tabulated, presented, and frequencies and percentages were calculated

The informal interview with the students were conducted The major concern was their opinion of why each problem of speaking skills, which was shown in the third part of the questionnaire, made them nervous and stressful in speaking classes The data obtained from the informal interviews was transcribed and analyzed so that the researcher of this study could gain a deep understanding of the problems, from those giving possible solutions to help students alleviate their anxiety In the analysis, a numerical system was applied to identify each data entry Their answers were translated into English

2.3 Procedures

First, the questionnaire was administered in class when students had completed the term of the academic year 2011 The entire procedure took about 15 minutes of their class time

second-Then, an informal interview was conducted in Vietnamese in order for the participants to fully articulate their view about being constrained by the use of a second language

2.4 Techniques of data analysis

The data obtained through the questionnaire, the interviews were organized and analyzed While the data obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively, the data from the interview were analyzed qualitatively And the results of the instruments identified the factors viewed as causing anxiety that affected the 10th form students at Nguyen Quan Nho high school

2.5 Data analysis and findings

2.5.1 Student’s attitudes toward speaking skills

This section deals with students’ ideas of speaking skills in terms of the importance of the skills and the level of likeness that learners reported

1 How is speaking skills important to you?

Very important Rather important Little important Not important at all Students’ No 28 44 53 10

Students’ % 20.7% 32.6% 39.3% 7.4%

2 How do you enjoy speaking English?

Very much Not much little Not at all Students’ No 26 55 41 13

Students’ % 19.3 40.7% 30.4% 9.6%

Table 1: Student’s attitudes toward speaking skills

As can be seen from the table above, 53 out of 135 respondents (39.3%) considered speaking skills little important while 32.6% stated it was rather important and 20.7% of the correspondents mentioned speaking was a very important skill 7.4% of the students did not highly evaluate the importance of the speaking skills when they reported that the skills were not important at all This result shows that generally the students were aware of the importance of speaking in learning a foreign language

The second question was asked on students’ interest in speaking English The great majority of the respondents (90.4%) reported that they enjoyed speaking English, however only 19.3% expressed their great love for it

In short, the students realized the importance of learning speaking skills in EFL acquisition process Most of them were interested in speaking skills In other words, they all had good attitudes to speaking skills

2.5.2 Student’s general speaking anxiety

Never

12%

Sometimes19%

Often42%

Always16%

Chart 1: Student’s anxiety in speaking lessons

Chart 1 reveals that the great majority (77%) of the students in the study responded that they felt more tense and nervous in English speaking class than in other classes 16% of the respondents admitted that they always felt tense and nervous in speaking classes 42% of them often said they often and 19% said sometimes Only 23 % were in disagreement with this idea The students’ level of anxiety reported on the survey was also supported by their answers in the interview In a word, the tendency of speaking anxiety of students at Nguyen Quan Nho high school was obvious

2.5.3 Sources of speaking anxiety experienced by students at Nguyen Quan Nho high school

Factors causing students’ speaking anxiety are categorized into different sources including the contents of the lessons, communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative feedback which will be discussed in details below

2.5.3.1 Speaking anxiety associated with the contents of the lessons

The next items attempt to find out the learners’ speaking anxiety associated with content of the lessons Table 2 is the summary of the result of the responses to the questions

Sometimes (3)

Often (4)

Always (5)

2 I feel anxious when the speaking topic

in the text book is difficult

5.2% 17.8% 21.5% 20.7% 34.8%

3 I feel nervous when I lack background

knowledge and vocabulary related to

the topics

3% 11.1% 19.3% 37.8% 28.9%

Table 2: Speaking anxiety associated with content of the lessons

As shown above, difficult topics caused the greatest level of anxiety to students More specifically, while 77% of the participants responded that they sometimes, often and always felt anxious when the speaking topic in the text book is difficult, only 23% of them reported that this problem never or seldom made them nervous in speaking classes

The cause of their nervousness and tension in speaking classes was that they did not have enough background knowledge and vocabulary related to the speaking topics As can be seen from table 2, the great majority of the students (86%) felt nervous due to their limited vocabulary 66.7% of them often and always felt nervous Only 14% of the respondents said that they did not have much trouble with the vocabulary in speaking lessons

From the interviews, most students considered difficult topics, to which they lacked background knowledge and vocabulary related, as a factor causing their nervousness

“ I get upset because of uninterested topic I do not have enough vocabulary

related to it.”

“ I got tired, overwhelming stressed.”

“In this case, the speaking didn’t attract my interest I couldn’t concentrate on the lesson.”

The subjects believed that their inability in communicating English making them anxious and nervous stemmed from their lack of vocabulary knowledge If their vocabulary size were increased, they might express themselves better For example, some explanations were as follows

“I can not speak because I can not find the appropriate words to express my idea immediately.”

“If I knew enough vocabulary to express myself, I could speak more in the class.”

“I think I can be successful in speaking classes if I memorize lots of words”

From the above results, it is obvious that students need to enrich their vocabulary for effective English speaking classes

2.5.3.2 Speaking anxiety associated with communication apprehension

Item

No

Never (1)

Seldom (2)

Sometimes (3)

Often (4)

Always (5)

4 I get anxious/ frustrated when I am

asked to discuss with classmates

13,3% 32.6% 18.5% 21.5% 14.1%

5 I tremble and feel my heart pounding

when I am going to be called on to

answer questions in English

15.6% 17% 9.6% 40.7% 17%

Table 3: Speaking anxiety associated with communication apprehension

As it is indicated clearly in table 3, the fourth item was to know whether discussing with their classmates could make students nervous and anxious More than half of the participants (54.1%) responded that they (sometimes, often, always) felt anxious when they were asked to discuss with their classmates

On being called on to answer questions in English, the majority of the respondents (67.3%) reported that they (sometimes, often and always) trembled and felt their hearts pounding Through the survey questionnaire the respondents revealed that they felt anxious in speaking class because of many reasons The table below illustrates the factors associated with students’ communication apprehension

a) Communication apprehension associated with learner’s factors

There are many factors causing students’ communication apprehension such as their previous learning experience; the speaking environment; the self-perception of their own speaking ability; their personality

 Previous learning experience

Item

No

Never (1)

Seldom (2)

Sometimes (3)

Often (4)

Always (5)

6 I am not accustomed to speaking

English

6.7% 11.9% 15.6% 34.1% 31.9%

Table 4: Communication apprehension associated with students’ previous learning experience

Table 4 reveals that, the great majority of the respondents (81,6%) were not accustomed to speaking English It is easy to understand because as reported in the interviews, their English study at lower secondary school was strongly exam-oriented, most of the students used to work hard at written English while neglecting speaking and listening practices Therefore, it is understandable why they became so nervous when they had to speak English at high school

 Learners’ learning environment

Item Never Seldom Sometimes Often Always