an investigation into the level of foreign language anxiety and its relationship with oral performance among english–major students at thu duc college

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY --- AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE LEVEL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH ORAL PERFORMANCE AMONG E

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

-

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE LEVEL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY

AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH ORAL PERFORMANCE

AMONG ENGLISH–MAJOR STUDENTS AT THU DUC COLLEGE

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL)

Submitted by

HA NHAT LINH

Supervisor

Dr NGUYEN THUY NGA

Ho Chi Minh City, September 2018

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents ii

Abstract v

Statement of Authorship vi

Acknowledgments vii

List of Figures viii

List of Tables ix

Abbreviations x

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background of the study 1

1.2 Personal motivation 2

1.3 Rationale for the research 3

1.4 Aims of the study 4

1.5 Research questions 4

1.6 Significance of the study 4

1.7 Structure of the thesis 5

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Introduction 7

2.2 General anxiety and anxiety in language learning 7

2.2.1 Anxiety as a psychological construct 7

2.2.2 Anxiety and foreign language learning 9

2.3 Selected theories and models of foreign language anxiety 10

2.3.1 The effects of anxiety on learning from instruction (Tobias, 1979) 10

2.3.2 Foreign language anxiety in classroom (Horwitz et al., 1986) 11

2.4 The constituents of foreign language anxiety Horwitz et al (1986) 14

2.4.1 Communication apprehension 14

2.4.2 Fear of negative evaluation 15

2.4.3 Test anxiety 16

2.5 Foreign language anxiety and oral performance 17

2.5.1 Oral performance 17

2.5.2 The effects of FLA on oral performance 18

2.6 Previous study 20

2.7 My research model 27

2.8 Summary 28

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 29

3.1 Introduction 29

3.2 Research site 29

3.3 Participants 30

3.4 Research design and instruments 31

3.4.1 Research design – quantitative and qualitative 31

3.4.2 Questionnaire 32

3.4.2.1 The foreign language classroom anxiety scale (Horwitz et al (1986) 32

3.4.2.2 Construction and content 33

3.4.2.3 Piloting the questionnaire 37

3.4.3 IELTS Speaking Simulation Test 38

3.4.4 Interview 39

3.4.4.1 Rationale for using the interview 39

3.4.4.2 Construction and content 40

3.5 Data collection procedure 41

3.5.1 Administering the questionnaire 42

3.5.2 Conducting the test 42

3.5.3 Conducting the interview 43

3.6 Data analysis 45

3.6.1 FLCAS and speaking results 45

3.6.2 Interview analysis 47

3.7 Summary 47

CHAPTER 4 DISCUSSION 48

4.1 Introduction 48

4.2 The levels of FLA among participants 48

4.2.1 Characteristics of the sample 48

4.2.2 The levels of FLA 49

4.2.3 Response to each FLCAS item 51

4.3 The relationship between FLA and oral performance in tests 55

4.3.1 Exam results 55

4.3.2 Pearson correlation between FLA and speaking score 57

4.3.3 Presentation and interpretation of the interview 58

4.3.2.1 Interviewees’ profile 58

4.3.2.2 The relevance between self-reported FLA score and surveyed results 59

4.3.2.3 Students’ perceptions of the relationship of anxiety and their performance 60

4.4 Discussion of the findings 62

4.4.1 Summary the findings 62

4.4.2 Discussion 63

4.4.2.1 The level of anxiety among students 63

4.4.2.2 Response to each FLA item 63

4.4.2.3 The relationship between anxiety and oral performance 65

4.5 Summary 66

5.1 Introduction 67

5.2 Conclusion 67

5.3 Contributions and Implications 68

5.4 Recommendations 70

5.5 Limitations 72

5.6 Recommendations for future research 73

5.7 Summary 75

REFERENCES 76

Appendix 1 Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (English version) 82

Appendix 2 Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Vietnamese version) 84

