AN INVESTIGATION INTO FACTORS CAUSING THE NON-ENGLISH- MAJOR FRESHMEN’S ANXIETY IN SPEAKING AT BROADCASTING COLLEGE I, PHU LY CITY, HA NAM PROVINCE AND SOME SOLUTIONS

On the other hand, the students‟ communication apprehension, test anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, and negative self-perception of English ability were shown as highly anxiety-provo

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*********

NGUYỄN THỊ THU HẰNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO FACTORS CAUSING THE MAJOR FRESHMEN’S ANXIETY IN SPEAKING AT BROADCASTING

NON-ENGLISH-COLLEGE I, PHU LY CITY, HA NAM PROVINCE

AND SOME SOLUTIONS

(Tìm hiểu những yếu tố gây sự lo lắng khi học nói của sinh viên không chuyên tiếng Anh năm thứ nhất ở trường Cao đẳng Phát thanh - Truyền hình I, thành phố Phủ Lý, tỉnh Hà Nam và một số

giải pháp khắc phục)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Ha Noi, 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*********

NGUYỄN THỊ THU HẰNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO FACTORS CAUSING THE MAJOR FRESHMEN’S ANXIETY IN SPEAKING AT BROADCASTING

NON-ENGLISH-COLLEGE I, PHU LY CITY, HA NAM PROVINCE

AND SOME SOLUTIONS

(Tìm hiểu những yếu tố gây sự lo lắng khi học nói của sinh viên không chuyên tiếng Anh năm thứ nhất ở trường Cao đẳng Phát thanh - Truyền hình I, thành phố Phủ Lý, tỉnh Hà Nam và một số

giải pháp khắc phục)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: TRẦN THỊ TUYẾT, PhD

Ha Noi, 2014

i

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this thesis is entirely my own work I have provided fully documented references to the work of others The material in this thesis has not been submitted for assessment in any other formal course of study

Ha Nam, September 2014

Signature

Nguyễn Thị Thu Hằng

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my most sincere thanks to

my beloved supervisor, Dr Tran Thi Tuyet, for her expert guidance, invaluable advice and critical feedback, and continual encouragement

without which the thesis would not have been successful

Secondly, I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to all the lectures of the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies of Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their useful lessons and assistance during my course from which I have benefited

a lot for the accomplishment of this study

I also wish to send my special thanks to my students, especially the first year students in 10 classes of the college of Broadcasting I Without their willingness to complete the questionnaires and participate in the interviews, this study could not have been conducted

Last but not least, I would like to express my special thanks to my beloved extended family for their love and understanding, their constant encouragement and immeasurable support in the completion of this thesis

iii

ABSTRACT

Anxiety is a common feeling experienced by foreign language learners, especially in learning to speak a foreign language This study was conducted with the aim to investigate main causes of speaking anxiety experienced by the non-English-major freshmen at Broadcasting College I The study involved 200 non-English-major students from 10 first-year classes at Broadcasting College I Both quantitative (questionnaires) and qualitative (semi-structured interviews) methods were applied in the study The findings showed that speaking anxiety did exist among the surveyed students Besides, it was revealed that the factors related to teachers‟ beliefs and teacher-student interactions appeared not to be major reasons for speaking anxiety among the majority of the students On the other hand, the students‟ communication apprehension, test anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, and negative self-perception of English ability were shown as highly anxiety-provoking factors for the non-English-major freshmen in speaking Based on the findings and the students‟ suggestions in the interview, the researcher recommended some solutions for the students and teachers to reduce the students‟ speaking anxiety

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION……… ……… …… … i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT…….……….……… …….ii

ABSTRACT……… ……… … … iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS … ……… ……iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ……… …… vi

