The impact of anxiety on the 10th grade students’oral performance at ham long upper secondary school in bac ninh a case study

Specifically, it aims to explore relationship between anxiety and students „oral performance as well as the impact of anxiety on students‟ oral performance, and speaking activities cause

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*************************

ĐỖ THỊ THÙY TRANG

THE IMPACT OF ANXIETY ON THE 10TH GRADE STUDENTS’ ORAL PERFORMANCE AT HAM LONG UPPER-SECONDARY

SCHOOL IN BAC NINH: A CASE STUDY

(Nghiên cứu ảnh hưởng của sự lo lắng tới việc học nói của học sinh lớp 10

tại trường THPT Hàm Long, Bắc Ninh)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD : ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE : 60140111

HA NOI – 2015

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*************************

ĐỖ THỊ THÙY TRANG

THE IMPACT OF ANXIETY ON THE 10TH GRADE STUDENTS’ ORAL PERFORMANCE AT HAM LONG UPPER-SECONDARY

SCHOOL IN BAC NINH: A CASE STUDY

(Nghiên cứu ảnh hưởng của sự lo lắng tới việc học nói của học sinh lớp 10

tại trường THPT Hàm Long, Bắc Ninh)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD : ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE : 60140111

SUPERVISOR : Assoc.prof Dr NGUYỄN XUÂN THƠM

HA NOI – 2015

Hanoi I commit that this thesis has not been submitted anywhere for any degree

Hanoi, 2015

Đỗ Thị Thùy Trang

My profound thanks are also extended for all interesting and useful lectures and the staff of Faculty of Post Graduate Studies at University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi

I wish to express my special regards to my family for their encouragement during my study

ABSTRACT

Foreign language anxiety is considered an obtacle that most learners encounter It is showed more clearly in speaking skill learning process Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine speaking anxiety of the 10th grade students at Ham-Long upper Secondary School in Bac Ninh Province Specifically, it aims to explore relationship between anxiety and students „oral performance as well as the impact of anxiety on students‟ oral performance, and speaking activities cause high anxiety among them

The study depends on two main data gathering tools: survey questionnaire and classroom observations These instruments are to achieve the purpose of the study The subjects involved in the study were 80 students in two classes They participated in the survey questionnaire Furthermore, five teachers of English also joined the study in order to help the researcher do better in this research

It was induced that most learners tend to be anxious in learning speaking skill rather than the other skills with different causes The relationship between anxiety and students‟oral performance was negative Anxiety effects on learners‟ self-confidence and self-perception Communication apprehension, in addition, is regarded as the main source of anxiety Moreover, among speaking activities used

in class, the students felt the most anxious when presenting individually

Based on the findings, some suggestions were given to both students and teachers to cooperate to improve speaking skill and reduce anxiety among students

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF FIGURES, CHARTS, AND TABLES vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Objectives of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Significance of the study 2

4.1 Theoretical aspect 2

4.2 Practical aspect 2

5 Scope of the study 3

6 Method of the study 3

7 The design of the study 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 The nature of speaking skill 5

1.1.1 Definition of speaking 5

1.1.2 The importance of speaking skill 6

1.1.3 Speaking activities in classroom and successful learning 6

1.2 Overview of anxiety 8

1.2.1 In terms of psychology 8

1.2.1.1 Definition of anxiety 8

1.2.1.2 Types of anxiety 8

1.2.2 In terms of learning speaking activities 10

1.2.2.1 Foreign language anxiety 10

1.2.2.2 Speaking anxiety 11

1.2.2.3.The relationship between anxiety and foreign language oral proficiency 12