Appendix 3 Interview guide 86

Appendix 4 Speaking marking criteria 87

ABSTRACT

The role of English communication has been set on top of most educational institutes

of Vietnam Alongside with the developments in learning and teaching English, relevant aspects such as psychology in language learning have been attracting the attention of language educators This study hopefully provides an understanding of how students experience anxiety – a subjective feeling – during their learning process

in the Vietnamese context, especially with speaking performance Thesis aims are to measure the level of foreign language anxiety existing among English–major students

at Thu Duc College and examine its relationship with participant students’ oral performance There were 91 students in the first-year program, who are studying speaking course 2 at the college, participating in the study A questionnaire, IELTS simulation speaking test, and interview were used as the instruments of the research The results of the questionnaire indicate that student participants are of a moderate level of foreign language anxiety In detail, there are medium levels of communication apprehension and the fear of negative evaluation, while students are experiencing high level of testing anxiety Furthermore, the Pearson correlation results reveal that foreign language anxiety is debilitating to the oral performance of students There were six interviewees from high and low anxiety groups participating

an open-ended interview to clarify the difference in the effects of FLA on oral performance Implications of the findings thus discuss the suggested solutions for this problem and recommend research paths for future research in the Vietnamese context

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which

I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text

of the thesis

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution

All research procedures reported in this thesis were approved by the Graduate School,

Ho Chi Minh City Open University

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Firstly, I wish to express my profound gratitude to my supervisor Dr Nguyen Thuy Nga for her sound advice, instantaneous encouragement, and extensive support for the development and completion of this study

Secondly, I am so grateful to Mr Pham Minh Trung, Ms Nguyen Thi Thuy Anh, Mr Bui Tri Vu Nam, and Ms Nguyen Thi Thien Khoa for their perceptive comments and helpful advice on statistical analysis

Thirdly, I am further indebted to the cooperation of students at Thu Duc College, who have participated in the survey

Finally, I would like to thank all members of my family, especially my father who is

my role model in life and research, for their love, patience and encouragement for hanging in there until then

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2 1 Model outlining the effects of anxiety on learning from instruction (Tobias, 1979) 11 Figure 2 2 Inverted “U” relation between anxiety and performance (He, 2018) 19 Figure 2 3 Proposed research model on the relationship between FLA and oral performance 28 Figure 3 1 Design of the present research 32 Figure 4 1 Overview of FLA in the classroom and testing 51 Figure 5 1 The model of the relationship between foreign language anxiety and oral performance 68

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2 1 Summary of selected research on the relationship between language

anxiety and oral performance 26

Table 3 1 The construct of questionnaire about Communication Apprehension 36

Table 3 2 The construct of questionnaire about Fear of negative evaluation 37

Table 3 3 The construct of questionnaire about Test Anxiety 37

Table 3 4 The construct of interview questions 40

Table 3 5 The research procedure 42

Table 3 6 Description of interview participants 44

Table 3 7 The interpretation of FLCAS 45

Table 3 8 Grading system 46

Table 3 9 The interpretation of Pearson Correlation value 47

Table 4 1 Response and Non–Response Distribution of Questionnaires 48

Table 4 2 Characteristics of questionnaire participants 49

Table 4 3 Distribution of FLA levels 50

Table 4 4 Communication Apprehension 52

Table 4 5 Fear of Negative Evaluation 53

Table 4 6 Test Anxiety 54

Table 4 7 The description of FLA levels by three groups 54

Table 4 8 The students’ achievement in speaking tests 55

Table 4 9 Overall grade averages for students by anxiety groups (midterm test) 56

Table 4 10 Overall grade averages for students by anxiety groups (final examination) 56

Table 4 11 Pearson Correlation between FLA levels and speaking results from midterm test and final examination 57

Table 4 12 Interviewees’ profile 58

Table 4 13 Comparison between students’ FLA self-report and FLCAS 58

ABBREVIATIONS

FLCAS Foreign language classroom anxiety scale

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study

English has been seen as the world’s lingua franca for a long period of time (Ostler, 2010) and Vietnam is not an exception as this language is the most popular language

to study in the country (Bui, 2016) Hence, the importance of English has become increasingly prominent for the country, entailing the highly demand for young Vietnamese generation with good English communication skills Especially, university students should ideally have a good command of communication skills in English to prepare for their future careers and lives Besides students who could obtain good English achievement to meet the requirement of foreign language to work locally and internationally, there are over three quarters of graduate students who fail

to communicate verbally in English (Bui, 2006) Hoang (2011) also stated that how

to speak English well is still questionable among many learners of English, especially for the students of colleges and universities It is undoubted that external conditions lead to the considerable differences in levels of achievement among language learners during the foreign language learning or acquisition process One of the reasons for such a discrepancy is attributed to individual learner differences (Szyszka, 2017), which could either inhibit or accelerate learning, and one of the individual learner differences that affects the learning process is foreign language anxiety (FLA) Notably, research on anxiety in foreign language learning has been flourishing in recent decades (Liu, 2005)