LIST OF TABLES…… … ……… …… vi

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Method of the study 3

6 Design of the study 3

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Definition of anxiety 5

1.2 Types of anxiety 6

1.3 Foreign language anxiety 6

1.4 Effects of anxiety on learning 7

1.5 Possible causes of learning anxiety 9

1.5.1 Communication apprehension (CA) 10

1.5.2 Test anxiety 11

1.5.4 Learner‟s negative self-perception of English ability 12

1.5.5 Teacher beliefs 13

1.5.6 Teacher-student interactions 13

2.1 Setting 15

v

2.2 Participants 15

2.3 Data collection 16

2.3.1 Instruments 16

2.3.1.1 Survey questionnaire 16

2.3.1.2 Semi-structured interview 17

2.3.2 Data collection procedure 17

2.4 Data analysis 18

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS 19

3.1 Communication apprehension 19

3.2 Test anxiety 21

3.3 Fear of negative evaluation 22

3.4 Learner‟s negative self-perception of English ability 25

3.5 Teacher‟s beliefs about language teaching 27

3.6 Teacher-student interactions 29

4.1 Recommendations for the teachers 33

4.2 Recommendations for students 35

PART THREE: CONCLUSION 38

1 Summary of the study 38

2 Limitations of the study 39

3 Recommendation for further study 39

APPENDIX ……….I

perception of English ability

Table 5: Speaking anxiety associated with teacher‟s beliefs about language teaching Table 6: Speaking anxiety associated with teacher-student interactions

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Speaking is one of the four required skills in learning English, however a lot of students are not able to speak English, even though many of them have learned English for seven years It is believed that there are affective

or emotional factors influencing the foreign language learning process Among various affective variables, such as attitude, anxiety, interest, motivation, inhibition, and self-esteem, “anxiety is quite possibly the affective factor that most pervasively obstructs the learning process” (Arnold & Brown, 1999, cited in Dornyei, 2005, p 198) Anxiety is defined

as a feeling of uneasy suspense (Krashen, 1985) As a teacher of English at Broadcasting college I, from my own observations and experiences, I have noticed that the feeling of anxiety, apprehension and nervousness are common phenomena expressed by my first-year students in speaking classes Actually, many students keep silence in speaking classes and they are usually reluctant to take part in class activities Some students may be very good at writing or reading English but they fail to speak English fluently and naturally Some students state that they forget words when speaking in front of the class, and some claim that they do not often speak

in class as they are afraid of being evaluated by the teachers and their friends Some frankly admit that they feel stressful and anxious when speaking English These negative emotional factors seem to be a barrier that prevents students from actively participating in speaking activities and accordingly, make the outcome of oral English speaking unsatisfactory Anxiety has been a focus in research in foreign language learning since early 1970s with the ground-breaking research by the Canadian psychologists Gardner and Lambert Since then, many researchers (Bailey, 1983; Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986; Krashen, 1985; Crookall and

Oxford, 1991; Aida, 1994; MacIntyre, 1995; MacIntyre & Gardener, 1989,

1991, 1994; etc) have consistently claimed that anxiety can impede foreign language production and achievement

Although a number of studies have been conducted to seek out the nature of foreign language anxiety, few have been done on anxiety experienced by Vietnamese learners in their English learning process, especially in speaking skill Such situation has aroused my interest and inspired me to

carry out a research on the topic: “An investigation into factors causing the non-English-major freshmen‟s anxiety in speaking at Broadcasting college

I, Phu Ly city, Ha Nam province and some solutions.”

2 Aims of the study

The major purpose of the research is to investigate factors or causes that make non-English-major freshmen at Broadcasting college I stressful and anxious in English speaking classroom, and suggest some possible techniques to reduce their English speaking anxiety

4 Scope of the study

FLA exits in the process of learning all four skills: Listening, speaking, reading and writing (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986; Young, 1986; Aida, 1994; Cheng, Horwitz & Schallert, 1999; Cheng, 2002) However, only students‟ speaking anxiety is focused on in this research with its causes

since speaking is the best in expressing the students‟ participation as well as their feelings Besides, due to the time constraints, this study only involves two hundred Broadcasting students of non-English major in their first academic year

5 Method of the study

Both quantitative and qualitative methods are applied to collect the data serving the research analysis A survey questionnaire for participants of 200 first-year non-English majors at Broadcasting college I was employed to gather information and evidence for the study In addition, to gain more in-depth information of the issue, semi-structured interviews with the students were also used