1.3 Previous studies related to speaking anxiety 13

1.4 Summary 15

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 16

2.1 General method 16

2.1.1 Quantitative and qualitative method 16

2.1.2 Case study 16

2.2 Setting of the study 17

2.2.1 The context 17

2.2.2 Student participants 17

2.2.3 Teacher participants 18

2.3 Data gathering instruments 18

2.3.1 The questionnaires for students: 18

2.3.3 Class observation 19

2.4 Data collection and analysis procedure 19

2.5 Summary 19

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 20

3.1 Analysis of the questionnaires for students and class observations 20

3.1.1 The importance of speaking skill 20

3.1.1.1 Students‟ perception on the importance of speaking skill 20

3.1.1.2 Students‟ interest degree in speaking lessons 21

3.1.2 Students‟ general opinion about anxiety 22

3.1.2.1 Students‟ opinion about anxiety in English communicative skills 22

3.1.2.2 The degree of agreement about anxiety in students‟ oral performance 23

3.1.3 Causes of anxiety in speaking lessons 24

3.1.4 Activities causing high and low anxiety in speaking class 26

3.1.4.1 Common activities used in speaking class 26

3.1.4.2 Speaking activity making students the most and the least anxious 27

3.1.4.3 Students‟ preference towards speaking activities 29

3.1.5 The impact of anxiety on students‟ speaking performance 30

3.2 Analysis of the questionnaire for teachers 35

3.3 summary 37

PART C: CONCLUSION 38

1 Summary of the findings 38

1.1 Anxiety and students‟ oral performance have the negative relationship with each

other 38

1.2 Speaking activities have effects on the degree of anxiety among students 38

1.3 Anxiety has effects on students‟ self-confidence and self-perception 39

1.4 Communication Apprehension as the main source of anxiety 40

2 Implications 40

3 Limitations 41

4 Recommendations for further study 42

5 Conclusion 42

References 43 APPENDIX 1 I APPENDIX 2 IV APPENDIX 3 VII APPENDIX 4 VIII APPENDIX 5 IX

LIST OF FIGURES, CHARTS, AND TABLES

Figure 0.1: Students’ perception on the importance of speaking skill 20

Figure 0.2: Students’ interest degree in speaking lessons 21

Figure 0.3: Students’ opinion about anxiety in English communicative skills 22

Figure 0.4:The degree of agreement about anxiety in students’ oral performance 23

Figure 0.5: Students’ preference towards speaking activities 29

Table 0.1: Causes of anxiety in speaking lessons 24

Table 0.2: The frequency of using speaking activities 26

Table 0.3: The impact of anxiety on students’ speaking performance 31

Table 0.4: The frequency of creating relaxing atmosphere 35

Table 0.5: Challenges the teachers face in teaching speaking 35

Table 0.6: The relationship between the teachers and students 36

Table 0.7: The frequency of interacting between teachers and students 36

Chart 0.1: Common activities used in speaking class 26

Chart 0.2: Speaking activity making students the most and the least anxious 27

at learning other skills but it comes to learning to speak a foreign language, they claim

to have a mental clock against it

As a teacher of English for eight years, I find most of my students have problems in speaking lessons because they usually learn English as a compulsory subject to pass the tests/exams which focus mainly on grammar, vocabulary in paper test based form As a result, they easily become speechless in their oral performance or they are reluctant to take part in speaking activities although they may be good at other skills It is not a surprising reaction as “the quality of learning engagement in the classroom does not depend on students‟ cognitive abilities alone, but is also influenced by complex motivational and affective factors.” (Kubanyiova, 2006) (quoted from Celebi, 2009: 1) The feelings such as shyness, stress or anxiety may be encountered during speaking practice Consequently, they are big obstacles for developing students‟ speaking ability

Anxiety is one of the most negative barriers that prevent students from successfully learning to speak English It can be understood that a student with anxiety as “an individual who perceives the second/foreign language as an

uncomfortable experience, who withdraws from voluntary participation, who feels social pressures not to make mistake, and who is less willing to try uncertain or novel linguistic forms” (MacIntyre&Gardner, 1991: 112) Thus, with the hope of helping students develop their speaking communicative competence in English, there arises a need of research on finding how students‟ anxiety relates to their speaking performance in English class

2 Objectives of the study

The following objectives are set for exploration:

 the relationship between anxiety and students‟ oral performance

 types of speaking activities that cause high anxiety among students

 students‟ anxiety level towards speaking English classroom

3 Research questions

To achieve the objectives, the following questions are conducted:

 What relationships exist between anxiety and students‟ oral performance?

 What types of speaking activities cause high anxiety among students?

 How does anxiety impact students‟ oral performance?

4 Significance of the study

4.1 Theoretical aspect

The study contributes theoretically more details, which are considered significant, about speaking, speaking activities and its importance when learning a foreign language; moreover, anxiety and its impact on students‟ speaking are also exploited in this study As a result, it is hoped to help students improve speaking skill

4.2 Practical aspect

This study has been conducted with the expectation that the finding will help the teachers aware of anxiety existing among their students during English speaking classes and its impact on their English speaking performance Base on these, the researcher can withdraw strategies for both teachers and students to improve students‟speaking skill and overcome their anxiety during speaking lessons Certainly, once their speaking skill is enhanced, they will feel more confident and dare to perform in class

5 Scope of the study

The study was carried out at Ham Long Upper Secondary School, Bac Ninh Province It limits itself to the investigation of the impacts of anxiety on students‟ oral performance so as to find out strategies to motivate students in speaking practice with much confidence and less anxiety

The participants were students from two classes 10H1 and 10H2 They were chosen because it was assumed that the 10th grade students may experience a higher level of anxiety than the 11th and 12th graders owning to their unfamiliarity with the new learning environment and new teachers after their five – year period at lower secondary schools Therefore, it would be very helpful for both students and teachers

in learning and teaching speaking if the study could identify the adverse effective degree of anxiety on students‟ oral performance

Besides, five teachers of English at Ham Long Upper Secondary School also took part in this study as well