In Vietnamese context, the anxiety when learning has been found to exist to university students in English classrooms (Tran, Baldauf, & Moni, 2013) and has a close relationship with speaking performance (Nguyen & Tran, 2015) Nearly a half of high school student participants reported that anxiety could affect their language achievement in speaking (Nguyen & Tran, 2015) What is more, Tran et al (2013) has found both positive and negative aspects of FLA among tertiary students Those who supported the positive side of FLA in learning English considered it as a tool to push them to learn In contrast, detrimental effects of FLA inhibited students from

succeeding in the target language (L2) The language achievement in L2 of a student depends on the levels of FLA he or she experiences in the classroom (Szyszka, 2017)

my mouth to speak in class, albeit my effort at home to practice pronunciation and enhance my vocabulary learning I sometimes stammered out an answer responding

to the question from teachers and even stumbled in my presentation Things turned into a dilemma when I started to do a part-time job at an English center where I had

to communicate with native speakers Beyond my imagination and other students as well, I could not improve my speaking skill, I was always feeling harassed and apprehensive while being acknowledged to speak English with native speakers To meet the requirement of the university, I then took the IELTS test and the result showed a significant gap between speaking skill and other skills It took me a long time to acquire my expectative results for speaking and to overcome my own negative feelings towards speaking

At the very first step of my teaching career, I worked as a teaching assistant for university students who were preparing English to study overseas My responsibility was to help pull-out students get involved in class and solidify basic English knowledge, and help them with difficulties while learning From this position, most students felt entirely comfortable sharing their feelings in class They might have different manifestations, such as wanting to quit the class, feeling safe in the corner

of the class without contacting with others and the teacher, or finding their heart pounding when they knew that they were going to be called However, they all agreed that speaking was the most anxiety-provoking skill

As an in-service English teacher at a college in Ho Chi Minh City for two years, I regretfully saw that most English-majors there avoid speaking in the target language When the teacher requires them to answer, they remain silent Some have shown better results but lost their control with word choice, pronunciation, or used mixed word forms both in class and in oral tests Their performance in class partly anticipates their inability to use English for conversation in the work-place later

My own problems and concerns derived from my experience have driven me to investigate the present matter of language anxiety among students, starting with my current students who are learning English as their major

1.3 Rationale for the research

Recent years have seen a real increase in the number of studies dealing with anxiety

in the L2 domain (Tóth, 2010) These studies were all based around the development, maintenance and dimensions of FLA However, to the best of my knowledge, the amount of research in FLA in Vietnam is quite limited, and conducted with limited number of participants; as a result, the findings could not be applied for most Vietnamese language classes (Tran et al., 2012) Whilst, FLA was counted as one of the factors affecting students’ speaking performance (Nguyen & Tran, 2015) in Vietnamese language classrooms With the demand of good command in English communication, the scarcity of research in the area of FLA calls for further exploration of second language anxiety in the Vietnamese context

Additionally, FLA is featured by “complex” and “multifaceted” characteristics (Sanders & Wills, 2003) While a number of researchers have found an association between FLA and oral performance (Young, 1990; Liu, 2005; Tóth, 2010; He, 2018) and in Vietnam (Tran et al., 2013; Nguyen & Tran, 2015), the precise effect of FLA

on oral performance is a much-debated topic In other words, several studies have shown that FLA could facilitate, debilitate or be neutral towards students’ oral performance FLA positively affects the language achievement by enhancing the competitiveness, considered as the key to success in language learning (Bailey, 1983) Cao (2011) also reported the positive side of anxiety in second language

achievement Similarly, Tran et al (2013) believed that anxiety could make such students focus more on EFL learning Conversely, the negative side of FLA has been reported in several studies Anxiety could not only inhibit students from language reception and generation but also affect their learning process (Yang, 2003; Zheng, 2008) Students with high anxiety are identified as being quiet or having shaking hands or legs during English lessons or oral English tests (Cortazzi & Jin, 1996) The inconsistent findings could be explained by the dependence on context of FLA (Kim, 2009), since FLA is not context free Research has shown that FLA might vary in different cultural groups or instructional contexts (Horwitz, 2001; Kim, 2009) Therefore, this study set out to develop an understanding the level of anxiety among university students in Vietnamese ELT context