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

6 Design of the study

This study is divided into three parts:

Part one – Introduction presents the rationale, the aims, the research

questions, scope, methods as well as the design of the study

Part two – Development contains four chapters

Chapter 1: Literature Review

This chapter provides the basic theoretical background from literature in terms of foreign language anxiety in general and speaking anxiety in particular Especially, the possible causes of foreign language anxiety are discussed thoroughly in this chapter

Chapter 2: Methodology

This chapter addresses the setting, the participants, the instruments which are used to collect data, and data collection procedure

Chapter 3: Data analysis

The findings from the data collected and analyzed are presented and discussed in this chapter

Chapter 4: Suggested solutions

Some possible suggested solutions are provided to reduce students' English speaking anxiety in classroom

Part three: Conclusion

This part contains an overview of the major findings, and the limitations and suggestions for further research

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

The main purpose of this chapter is to review the literature on anxiety in general, and foreign language anxiety as well as anxiety in foreign language

In summary, we can see that anxiety is a complex psychological construct, difficult to precisely define since it arises from many sources Generally, it can have physical, emotional, and behavioral manifestations and these manifestations can differ with each individual

1.2 Types of anxiety

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 perspective - trait anxiety, according to Spielberger (1966, p 16),

is relatively permanent and steady personality feature, referring to a motive

or acquired behavioral disposition that predisposes an individual to perceive

a wide range of objectively non-dangerous circumstances as threatening, and to respond to these circumstances with anxiety state reactions disproportionate in intensity to the magnitude of the objective danger MacIntyre and Gadner (1991b) consider trait anxiety as "a constant condition without a time limitation" Based on Ying‟s point of view (2008, p.2), trait anxiety is related to a generally stable predisposition to be nervous in a wide range of situations

The second perspective - state anxiety, on the other hand, is fleeting and not

an enduring characteristic of an individual's personality (Speilberger, 1966, p.12) It is apprehension experienced at particular moment in time This anxiety can be provoked in the confrontation of the perceived threat, yet it

is temporary and altered in time (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991b)

The third perspective, situation-specific anxiety, is adopted to the study of anxiety in order to attribute the experience to a particular source It is defined as the specific forms of anxiety that occur consistently over time within a given situation, such as during tests, or when speaking a second language (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994, p.2) Also, it can be considered to

be the probability of becoming anxious in a particular type of situation (Ying, 2008, p.2)

1.3 Foreign language anxiety

When anxiety is related to second or foreign language, it is termed as

“second or foreign language anxiety” Young 1991 (cited in Onwuegbuzie

et al., 1999, p217) considers it as a complex and multidimensional phenomenon

According to Horwitz et al (1986), foreign language anxiety is a form of situation-specific anxiety: it is stable over time but limited to the particular situations of language learning Horwitz et al (1986) also state that the anxieties associated with specific language skills, such as writing, reading, listening and speaking are all situation-specific anxieties, which refer to the apprehension experienced when a situation requires the use of a foreign language Anxiety has also been recognized as one of the most important predictors of foreign language performance Gardner & MacIntyre (1993, cited in Arnold 1999, p.59) refer to language anxiety as “fear or apprehension occurring when a learner is expected to perform in the second

or foreign language." Similarly, Horwitz et al (1986, p.129) used the words

"tenseness, trembling, perspiring, palpitations, and sleep disturbances" when describing the physiological and psychological symptoms of foreign language classroom anxiety at the Learning Skills Center at the University

of Texas "Freezing" in class, "going blank" before exams, and feeling reticence about entering the classroom were also observed in their language learners The researchers discovered that these learners "experience apprehension, worry, even dread They have difficulty concentrating, become forgetful, sweat, and have palpitations They exhibit avoidance behavior such as missing class and postponing homework" (p.126) From their observations and discussions, the authors give a definition of foreign language classroom anxiety as "a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process" (p.128)