6 Method of the study

The study adopted both qualitative and quantitative research approach Specifically, the data of this study extracted from survey questionnaire and class observation as the following steps:

First, the survey questionnaire was delivered to students to explore the importance of speaking skill, students‟ general opinion about anxiety and causes of speaking anxiety, activity/activities causing high anxiety in speaking class, and the impact of anxiety on students‟ oral performance

Second, the other survey questionnaire was sent to the teachers of English in order to find out their frequency of creating relaxing atmosphere in the classroom as well as the relationship between them and their students, their challenges they face in teaching speaking, and their opinion and thought about students‟ speaking anxiety

Next, class observation was conducted to observe students‟ signs of anxiety in speaking class

Then, realistic results were obtained after the data and statistic were collected and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively

Lastly, implication for students and teachers to improve speaking skill and reduce anxiety were proposed

7 The design of the study

This study consists of three parts as follow:

Part A: Introduction

This part presents the rationale for choosing the topic, the objectives, the significance, scope of the study, and the research questions as well

Part B: Development

There are three chapters in this part:

Chapter 1: Literature review

Theoretical background of speaking, anxiety, foreign language anxiety, and speaking anxiety are mentioned in this chapter Moreover, the findings of the previous studies are also provided

Chapter 2: Methodology

It presents the subjects of the study and research instruments with the aims to collect data Specifically, survey questionnaires and class observations are used as the tools to collect data

Chapter 3: Data analysis and Discussion

The data and information achieved from survey questionnaires and class

observations will be analyzed

Part C: Conclusion

This part gives an overview of the findings of the study Some strategies for students and teachers to cope with anxiety in speaking classes are also drawn in this chapter Moreover, limitations and some suggestions for further researches are also placed in this part

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter deals with the nature of speaking skill, considering the definition of speaking, the importance of speaking skill, and speaking activities in classroom and successful learning In addition, it also focuses on the overview of anxiety with relevant aspects It ends with review of some previous studies related

to speaking anxiety

1.1 The nature of speaking skill

In learning speaking a target language, learners have to cope with many obstacles that prevent them from communicating Undoubtedly, nowadays, the need

to communicate in English is the central purpose of most people in the world In this part, definition of speaking skill will be considered carefully because it is crucial to understand the exact meaning of the term The importance of speaking skill is also mentioned in this part Then, types of speaking activities are described

in detail as it plays a core role in developing speaking skill

1.1.1 Definition of speaking

Speaking is one of the four skills beside reading, writing and listening of a language that is very important for any students in studying the English language According to Brown (1994) and Burns $ Joyce (1997), speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and processing information In other words, it is the action of passing on information or expressing one‟s thoughts and feelings as speaking involves two skills: oral interaction (dialogue) and oral presentation (monologue)

In addition, “speaking is the ability to pronounce articulation of sounds or words for expressing, starting and conveying thoughts, ideas, and feelings” (Tarigan, 1990: 15) We can see the complexity of speaking although it only uses language by producing ordinary sound, not rhythm as singing production Speaking consists of many factors for any learner to master such as vocabularies, grammar, pronunciation and fluency No matter how different the objects of speaking are, all

components mentioned above must be achieved by learners Moreover, beside giving definition of speaking as other authors, Nunan (2003: 48) also differentiates

it from writing First, in spoken language, speaking must be listened by others It has temporary and immediate reception Some factors like stress, rhythm and intonation are accompanied with speaking activities Through this activity, speakers must pay attention of planning and editing by channel Whereas the second, writing activities are merely done as a visual term The time for doing it is permanent and delayed reception And in any parts of the written language, unlike speaking, there are often editing and revision

In brief, speaking sometimes seems to be considered a simple process; however, it is not simply speaking or pronouncing words It, like other skills, is more complicated than it seems at first In other words, speaking is the art of communication and must be mastered in learning a foreign language

1.1.2 The importance of speaking skill

Human being always communicates with one another in any way However, speaking itself is the activity that has the most important role in human life It is the process of exchanging the thoughts or ideas which include interactions Whenever people live, they use speech to communicate even though they do not have writing system to record their language (Ramelan, 1992: 13) For that statement, it can be presumed that speaking is crucial in mastering any foreign languages Hence, the competence of a foreign language learner can be measured by his/her speaking ability and fluency

To sum up, speaking is considered a really significant tool for human social control as communication Of all communicative approaches, speaking is really by far the most effective way to express one‟s ideas and know others‟ ideas as well

1.1.3 Speaking activities in classroom and successful learning

To make students speak in the classroom and be aware of their language use cannot only obtained by input from teachers Situations should always be created so that students have chances to show their ability to talk in English with each other

Clearly, speaking activities in the classroom are an important part of teaching any foreign languages Ur (2000: 120-121) argues that the most important skill is speaking since most foreign language learners are interested in becoming actual speakers of the target language As a result, developing learners‟ speaking skill with activities is necessary in a language course There are, as Ur states, four characteristics for successful speaking activities