1.4 Aims of the study

This study will investigate the level of anxiety among English-majors, and the relationship between anxiety and oral performance among first-year students at Thu Duc College The aims are as below:

- To measure the level of language anxiety in the English classroom in general, and each anxiety component specifically

- To explore the relationship between FLA and oral performance

1.5 Research questions

With the mentioned aims, the research focuses on the three following questions:

1 What are language anxiety levels among English-major students at Thu Duc College in their English class and tests?

2 What is the relationship between participant students’ language anxiety and their oral performance in tests?

1.6 Significance of the study

Theoretically, the study hopes to contribute to filling the gap of FLA in Vietnam Firstly, the finding in the level of anxiety among Vietnamese students while learning the target language will shed a light on the nature of FLA in the current ELT context

Admittedly, Vietnamese ELT context has its own features, so how Vietnamese students are dealing with FLA will be identified in this research What is more, whether the portion of students with high level of FLA is the majority or not will provide a general picture of FLA in Vietnam Secondly, Walker (2017) claimed speaking as one of the most important stages of foreign language learning, so by examining the role of FLA in the relationship with speaking the research could serve

as a reference to both learners and teachers in studying factors that might help students enhance or inhibit speaking skill

Methodologically, this research employed both quantitative (questionnaire survey) and qualitative (language testing and focused interview) methods to collect data, which are expected to be significant in two aspects Firstly, current studies in Vietnam reused the scale of Horwitz et al (1986) without any modifications Tran et al (2012)

It should be noted that due to cross-cultural differences in the educational system, some items are not appropriate and inapplicable in the Vietnamese context The scale which is developed in this study is expected to examine how anxiety influences language learning and show precise findings Secondly, most of the previous studies applied focused interviews to affirm the results derived from the quantitative approach Meanwhile, this research adapts interviews to encourage learner reflections about how FLA affects their performance, which could help understand FLA objectively More significantly, this research has examined the level of anxiety and speaking score in midterm test and final examination, which thus far provides a thorough picture of the relationship between FLA and oral performance in tests

1.7 Structure of the thesis

The study includes five chapters The present chapter is an introductory chapter

which outlines FLA research background, and current issues It additionally states the scope and expected results of the research

Chapter 2 reviews the relevant literature concerning definitions and major

developments in FLA It firstly provides a general picture of anxiety, and anxiety specifically in language learning then gives a further review of models of FLA, the

construct of FLA and the relationship between FLA and oral performance Then, the chapter presents a thorough review of the developments in the field of FLA in Vietnam and other countries, with a discussion of the status of FLA and the limited empirical research This chapter ends with a presentation of the applied model in the study

Chapter 3 depicts the methodology employed in the present research, including an

introduction of the participants, the three research instruments, data collection procedures, data analysis methods, and the considerations for validity and reliability

of each instrument

Chapter 4 reports the results and findings obtained from the three instruments

Furthermore, it then provides a detailed discussion of the findings based on the derived data

Chapter 5 concludes the study with a discussion of contributions, implications, and

limitations of the whole research, ending with some proposed directions and suggestions for future FLA research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction

The aim of this chapter is to provide a theoretical background for the concept of language anxiety, emphasizing the relationship with oral performance Thus, the construct of general anxiety is first explored and the definitions of anxiety and FLA are analyzed Subsequently, the models of FLA are examined to establish the research model for the present research, followed by the construct of language anxiety Additionally, the link between oral performance and FLA is discussed Finally, relevant studies concerning the roles of language anxiety in second language acquisition in Vietnam and other countries are provided

2.2 General anxiety and anxiety in language learning

The emphasis of this study is one specific anxiety – the anxiety related to learning; however, it is necessary to look at the concept of anxiety in general – as a psychological construct In this part, I consider some basic definitions of anxiety in the psychological literature, then go on to describe some theoretical framework of anxiety in language learning