1.4 Effects of anxiety on learning

Most language researchers have focused on exploring the relationship between anxiety and language learning Although the results are

inconsistent, language anxiety presents the negative effects in most cases (Chan and Wu, 2004, p 291) Anxiety, in a variety of studies, has been found to negatively correlate with grades in language courses, self-confidence in language learning, performance and participation in learning activities (Krashen, 1985; Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986; Aida, 1994; Liao, 1999; Oxford, 1999; MacIntyre and Gardener, 1991b; Oda, 2011) Andrade & Williams (2009) claim that “foreign language learning anxiety has been associated with a large number of negative outcomes” and point out some physical symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, muscle tension, dry mouth, and excessive perspiration, as well as some psychological symptoms like embarrassment, feelings of helplessness, fear, going blank, and poor memory recall and retention among others The researchers also report “negative social behaviors may be manifested in such ways as inappropriate silence, unwillingness to participate, absenteeism, and withdrawal from the course These effects can lead to poor performance and low achievement” (Andrade & Williams, 2009) According to Ying (2008), learners with higher language anxiety have the tendency to avoid interpersonal communication more often than less anxious ones, and anxiety can influence both speed and accuracy of learning Similarly, Oda (2011) emphasizes that language anxiety is consistently related to problems

in language learning such as reduced word production, impaired vocabulary learning, lower grades in language courses, and lower scores on standardized tests

However, some researchers have claimed that there are positive correlations between foreign language anxiety and language achievement According to Scovel (1991, cited in Tanveer, 2007, p 11), anxiety “motivates the learner

to „fight‟ the new learning task; it gears the learner emotionally for approach behavior” (or it could serve as alertness to promote foreign language learning (Alpert & Haber, 1960; Kleinman, 1977) Also, in

Bailey‟s research (1983), anxiety is found one of the keys to success, and closely related to competitiveness

On the whole, the relationship between anxiety and language learning is probably not a simple linear one Thus, it is necessary for the foreign language researchers and teachers to have a good grasp of the nature of foreign language anxiety in order to find out effective teaching methods minimizing the detrimental effects of anxiety

1.5 Possible causes of learning anxiety

Researchers have indicated that there are a number of factors causing anxiety for language learners Bailey (1983) claims that students were anxious in ESL/ EFL classrooms due to competitiveness, tests and learners‟ perceived relationship with their teachers Horwitz et al (1986) claim that communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation are possible reasons for students‟ anxiety On the other hand, Price (1991) suggests that language anxiety comes from four aspects: difficulty level of foreign language classes, personal perception of language aptitude, certain personality variables and stressful classroom experiences Through a review of the literature on language anxiety, Young (1991) also offers an extensive list of six potential sources of language anxiety: personal and interpersonal anxiety (including communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation, negative self-perception of English ability, etc.), learner beliefs about language learning, teacher beliefs about language teaching, teacher-learner interactions, classroom procedures, and language testing Young (1991) and Horwitz et al (1986) share some similar suggestions about the common anxiety-provoking factors that students often cope with: communication apprehension, test anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, learner‟s negative self-perception of English ability, teacher beliefs, and teacher-student interactions These factors will also the focus of discussion and the base of research framework for this study

1.5.1 Communication apprehension (CA)

Horwitz et al (1986, p.128) define CA as “a type of shyness characterized

by fear or anxiety about communicating with people” Similarly, McCroskey (1997) refers CA to "an individual's level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons" There are a number of factors associated with such feelings of apprehension that second language communicative contexts induce Buss (1984) points out novelty, formality, subordinate status, unfamiliarity, dissimilarity and degree of attention as the major sources of

CA According to Horwitz Et al (1986), CA is closely related to learners‟ personality traits such as shyness, quietness and reticent, the embarrassment about their language imperfections in front of others, and the fear of negative evaluation from the others