Learners talk a lot Participation is even Motivation is high Language is of an acceptable level Likewise, Lighbown and Spada (2003: 61-63) argue that outgoing students who find opportunities to practice language skills and interact without inhibitation are the most successful learners Inhibitation is a problem discouraging students‟ risk-taking in speaking They also point out that learners‟ characteristics that have to

do with one‟s personality are strongly related to oral communication skills This can

be explained why personality plays a key role in language learning Besides, these two authors claim that it is the teachers who have much influence on students‟ motivation as they control lessons and atmosphere in the classroom Therefore, if teachers can vary activities, tasks and materials as well as can motivate their students before any speaking activities, students‟ interest and motivation during the lessons will surely arise In general, three researchers have the same opinion that inhibitation is a problem that students have with speaking activities Moreover, Ur (2000) also shows more negative characteristics namely “nothing to say, low or uneven participation and Mother-tongue use” are the problems as well

In a word, choosing suitable speaking activities for students is not easy enough with foreign language teachers They should also take cultural and age differences in consideration when choosing activities At the same time, to be successful in learning speaking a foreign language, students need to overcome problems as given out

1.2 Overview of anxiety

1.2.1 In terms of psychology

This part is dedicated mainly to discussing anxiety from its different aspects

To begin with, the term of anxiety will be defined, which is a very common phenomenon with most foreign language learners Next, to give more clarification about the study, the researcher will deal with kinds of anxiety by giving a full description for them

1.2.1.1 Definition of anxiety

Everyone feels anxious at some time Fear and worries are very common in people regardless of age and sex Some people easily become more anxious than others in certain situations In the school setting, anxiety is experienced by most students when they sit for the exams to be assessed or give performance in front of their classmates and teachers Anxiety is a term that implies to cause our nervousness, frightening, or worrying This affects the way we feel and behave According to Scovel (1978: 134), the term anxiety is defined as “a state of apprehension and vague of fear” It is an “unpleasant emotion experienced as dread, scare, alarm, fright, trepidation, horror or panic” (Lewis, 1970: 63) Charles Spielberger (1983: 15) describes the term as “the subjective feelings of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the automatic nervous system”

In short, there is still no agreement upon the definition of anxiety since it is an abstract psychological phenomenon However, those definitions above help readers partly understand about anxiety

1.2.1.2 Types of anxiety

According to psychologists, there are three types of anxiety: trait anxiety, state

anxiety and situation-specific anxiety

- Trait anxiety refers to general level of stress that is characteristic of a person

It is normally associated with people who have an anxiety disorder and considered

as fixed stage of anxiety Trait anxiety is considered as a “more permanent

predisposition to be anxious” (Brown, 2007: 161) Consequently, people with high level of trait anxiety seem to be easily stressed and anxious even others wouldn‟t

be affected in the same situation

- State anxiety, on the other hand, is a more momentary condition that develops

in response to a fear or danger of a particular situation In language learning setting, state anxiety is usually experienced by students, especially when they participate in activities such as speaking in front of class, making mistakes, or taking examinations Most students feel anxious before they are about to give speech and it continues during their performance but it will be cut down on right after they finish their presentation This is a very clear example for state anxiety

- Situation-specific anxiety refers to the anxiety experienced in a specific situation or context According to MacIntyre and Gardner (1991: 90) situation-specific anxiety can be considered as trait anxiety It is limited to a specific context As a result, this can be used to examine anxiety reactions in educational setting such as public speaking, during tests, when solving mathematic problems,

or in a foreign language class

Apart from the classification above, anxiety can be distinguished as facilitating and debilitating At some point, stress can be a good motivation For instance, it may keep one alert and enhance him/her with motivation This positive anxiety is known as facilitating anxiety It is thought to be a kind of anxiety that motivates and improves the progress for learners to learn and succeed As Scovel (1970, cited in Ellis, 1994: 482) states facilitating anxiety keeps the learners motivate, fight new information and push them to make more efforts to reduce the negative impact of anxiety However, anxiety that is called debilitating has a negative impact on students‟ motivation and their preparation in their learning and performance In fact, facilitating and debilitating anxiety are closely related with each other It is the self-image of language learners and the learners to compare themselves continually with others and react emotively to such comparison (Baily, 1983: 96, cited in Graham 1997)

1.2.2 In terms of learning speaking activities

1.2.2.1 Foreign language anxiety

It is important to be able to identify students who encounter anxiety in foreign language class since it “ranks high among factors influencing language learning, regardless of whether the setting is informal or formal” (Oxford, 1999: 59)

Horwitz et al (1986: 128) point out that foreign language anxiety is not simply the association of fears mentioned above They view it as a “distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors… arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process” Consequently, the effects of anxiety can “influence both language learning and communication process” (MacIntyre, 1999: 24) Horwitz and Young (1991:30) state that there is a connection between foreign language anxiety and three performances which are:

Communication apprehension

Students are likely to experience anxiety when speaking to others in public, group discussions, and in the classroom They have to use another language – not their mother tongue to present and communicate and their performances are usually controlled, which makes them have difficulty in showing off their performances It is obvious that communication apprehension plays a key role in foreign language anxiety

Test anxiety

It refers to a type of anxiety relating to apprehension over academic evaluation which stems from fear of failure (Horwits and Young 1991: 30) If students regularly become constantly nervous or too worried before or during any important exam, they may have test anxiety This symptom will partly interfere students‟ test performance and cause significant discomfort In addition, according to Horwits and Young (1991: 30), oral tests can even provoke test and oral communication anxiety simultaneously which can lead to higher than normal anxiety in the oral examination As a result, the marks for students‟ oral tests may not truly reflect their real ability and competence

Fear of negative evaluation

People with social anxiety are very worried about being judged negatively That is the reason they often avoid evaluative situations Fear of negative evaluation can occur in any social situations which particularly important in language classes Students may have feeling that they are continuously being evaluated by their teachers and peers (Horwits and Young: 1991) Therefore, they are often inhibited in their behavior In general people who are high in fear of negative evaluation have a heightened level of anxiety that they will be judged in negative ways – an anxiety which affects their behavior and choices

In conclusion, understanding language anxiety is vitally important due to its strong influence on students‟ attitudes towards learning a foreign language, especially learning speaking skill because this skill is distinctive from others and require students‟ demonstration face to face with their classmates and teachers

1.2.2.2 Speaking anxiety

Most students experience some level of speech anxiety when they have to deliver presentations in front of class because it is, in fact, the greatest fear of many students As MacIntyre (1999: 33) states it is “the single most important source of language anxiety” Psychologists consider speaking anxiety a special case of shyness

At the same time, Horwitz et al (1986) give confirmation that foreign language anxiety has been almost entirely associated with the oral aspects of language use In other words, foreign language speaking is an aspect that seems to be the most easily aroused by anxiety Moreover, Steinberg and Horwits (1986) also argue the impact of induced anxiety on the denotative and interpretive content of second language speech

In terms of quality the language use, students who tend to be more anxious than less anxious ones, will be less subjective and more objective in their oral presentations Hence, anxiety is one of the decisive factors influencing on how well students use language and show their oral performance Young (1992) states that speaking skill is probably the most challenging skill among four skills faced by both foreign language teachers and learners Therefore, students connected to oral communication activities

usually experience anxiety, especially in the classroom since their performance is always controlled by their teachers and peers In another study, Young (1989) takes a more systematic look at the type of in-class speaking orientation that students find anxiety-evoking as well as instructor practices which students perceive as anxiety –reducing The study also points that students feel less anxious when they present orally in small groups than in front of the whole class

In summary, the phrase speaking anxiety is known as a fear of expressing

oneself orally that can be recognized by psychological signs such as tension and increased pulse When students are obstructed by these signs, they will meet difficulty in showing their real ability to speak or they will be unable to control and focus on speaking process Therefore, it can be assumed that the most problematic issue related to anxiety levels as well as its latently negative effect of self-esteem is oral skill

1.2.2.3.The relationship between anxiety and foreign language oral proficiency

The question whether there is a relationship between anxiety and student proficiency in a language, especially in their oral performance is of interest

Phillip‟s study (1992) examines the effect of anxiety on students‟ oral proficiency and the highly anxious students‟ experience of taking an oral exam in a foreign language

He draws a conclusion that language anxiety obviously impacts students‟ oral performance in their language learning, which strongly influences students‟ attitudes towards language learning and their intension to continue the learning of a foreign language

On the other hand, MacIntyre and Gardner (1989) examine the learning and production of vocabulary items They found that anxiety significantly correlated with students‟ score on the learning trials, written production, and of course oral production From their study, they claim that a sequence of poor performances raises students‟ anxiety levels They also have the same opinion with Phillip that students‟ anxious experiences form their attitudes about learning a foreign language The more negative experiences students pass, the more foreign language anxiety students have

Consequently, students become to be nervous and perform poorly in their learning a foreign language

In short, foreign language anxiety may come from negative expectations that lead to worry and emotionality Students‟ poor performance and negative emotional reactions further reinforce the arousal of debilitating anxiety which elevates state anxiety On the contrary, favorable experiences and increased achievement can reduce anxiety and increase proficiency among students

1.3 Previous studies related to speaking anxiety

It is obvious that of the four skills, speaking skill plays an essential role in learners‟ language achievement If students master all fields such as vocabulary, grammar, and so on but have no communicative competence, they acquire nothing