2.2.1 Anxiety as a psychological construct

Anxiety has long been researched in the early 20th century and viewed as a fundamental human emotion (Zeidner, 2014)

Anxiety is an uncomfortable emotional state that is tightly associated with expected dangers (Aydin, 2013) When a person is acknowledging dangers, he tends to feel powerless and experiences tension Despite whether the danger is real or imagined, unpleasant emotional reactions are activated (Rachman, 2004) Besides threatening situations, this kind of emotion links with the uncertainty of forthcoming events Rachman (2004) referred to anxiety as the tense of anticipation of a threatening but unclear event or a feeling of uneasy suspense Liu (2005) stated that anxiety arises when people are not certain of the upcoming occasions, when they are aware that

their performance will be evaluated, or when they worry about the consequence of an event In detail, the construct of anxiety is associated with cognitive concern about the consequences of failure (Szyszka, 2017)

A person experiencing anxiety is easily detected by physical and psychological changes as his body reacts to the sources which caused worry and tension (Rink, 2002) The breath becomes shorter or faster than as usual, and the mouth is dryer Additionally, with anxiety, people may sweat, feel dizzy or their hearts beat too quickly Other manifestations which could be observed are chills or feeling cold, clammy hands, or muscle tension The levels of anxiety in the same context may not

be the same among different individuals, reasoning that the mental representation of each person varies (Szyszka, 2017) Anxiety, thus, affects people in different ways, positively and negatively While Arnold & Brown (1999) allocated anxiety to negative emotions, Goodwin (1987) argued that anxiety plays a significant role in establishing character, enhancing creativity, and raising the awareness of possibilities

Anxiety is categorized into three kinds: state anxiety, trait anxiety, and specific anxiety This distinction was first put forward by Cattel & Scheier (1960) Trait anxiety, according to Spielberger and Radnofsky (2001, p 1), refers to

situation-“relatively stable individual differences in anxiety-proneness, that is, to differences between people is the tendency to perceive stressful situations with elevations in the intensity of their state anxiety reactions” State anxiety, in turn, refers to the “moment-to-moment experience of anxiety” (MacIntyre, 1999, p 28), and are chracterized by

“subjective feelings of tension, nervousness, and worry, and by activation or arousal

of the autonomic nervous system” (Spielberger & Radnofsky, 2001, p 1) The situation-specific view of anxiety is based on the assumption that certain types of situations are morelikely to produce anxiety than others, however, there is individual variation among people as to what particular situations they perceive as anxiety provoking (Tóth, 2010) According to MacIntyre and Gardner (1991, p.90), situation-specific constructs “can be seen as trait anxiety measures limited to a given context”

In this perspective, anxieties are approached in well-defined specific situations such

as speaking in public, writing language examinations, and participating in a language class

In summary, in accordance with psychological research, anxiety is a subjective feeling which is characterized by unpleasant or uncomfortable traits It mainly happens when people have to face situations in doubt or at risk, with specific psychological and physical manifestations This feeling may be harmful or beneficial

to people, according to each circumstance and individual response Anxiety is classified into three different kinds, in which the situation-specific anxiety is the foundation for development of later research in foreign language anxiety

2.2.2 Anxiety and foreign language learning

Horwitz et al (1986) played a significant role in establishing basic concepts of FLA, and they viewed it as “a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom language learning and arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process” (p 128) In other words, the concept of FLA is based

on the subjectivity of a learner’s perception while learning a foreign language in the classroom This, in turn, entails an uncomfortable and restrained state in the ability to comprehend and produce the foreign language Hence, the language performance in listening and speaking skills have a close relationship with language anxiety

MacIntyre & Gardner (1994) viewed language anxiety in association with second language contexts including speaking, listening, and learning, as “the feeling of tension and apprehension” (p 284) When a language learner is supposed to perform

in the foreign language in the written or oral form, he may perceive that situation as highly anxiety-inducing