CA obviously plays an important part in second/ foreign language anxiety Learners who are apprehensive speaking in group or in front of the public are likely to be more anxious when expressing ideas in second/ foreign language class, where “in addition to feeling less in control of the communicative situation, they may also feel that their attempts at oral work are being constantly monitored” (Horwitz, et al., 1986, p.127) This apprehension is explained in relation to the learners‟ negative self- perceptions caused by the inability to understand the others and to make himself understood (MacIntyre and Gardner, 1989, cited in Ohata, 2005, p.137) McCroskey (1997) asserts that individuals who are greeted with negative reactions from others in response to their attempt to communicate develop a sense that staying quiet is more highly rewarded than talking Such psychological dilemmas of second/foreign language learners between willingness to speak up in the classroom and the fear of losing face in front

of the others, thus, seems to be quite common phenomenon in second language classroom settings ( Bailey, 1983; Cohen & Norst, 1989)

1.5.2 Test anxiety

Test anxiety, which “refers to a type of performance anxiety stemming from a fear of failure” (Horwitz et al, 1986), can be another source causing foreign language anxiety Many learners feel more pressure when asked to perform in second language classroom because of the continual evaluation from the language teachers Accordingly, they may put down the wrong answers or simple “freeze up” due to nervousness, even if they know the correct answer (Price, 1991; McIntyre & Gardner, 1994) Test anxiety is a quite pervasive phenomenon in the language classroom because tests and quizzes are frequent and even the brightest and most prepared students often make errors (Horwitz et al 1986) As a result, the students get anxious as they fear of making mistakes or getting poor grades Horwitz et

al (1986) also claim that oral testing has the potential to provoke both test and oral communication anxiety simultaneously in susceptible students (Horwitz et al 1986)

1.5.3 Fear of negative evaluation

Watson & Friend (cited in Horwitz, et al., 1986, p.128) define fear of negative evaluation as the apprehension about other's evaluation, avoidance

of evaluative situation, and the expectation that others would evaluate one negatively Horwitz et al (1986, p.128) also claim that "the evaluation from the only fluent speaker in the room, the teacher, is crucial to a second language student" and students are also sensitive to the evaluations – real or imagined – of their peers According to Ohata (2005), speaking in a foreign language is disturbing because of the fear that it might lead to the loss of one‟s positive self-image or self-identity In other words, students fear of experience of “losing oneself” in the target culture; i.e they want to save face In a language classroom, students with these feelings are likely to over concern with academic and personal evaluation of his performance and competence in the target language (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1989) In other

words, students tend to worry about what their classmates think about their performance, and tend to be so scared of their peers‟ responses or

evaluation when they express their self image through a foreign language

(Bailey, 1983; Price, 1991; Young, 1991) Accordingly, students who experience this anxiety rarely initiate conversation and often avoid interacting with others They have a tendency to sit passively in the classes, retire from activities that could increase their language skills and may even avoid class entirely (Ely, 1986; Horwitz, et al., 1986)

1.5.4 Learner’s negative self-perception of English ability

Several researchers argue that learners‟ self-perception of low ability in English is a significant source caused learners‟ anxiety Young (1991) claims that learners who start out with a self-perceived low ability level in a foreign or second language are more likely to feel language anxiety In her study, many of her students often compared themselves to others and believed their language skills to be weaker, and everyone else looked down

on them Similarly, Daly, J., Cauhlin, J & Stafford, L (1997a) state that anxious learners tend to have a more negative self perception and tend to underestimate their quality of speaking ability Sharing the same idea, Occhipinti (2009) concludes that students starting with a self-perceived low ability level in the foreign language class are perfect candidates for language anxiety Kitano (2001, p 550) argues that “speaking skill is usually the first thing that learners compare with that of peers, teachers, and native speakers” In Kitano‟s (2001) study, the students said that they would speak out loud and answer more questions if they were not afraid to give the wrong answer Obviously, negative self-perception of English ability is a big carrier to foreign language learning Students may think that they are unable to learn another language or pronounce strange sounds and words, unable to understand and answer questions and they don't know how

to translate their ideas into the target language In agreement with this, Foss

and Reitzel (1988, p.440) claim “perception of the self plays a key role in how students approach the acquisition and use of a second language”