As a result, any learner wants to be a good speaker when learning a foreign language However to achieve fluent speaking ability may entail a number of hardships because affective factors seem to be remarkably involved in the process of speaking practice

It is the reason why many researchers concern about investigating issues related to second or foreign language learners‟ speaking and components around communicative competence

While many authors surveyed this issue on non-major language students, Kimura (2000) conducted a study with sophomore female students of two different classes majoring in English a junior college The study looked for knowledge on the use of the affective factors of the successful learners and the less successful learners

in their oral communicative tasks Two main factors were concentrated that are anxiety and high-self esteem According to him, facilitating anxiety, which is thought

to be a kind of anxiety improving learning and performance, has a good effect on successful learners as a more risk-taking attitude rose in students and fought the new difficult learning tasks

Similarly, Kitano (2001) conducted a study to investigate two potential sources of anxiety of 212 learners in Japan in oral practice He found that an individual student‟s anxiety was higher if his or her fear of negative evaluation was

stronger, and the strength of this tendency depended on the instructional level and the experience of going to Japan

If two authors mentioned above did their researches mainly on finding factors affecting students‟ learning speaking, Xianping (2004) carried out a research not only relating to anxiety but also its effect on the oral performance in the classroom The survey was conducted with 8 students from a university of China The result revealed that anxiety may affect the quality of students‟ oral performance The maturity of language may determine the levels of anxiety and that procrastination, fear of evaluation and over-concern to errors may be considered three significant elements to recognize anxious and non-anxious students

It is obvious that over many of years in the two centuries, anxiety in language learning is an issue that has made numerous linguists all over the world concern Without an exception, some Vietnamese scholars also studied students‟ anxiety and found out their sources of anxiety Among them, Sam (2011) conducted an investigation on 135 tenth form students at Quan Nho high school in Thanh Hoa Province Her study is concerned with courses of speaking anxiety on the basis of learners‟ responses The results showed that the tendency of students‟ nervousness was obvious

Moreover, Nhai (2012) studies two cases from Le Quy Don high school The results from two students‟ writing and teacher‟s observation suggested that they had high anxiety in English speaking Some factors causing their anxiety were identified Fear of negative evaluation, fear of testing, and self-perception of speaking ability were three most common factors for their anxiety

In short, every student may encounter anxiety or nervousness when learning a foreign or second language It is completely true when most students have difficulty

in learning to speak English, even though they may be good at grammar and vocabulary The reason underlined is the fact that affective factors contribute much

to the success in speaking practice of the learners However, little has been done to analyze carefully the degree of anxiety while learning speaking English and how it

impacts on their oral performance as well as proficiency, especially in Vietnam The purpose of this study is, therefore, to focus on two factors above Specifically, my research will investigate foreign language anxiety and its impact on my students‟ oral performance

1.4 Summary

In sum, in this chapter, the researcher has tried to give an overview of the relevant literature in the concern of the study It has dealt with the definition of speaking as well as anxiety Furthermore, the chapter helps the students and teachers understand more profoundly and acknowledge the importance of speaking, especially anxiety in speaking learning From that point, both students and teachers have suitable adjustment in learning and teaching speaking with lowest anxiety

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

This chapter deals with the method of the study, the setting of the study engaging the context, student and teacher participants It also gives detailed description about data gathering instruments and data collection and analysis procedure

2.1 General method

2.1.1 Quantitative and qualitative method

This research employed both quantitative and qualitative case study to investigate students‟ anxiety in their speaking class In order to proceed with the present research, I decided to use questionnaire which would allow me to have an overall look about students‟ anxiety in relation with their speaking performance in a more objective way Moreover, this choice helped me identify factors and activities that cause high anxiety in speaking class In addition, a quantitative methodology also helped me calculate results more easily and avoid difficulties which a qualitative approach might produce However, quantitative studies using questionnaire could give rise to one‟s serious concern Schumann (1976) argues that in order to please the researcher, participants might not be completely honest in their answers Therefore, to increase the reliability, this research also used qualitative technique – the observation because it plays a crucial role in classroom research (Hopkins, 2008) The qualitative study allows the researcher to obtain descriptive information on variables not easily assessed through the quantitative study, especially when directly observing students‟ behaviors in speaking class to identify students‟ signs of anxiety

Moreover, one part of the students‟ questionnaire and the observation checklist were adapted from the FLCAS (Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale) by Horwits et al (1986) The checklist was used during the classroom observation so as

to register each participant‟s behavior while performing his/her oral communication activity/activities

2.1.2 Case study

I was determined to conduct a case study research as it “is used to describe an intervention or phenomenon and the real life context in which it occurred” (Yin,

1984: 15) This approach helps me understand students‟ anxiety in speaking class as well as their level of anxiety in speaking activities The case of this study consists of eighty 10th form students, and the boundary of the case is anxiety in speaking class