In later research, MacIntyre (1999) claimed that foreign language learning is the cause of language anxiety – “the worry and negative emotional reaction aroused when learning or using a second language” (p 27) Language anxiety may occur when a language learner is supposed to face a threatening language learning situation with feelings of tension, nervousness, and worry Due to the root in psychology, language

anxiety is manifested by physical responses which are similar to general anxiety, such

as the intensification of heart rate, muscle tension, and sweating

As shown above, there are many concepts for language anxiety, developed from psychological theories Albeit different interpretations of FLA, it is commonly specified by the feeling of apprehension and tension experienced in the foreign language acquisition process in the classroom context It originates from the necessity

of learning and using a foreign language linked to a learner’s self-perception in the learning context

2.3 Selected theories and models of foreign language anxiety

While an array of theoretical accounts and models explicating the complex nature of anxiety have been proposed (Szyszka, 2017), the following section presents two models which delves into the cognitive effects of anxiety and anxiety in language classroom contexts Tobias’s (1979) model attempted to clarify the cognitive effects

of anxiety on learning from instruction Horwitz et al.’s (1986) theory explored the

effect of anxiety in foreign language classrooms

2.3.1 The effects of anxiety on learning from instruction (Tobias, 1979)

The relationship of language anxiety in L2 cognitive processing was first explained

by Tobias’s (1979) model, which took three stages of L2 information processing into account: input, processing, and output

The first stage – input – implied the individual’s first exposure to a stimulus If anxiety was aroused during this stage, internal reactions might have restricted the ability to pay attention to the instructor’s words, and originated the inability to encode stimuli internally As a result, the effectiveness of input might be lessened, so students tended to require frequent repetition of instructor’s utterances

Figure 2 1 The effects of anxiety on learning from instruction (Tobias, 1979)

The second stage was called processing when input messages were decoded, and learning occured Processing anxiety was detrimental to both language comprehension and learning if the meaning of new items was not understood, either based on learners’ experience or with similar native language items Therefore, learners failed to activate their knowledge about that point of language at a given time

After the previous stages – input and processing – were successfully completed, the final stage called output would occur Anxiety aroused at this stage might lead to the ineffective recovery of vocabulary, inappropriate use of grammatical rules, or an inability to respond

2.3.2 Foreign language anxiety in classroom (Horwitz et al., 1986)

The development of a theoretical model of FLA by Horwitz et al (1986) was a very important step forward in the study of anxiety in language learning (Tóth, 2010), since this model of FLA was the first attempt to single our anxiety from the broader context of affective variables FLA is defined by Horwitz et al (1986, p.128) as “a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to

High reliance on Process A

Low reliance on Process A

classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process” By this definition, the authors consider FLA as a type of situation-specific anxieties, and define FLA into three performance anxieties: communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation, and test anxiety

Communication apprehension played a more significant role in FLA and was

defined as “a type of shyness, characterized by fear of or anxiety about communicating with people” (Horwitz et al., 1986, p 127) Horwitz et al (1986) noted that people who typically had trouble in real and anticipated communication with others in a foreign language learning environment were faced with communication apprehension In detail, they lost their control in common communicative situations such as in groups or public, or in decoding information from speaking and listening

Fear of negative evaluation was defined as the “apprehension about others’

evaluations, distress over their negative evaluations, avoidance of evaluative situations, and the expectation that others would evaluate oneself negatively”

(Horwitz et al., 1986, p 128) The term evaluation here was attributable to both

academic and non-academic evaluations involving in students’ performance and competence in the target language Anxiety was provoked in a foreign language class

by both real and imaginary evaluations from either the teacher or their peer With students who were frequently evaluated, they tended to rarely initiate conversation or minimally interact with others Due to the more frequent possibility to make mistakes

in the language classroom than other subjects, learners were much more vulnerable towards criticism and negative evaluation (Tsui, 1996) In other words, students might feel much more anxious when they were doubtful of their foreign language proficiency

Test anxiety referred to “a type of performance anxiety stemming from a fear of

failure” (Horwitz et al., 1986, p 127) It occurred when a student demanded a better result, compared to their language ability, or worried about their performance This

one was similar to the fear of negative evaluation, but narrower in scope Test anxiety

was aroused in the situation of tests and quizzes, which was almost inevitable in language learning