1.5.5 Teacher beliefs

Teacher beliefs about language teaching can also be an anxiety-provoking factor, since the teacher's assumption about the role of language teachers may not always correspond to the student's needs or expectations (Ohata,

2005, p.7) For example, students may get nervous about their performance when their teacher believes he needs to constantly correct students' errors or when the teacher always speaks in English with a high speed Using speaking activities that put the learner “on the spot” in front of peers without allowing prior preparation is another example in this case Likewise, Brandl (1987, cited in Young, 1991) claims that most instructors believe "a little bit of intimidation a necessary and supportive motivator for promoting students' performance" The following teacher beliefs are stated

by Young (1991, p.428) as sources causing students‟ anxiety: the teacher‟s role is to correct every single mistake made by the students, pair or group work is not appropriate as it makes the class get out of control; the teacher should do most of the talking; and the teacher‟s role is that of a drill-sergeant These beliefs are not likely to create a good learning environment for foreign language learners, especially for the fresh men, since these beliefs may make the students become more nervous in a such highly-anxious-causing subject

1.5.6 Teacher-student interactions

Another factor claimed to be a cause of anxiety is associated with the relationship between teachers and learners Palacios (1998) states that the following teacher characteristics are related to students‟ anxiety: absence of teacher support, unsympathetic personalities, lack of time for personal attention, favoritism – that is in the classroom, teachers often concentrate

on proficient students as a priority; spend time supporting these learners as

the way to avoid wasting time Besides, a harsh manner of mistake correction is often cited as provoking anxiety According to Koch & Terrell (1991) and Horwitz (1988), many learners feel that some error correction is necessary However, Young (1991, p.429) argues that students more concern about how (where, what, when, how often) their mistakes are corrected rather than whether error correction could be administered in class In addition, Koch & Terrell (1991) state that “learners consistently report anxiety over responding incorrectly, being incorrect in front of their peers, and looking or sounding „dumb‟" Obviously, students become anxious and they are afraid of losing face in front of the class through the way their mistakes are treated

These six sources of language anxiety discussed above are interrelated (Young, 1991; Horwitz et al., 1986) Therefore, language teachers should be fully aware of these sources to lessen foreign language anxiety in their students

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 Setting

The study was carried out at the college of Broadcasting 1 This college has been established for 56 years All students in this college have to complete four semesters of English as part of their general education requirements During the first and second semester (first year), students complete the General English program with 66 class periods (45 minutes each) This program provides students with basic general knowledge of English, developing students‟ ability of communicating in English The textbook chosen is "New Headway", Elementary by Liz and John Soars (third edition) In the 2nd year, students study English for their professional field The number of first year students at Broadcasting college I was 300 They came from 4 faculties: Journalism, Accounting, Information Technology, Engineering and Telecommunication Their English abilities were at different levels Of four language skills, speaking seemed to be the most difficult and anxiety-provoking one to the students

There were four teachers of English, 3 female and one male aged from 28-

35 with at least six years of teaching experience Three of them had M.A degree in English, and one of them was MA student

2.2 Participants

200 first-year students from 10 classes in all four faculties in the school participated in the study The students were chosen randomly among the students in each class

No and percentage of students

Students’ profiles (total: 200)

2.3 Data collection

2.3.1 Instruments

To seek the answers to the research questions, the researcher used both a

quantitative method (survey questionnaire - see Appendix 1) and a qualitative method (semi-structured interview - see Appendix 2)

2.3.1.1 Survey questionnaire

A questionnaire was designed based on a review of the literature about factors viewed as causing anxiety that affects speaking skills The questionnaire includes two parts Part one obtains some background information of the participants including their age, sex and the number of years they have been learning English Part two contains 18 items used to investigate the factors causing the students anxious in speaking classes Some items were modified based on the Foreign Language Classroom

Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope 1986) (see Appendix

3) In the questionnaires, the respondents were asked to express their

agreement or disagreement to each item on a five-point Likert response

scale The data obtained from the questionnaire was tabulated, presented,

and percentages were calculated

2.3.1.2 Semi-structured interview

Semi-structured interview was the second research tool used in this study The major concern was students‟ opinion of why each problem in speaking classes made them nervous and stressful in speaking classes 10 items for the interview had been prepared in advance in light of the potential sources of anxiety in the literature review These questions were open to allow the interviewees to express their opinions freely

The interview consists of three parts For the first part, question 1 was related to the participant‟s personality The main purposes of this part were to find out whether they were nervous in speaking classes or not and

to get some reasons for their anxious feelings The second part with 7 questions focused on seeking deeper understanding of the sources of anxiety on speaking classes: student‟s communication apprehension, test anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, negative self-perception of English ability, teacher‟s beliefs about language teaching, teacher-learner interactions The third part of the interview (questions 9 and 10) asked the students to give recommendations for alleviating speaking anxiety concerning both sides of teachers and students The data obtained from the informal interviews will be transcribed and analyzed so that the researcher

of this study can gain a deep understanding of the problems Based on the findings, possible solutions will be given to help students overcome their anxiety

2.3.2 Data collection procedure

In the first phase, the questionnaire was administered when students had completed the second-term of the first year 2013-2014 The questionnaires were delivered to the students who were in the class in the break time They

finished the questionnaires at home and returned the responses back the next day

To have deeper understanding of the sources of students‟ speaking anxiety, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 6 students in Vietnamese This was to help students overcome the difficulties in expressing their opinions in English The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed for analysis The interviews were conducted in a location students feel at ease and at the time they suggested At the beginning of the interview, the students were explained clearly about the nature of the study The length of each interview was from 20 to 25 minutes

2.4 Data analysis

The data obtained through the questionnaire and the interviews were organized and analyzed based on the six sources of anxiety discussed in the literature review: communication apprehension, test, fear of negative evaluation, student‟s negative self-perception of English ability, teacher‟s

beliefs about language teaching, and teacher-learner interactions

The data from the questionnaire were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively, and the data from the interview were analyzed qualitatively First, the researcher transcribed the audio-recorded interviews The researcher read the transcriptions carefully and then put the responses into categories with suitable headings like “communication apprehension”,

“teacher‟s beliefs about language learning”, etc to explain the students‟ English speaking anxiety more thoroughly

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS

This chapter presents the results of the study The data were organized and analyzed based on the 6 sources of foreign language anxiety discussed in the literature review part

3.1 Communication apprehension

Table 1: Speaking anxiety associated with communication apprehension

The data in table 6 shows that the first year students‟ anxiety does exist in speaking class: 69% of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that they felt more nervous in speaking English class than in other classes while only 15% of the participants suggested that they did not feel nervous Besides, their communication apprehension is shown clearly through their responses

to items 2 and 3 – they feel nervous and apprehensive of speaking both

Strongly

Partly agree Disagree

Strongly disagree

1 I feel more nervous in

speaking English class

than in other classes

2 I tremble and feel my

heart pounding when I

when they were called to answer questions and when they wanted to volunteer to give answers Specifically, the majority of the respondents (62.5%), in which 22% strongly agreed, reported that they trembled and felt their hearts pounding when being called on to answer questions in English Also, 72.5% admitted that they were embarrassed to volunteer answers in their speaking classes It is evident that these feelings of apprehension obstruct the students in participating in the English speaking activities

In the interviews, five of the six students confirmed that they felt anxious or stressful in English speaking classes They also gave their manifestations of anxiety and different factors causing these feelings Most of them expressed that their personality including shyness, quietness, and reservedness prevented them from performing well in class Gradually, these students become passive learners For instance, one student said: “I am an introvert person I often keep silent all the time in speaking classes Sometimes I have the answer in my head, but, always, I do not dare to say anything” Furthermore, whether they prepared well or not, they remained apprehension towards speaking in front of the class The reason for this was that they feared of committing mistakes in grammar or pronunciation Besides, as revealed by these students, fear of the negative evaluations from their peers and teachers is another factor making them apprehensive of speaking For example, one student expressed: “My classmates stare at me and expect my performance or seek for my mistakes At that time I can become so anxious that I forget things I know I am afraid of speaking in front of the class.”