2.2 Setting of the study

2.2.1 The context

The study was conducted at Ham Long upper-secondary school in Bac Ninh Province The school was newly established about 12 years ago; therefore, the facilities are comparatively new and modern The school has a small size with 18 classes, and each class consists of about 38 students Every grade has two first ranked classes, in which learners in one class focus on Basic Science subjects including Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, and the other class majors in English and Literature Most of students who pass the university entrance exams are in two these classes

Students in all classes of each grade have the same English textbook to master during their year schooling There are 16 units in the textbook, each of which contains five lessons namely: reading, speaking, listening, writing, and language focus Each week, students have three English periods; however, students in the class majoring English have one more period for further practice The 15-minute marks are usually taken from learning skill periods; however, the students‟ 45-minute marks and final marks are almost in written form This is also a reason why students in this school often have problem in their time balance for practicing communicative skills,

in which speaking skill seems to be the most difficult and challenging

2.2.2 Student participants

This research was conducted from two classes 10H1 and 10H2 with 80 students 41 students in class 10H1 major in Science subjects On the contrary, 39 learners in 10H2 major in English and literature and most of them have tendency towards taking English to enter colleges and universities It is the fact that most students have spent at least six years studying English However, in general, they seem to just focus on their tests and future entrance university examinations‟ marks,

in which they are mainly related on grammar and vocabulary in written form, rather than mastering four basic communicative skills Consequently, speaking is likely to

be a challenging one for their learning English They seem not to spend much time practicing their speaking, especially in class As a result, their speaking performance

is limited though they may be good at other skills when they do the tasks passively with pens and papers In addition, students only have a 45-minute speaking period every two week as following the syllabus Their exposure to authentic English speaking environment, therefore, is relatively short

2.2.3 Teacher participants

Five teachers of English in the school, aging from 32 to 45, were involved

in this research They are all experienced and enthusiastic in teaching English They all graduated from mainstream teacher training program Because the principle aim of this research is to investigate the impact of anxiety on students‟ oral performance, but the constraint of time, I found it necessary to administer questionnaires for them Moreover, it is the teachers who constantly get in touch with their students This enhances the researcher to explore the research questions and find solutions to improve students‟ speaking skill more effectively and practically as well as reduce anxiety

2.3 Data gathering instruments

This study used two instruments: survey questionnaire for students , survey questionnaire for teachers of English, and the class observation

2.3.1 The questionnaires for students: consist of 11 questions which are separated into four sections respectively

Section1: two questions to investigate how important the speaking skill is Section 2: Four next questions to explore students‟ general opinion and cause

of speaking anxiety

Section 3: Four questions to look into activities causing high anxiety in speaking class

Section 4: The last question with eight items to investigate the impact of anxiety on students‟ speaking performance

2.3.2 The questionnaires for teachers

There are 8 questions delivered to the teachers of English to help the researcher have a clearer look about the effects of anxiety on learners as well as their relationships with learners From this, the researcher can draw some suggestions to

deal with anxiety in speaking class as well as to increase students‟ speaking ability 2.3.3 Class observation

In the middle of the school year 2014-2015, the researcher observed four speaking periods in two classes 10H1 and 10H2 to study the participants‟ behaviors that can be identified as their signs of anxiety During the observed lessons, I just sat silently at the last row of the classroom in order not to be involved in the class‟ activities Moreover, besides observing the class‟ general atmosphere, I tried to pay attention to the subjects who directly participated in speaking activities by using observation checklist to meet my purpose At the same time, I also took brief descriptions in detail for each observed speaking period By this way, it would be

very helpful for the demand of the data analysis

2.4 Data collection and analysis procedure

- The survey questionnaires were delivered to students at Ham Long upper secondary School in the middle of the second semester of 2014-2015 school year

- At the same time, the survey questionnaires for teachers were also handed to five teachers of English

- The researcher observed four speaking lessons in two classes: 10H1 and 10H2

- Subsequently, from the survey questionnaires for students and for teachers of English, and speaking class observations, data were collected and sorted

- The results were analyzed with the support of figures, tables and charts

- The findings were represented in Conclusion part

2.5 Summary

In brief, the researcher has given the overall description of the research method, school context, learning English program as well as students and teachers In addition, this chapter also has represented data collection instruments clearly and data analysis procedure

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter deals with the analysis data collected from two instruments including questionnaire for students, questionnaire for teachers, and class observation

3.1 Analysis of the questionnaires for students and class observations

3.1.1 The importance of speaking skill

3.1.1.1 Students’ perception on the importance of speaking skill

The first question was designed to investigate the students‟ perception towards English speaking skill The result of 80 respondents were shown as followed:

Very important (56.3%)

Rather important (35%)

Little important (5%)

Not important at all (3.7)