This section has briefed overview of theoretical framework of FLA in instructional settings and in L2 learning and communication as well According to Tobias (1979),

an individual with a high level of language anxiety are likely to face mental block which affects the way he or she acquires L2 information The mental block respectively occurs during three stages, for the first time – at the input stage, while making connections between existent and new knowledge at the processing stage, and while demonstrating the language performance at the output stage Although FLA model of Horwitz et al (1986) is seen as an independent construct, several links have been noted between the two mentioned models A learner may feel more anxious

in a specific learning situation when dealing with speaking, writing, reading, or listening in a foreign language Moreover, the feeling of worry and apprehension which is experienced in the language classroom may cause the disappearance of existent language knowledge The language performance in test situation may be viewed as the output stage of language learning according to Tobias (1979) In other words, the construct of FLA of Horwitz et al (1986) is conceptualized as connected with the cognitive effects of anxiety on language learning of Tobias (1979), so FLA three components – communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation, and test anxiety – reflect the concept of language anxiety from instructions derived from Tobias’s model in 1979

The theoretical models of anxiety discussed above provide a framework for a better understanding of the complex concept of anxiety, which were experienced in L2 learning context Since this study focuses on the specific educational setting of L2 learning – test situation, it is of paramount importance to examine language anxiety thoroughly in classroom and in test, rather than in association with instructions Thus, the model of Horwitz et al (1986) will be adapted as the model of the research, and its constituents needs to be defined and specified

2.4 The constituents of foreign language anxiety Horwitz et al (1986)

Horwitz et al (1986) proposed that FLA frequently manifests itself in, among others, listening and speaking activities, testing situations, or worries about making mistakes Therefore, this section will outline the manifestations of FLA of each constituent in language classroom

2.4.1 Communication apprehension

Communication apprehension was defined as a major component of both FLA and speaking anxiety (Horwitz, 2012) Consequently, without it, it was impossible to look into the relationship between anxiety and speaking, and the effects of anxiety on oral performance as well

As stated above (section 2.3.2), Horwitz et al (1986) defined communication

apprehension as the fear that individual experiences in oral communication Alternative views argued that it was the proclivity of people to avoid or fear social interaction (Daly, Caughlin, & Stafford, 2009), or the fear/ anxiety which was originated from actual or expected communication with a person or persons (McCroskkey, 2005)

In language learning contexts, communication apprehension was manifested in difficulty to speak in different forms of communication, such as in dyads, groups, or

in public Even listening to or learning a spoken language could cause anxiety or fear for learners (Horwitz et al., 1986) Yilmaz (2014) emphasized that most students blamed FLA for their poor proficiency level in the target language which was far from maintaining a conversation In other words, this situation occurs when they had perceived that the interlocutor had a higher proficiency level, especially teachers and native speakers Talking with a native or more proficient speaker may lead to reticence and avoidance of conversations among these students, given the deficiencies of self-confidence and control towards ongoing conversations Another case which linked to communication apprehension was talking with new people in

group discussions (Mustapha, Ismail, & Singh, 2010) Public speaking reluctance, tension and nervousness attributed to communication apprehension’s manifestations

in this specific case

Students with a high level of anxiety tended to quit the foreign language class, or they felt so terrible that they were pulled out courses with communications demands (Ely, 1986; Phillips, 1992) Evidence given by Daly et al (2009) showed that a spacious class might create a comfortable learning environment for these students because they could minimize any involvements at the back rows in the class Such evidence was also consistent with Horwitz et al (1986), showing manifestations of anxiety as an unwillingness to speak publicly, or refusal to volunteer These students tended to present their speeches with different speeds when performing with and without audiences

Anxious students themselves naturally underrated their language ability and focused

on their failure instead of successes in a foreign language (Cacioppo, Glass, & Merluzzi, 1979) Another sign of anxiety in a language class was the frequency of using a nonsense expression such as “uh, huh” or remaining reticent by smiling during conversations (Schlenker & Leary, 1985)

2.4.2 Fear of negative evaluation

The second constituent of FLA was defined by Horwitz et al (1986) as the fear of negative evaluation This concept was described as the fear or distress towards negative assessment or others’ evaluation about evaluative situations; evenly, it also occurred when a person himself assessed his performance depressingly (Watson & Friend, 1969)