Obviously, communication apprehension is a barrier to language learning: the students are unwilling to participate in, and withdraw from speaking activities Accordingly, these can lead to poor performance and low achievement (Andrade & Williams, 2009)

3.2 Test anxiety

Strongly

Partly agree Disagree

Strongly disagree

4 I get nervous when I

know I will be graded in

English speaking class

5 I feel anxious when I

speaking

Table 2: Speaking anxiety associated with test anxiety

Items 4, 5 were used to seek out whether the students feared being graded

in English classes Surprisingly, item 4 attracts 66% of “agree” or “strongly agree” in the responses, in which nearly one third of this number (21.5%) responded they strongly agreed – that is the majority of the students became anxious when being graded Such feeling, according to Oda (2011), is described “like fear or apprehension, but they have nothing to do with avoiding communication with others or to be negatively evaluated by them.” This fearfulness might inhibit the learner's ability to speak or to recall knowledge at the vital moment Besides, more than one third of the students (68%) confirmed that they were anxious when they got low marks

in speaking (item 5) The feeling of anxiety and sense of failure which follow can be debilitating for the nervous learner This can also create negative self-image, lack of confidence, and feeling unsure of one's ability (Oda, 2011)

When they were asked for the reason why they had this feeling, most of the interviewed students claimed that they feared the negative consequences of getting bad marks and some of them expressed they would feel less anxious without marks at the end of the talk They explained that their nervousness

due to being graded in turn led to their forgetfulness, distortion of sounds, inability to reproduce the intonation and rhythm of the language, and avoiding eye contact For instance, one student said: “When I am graded in speaking, I become so anxious that I forget the words and structures I know That‟s why I am afraid of being graded in speaking.” These thoughts seem to be supported by the argument of Price (1991) and McIntyre & Gardner (1994) when these researchers claimed that the students may put down the wrong answers or simple “freeze up” due to nervousness, even if they know the correct answer This anxiety would cause other psychological stresses, such as the fear of losing self-confidence or feeling inferior to others

To sum up, the data presents that language anxiety may be negatively correlated to language grades These findings suggest that assessment type and the teacher‟s attitude toward assessment can significantly lead to

Strongly disagree

7 I am afraid that the

other students will have

bad impressions on me

when I speak English in

front of the class

teacher when I make

mistakes in speaking

English

Table 3: Speaking anxiety associated with fear of negative evaluation

As can be seen in the table above, the students‟ anxiety related to various kinds of evaluative situation in which their knowledge and performance of English were monitored by their teacher and classmates Fear of being laughed at by others when they make mistakes in speaking was found to be

a shared anxious feeling by 63.5% of the respondents Similarly, students in large quantity (59%) were afraid of speaking English lest the other students would have bad perceptions at them This confirms the findings of Ohata

2005, Bailey 1983, Price 1991, and Young (1991) suggesting that these students feel so worried of making mistakes or being laughed at while speaking out loud in front of the class Besides, hash manner of the teacher

in error correction would be a factor causing students become anxious 61%

of the students was in agreement with this idea This finding supports Oda‟s (2011) claim that the learner resort to keeping silent and playing the role of audience in the classroom instead of being one of the active participants From the interviews, most participants revealed that they felt uncomfortable to join in speaking activities due to the fear of negative evaluation Most of them felt that while they were speaking out loud, their peers were watching to look for their mistakes instead of listening attentively to what they were trying to say Also, they were so scared of being laughing at or looking down They did not want to create a stupid image for themselves This is “a fear of appearing awkward, foolish and incompetent in the eyes of the learner‟s peers” (Jone 2004, p.31).That‟s one

of the reasons why they kept silent or did not take part in the classroom activities One student expressed: “I am afraid of my classmates‟ evaluative eyes while I am speaking English in front of the class If I get stuck they