Figure 0.1: Students’ perception on the importance of speaking skill

As can be seen from the figure 1 above, more than half of the students questioned (56,3%) considered speaking skill very important while 28 out of 80 students (35%) stated that it was rather important On the contrary, there were 4 respondents (5%) did not highly evaluate the importance of speaking skill by declaring it was little important and the rest with a small percentage (3,7%) gave opinion that it was not important at all

In general, almost all of the students realized how important speaking skill was The result may enhance English teachers to devote more to teaching speaking for their students

3.1.1.2 Students’ interest degree in speaking lessons

Totally enjoy (17.5 %) Enjoy (43.7%)

Little enjoy (28.8%) Not at all (10%)

Figure 0.2: Students’ interest degree in speaking lessons

According to the figure 2, it is optimistic that 49 students (accounting for 61,2%) stated that they enjoyed speaking lessons in class, in which 17,5% of students totally enjoyed Concurrently, 23 respondents (28, 8%) showed that they were not very much interested in speaking lessons It is sad for the researcher to explore that there still remained 10% of students who were completely not in favor

of speaking lessons

In short, the results are comparatively consistent with the finding in figure 1 The majority of participants showed their preference towards studying speaking skill In other words, most of the students had positive attitude towards learning speaking skill, which is the motivation for the researcher during the study It can be supposed that the foreign language speaking learning will be easy for students However, if they face difficulties in their learning to speak, it may be because of their anxiety

3.1.2 Students’ general opinion about anxiety

3.1.2.1 Students’ opinion about anxiety in English communicative skills

Figure 0.3: Students’ opinion about anxiety in English communicative skills

Although most of the students stated they enjoyed speaking lessons as showed in figure 2, they still showed their anxiety in learning speaking skill Specifically, of the four skills namely: speaking, listening, writing, and reading, speaking ranked the most provoking-anxiety activity, which made up 46, 3% It is not surprising to reveal that listening skill placed in the second position (38, 7%) These skills made this proportion of students feel the most nervous and tense during their studying Everyone knows speaking and listening skills are challenging to every student, especially when students have no favorable environment to master these two skills above In contrast, the number of students who believed that they were tense and anxious in reading and speaking skill is less than the number of those who reported they faced nervousness in speaking and listening lessons Specifically, there were only 12 students (15%) who considered writing and reading

to be the most nervous skills in their learning English This supports the researcher‟s perception that learning speaking English is the most nervous for most foreign language learners

speaking (46.3%)

Listening (38.7%)

Writing (10%)

Reading (5%)

3.1.2.2 The degree of agreement about anxiety in students’ oral performance

Strongly agree (16.3%)

Agree (62.5%) Disagree (15%) Strongly disagree (6.2%)

Figure 0.4:The degree of agreement about anxiety in students’ oral performance

Not surprisingly, 60 out of 80 students (78, 8%) agreed that anxiety is one of the obstacles in their oral performance They considered anxiety as a cause of their difficulties in speaking the foreign language From this statistic, the researcher could easily realize how anxiety influences on students‟ speaking On the other hands, the participants who did not consider anxiety as

an obstacle were 17 (21,2%) Perhaps, only students who feel confident enough

in their English proficiency, dared to state that anxiety did not affect their speaking performance The number of participants who believed that anxiety was one of the obstacles in their speaking the target language is higher than the number of students who reported anxiety was not the cause

From the results, the researcher deduces that anxiety is one of the factors that effects English speaking of the majority of the participants This proves the researcher‟s opinion that anxiety as a cause for the learners‟ difficulty in speaking skill

3.1.3 Causes of anxiety in speaking lessons

E Fear of being focus of intention

F Inability to express opinions or ideas

G Numerous rules I have to learn to speak

It is opposite with the “setting of the study” part, which the researcher described in detail the English teaching and studying environment where the study was conducted, in which students do not focus much on speaking or listening as integral skills for their purpose of studying Instead, they concentrate on vocabulary and grammar to support their written tests However, when exploring causes of anxiety in the speaking class, the researcher was shocked A large percentage of students (26,1%) stated it was their lack of vocabulary and grammar that made them anxious in their speaking periods The result could be supposed that even students have some knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, they could only use them passively by writing with pens and papers but express orally Beside their lack of vocabulary and grammar, they also met other problems such as lack of motivation, self-confidence, or lack of preparation and so on Moreover, there were 4 students (5,05%) stated that they had no motivation and self-confidence to learn to speak English It is understandable as there is no speaking mark test during their English learning as the assessment for every term On the other hands, some stated they felt anxious because they were afraid of being the focus of intention It may belong to their psychological issues as they are not accustomed to giving speech in front of the crowd On the whole, it appears that all students have at least one reason for their anxiety in their speaking lessons As a result, the table above informs that all participants experienced the feeling of anxiety

In brief, based on the causes reported by the participants, the researcher can say that there are many causes of students‟ speaking anxiety Each student had a cause or even much more than one that lead him/her to be anxious However, the participants varied in the causes of their speaking anxiety