Due to continual evaluation in a language classroom, a learner was continually subject to either peer or teacher monitoring (Ohata, 2005) This case usually caused the feeling of uneasiness, especially when a learner failed to perform in the target language or lost control of the situation in the classroom Besides sitting passively in class, students with the fear of negative evaluation might minimize any involvement with in-class activities or even withdraw from the course (Aida, 1994) Also, the

situation with negative evaluation also caused the worry of being left behind to language learners, according to Wilson (2006)

Mistakes had been considered as an essential part of the language learning process, but they were also the cause of apprehension among students (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1989) As the anxiety arose when learners were taking part in oral expression sessions, they tended to overemphasize on their mistakes and considered them as a failure when orally communicating Young (1990) also claimed that when a teacher corrected students’ errors in a non-supportive way, it could cause anxiety for them

2.4.3 Test anxiety

The last constituent of FLA is Test anxiety, which was described as a statement “I think I can speak the foreign language pretty well But when I know I am being graded, I mess up” (Young, 1990)

As Young (1990) mentioned, test anxiety was the fear of poor performance or failure

in testing situations MacIntyre & Gardner (1989) referred to it as “apprehension over academic evaluation” (p 252), indicating a feeling of apprehension which appeared

in contexts of evaluation during the whole process of learning

In a testing situation, learners might experience high levels of anxiety for many reasons, and one of them is the way they prepare Mealey & Host (1992) differentiated three types of test anxious learners The first group indicated students who had ineffective study habits so they failed to process and organize necessary information before a test The second prepared for the test in advance very well with good learning strategies, but they were unable to apply them in evaluative situations effectively The last group possessed both appropriate learning strategies and study habits, but in fact, they employed them inadequately

Ohata (2005) showed that there was a close relationship between tests and anxiety Being evaluated over a limited time and being aware of further consequences might raise the level of anxiety among students Evaluative circumstances thus distracted students’ attention from performing a task, they instead felt much more worry about

the task (Aida, 1994) Consequently, albeit with appropriate study skills, students might not perform as they expected in tests

After all, language anxiety was constructed by three constituents, namely communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation, and test anxiety These anxieties were connected together by learner’s sense of “self”, as the reason that students experience a feeling of apprehension when communicating with others in classroom, facing negative evaluation, and involving in testing situations Foreign language learners might perceive in-class language learning processes as apprehensive through phenomena and specific reasons discussed above, especially in communication situations

2.5 Foreign language anxiety and oral performance

A new tendency in FLA studies is that researchers are investigating the anxiety in specific language skills (He, 2018) Language anxiety has been reported to be chiefly associated with oral performance (Horwitz et al., 1986) The definition of oral performance and criteria to evaluate it will be outlined, then the correlation between FLA and oral performance will be discussed

2.5.1 Oral performance

In linguistic theory, the term performance was first raised by Chomsky (1969) He

defined it as the actual use of language in concrete situations According to the Oxford dictionary, performance meant “how well or badly you do something.” Each dimension of speaking performance was scored separately and dependable on each approach of assessment According to Aziz (2010), oral performance consisted of five criteria – accuracy, fluency, complexity, pronunciation, and global impression

In another case, Pan (2015) supposed to assess oral performance by four criteria – fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation

Regarding oral performance assessment, one of the popular testing methods was an oral interview Hassan (2001) depicted examiners in oral interview tasks as people

who were well-trained and had full of knowledge concerning the assessment procedure He also added that, in oral performance tasks, the four criteria to assess participants’ oral proficiency are listed as fluency, accuracy, complexity, and pronunciation Whereas, oral performance assessment could be based on three criteria, fluency, accuracy, and complexity (Oya, Manalo, & Greenwood, 2004) Fluency included speech rates and phonetic devices, accuracy was scored by the way

an interviewee used sentence clauses and verb types, and complexity implies the length of utterances However, they stated that the assessment criteria of oral performance might vary, according to the aims of each study

Among different rubrics to evaluate oral performance, the speaking assessment variables of Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation are used for IELTS test The construct of this speaking assessment could achieve all test qualities towards the East Asian regional context (Quaid, 2018) Additionally, there is a correlation between these features while assessing the overall communicative ability in L2 spoken (Jin & Mak, 2013) Therefore, oral performance in the study will be strictly evaluated against the following criteria: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation

2.5.2 The effects of FLA on oral performance

As Horwitz et al (1986) stated, language anxiety has a close relationship with oral performance, improving or impairing These ways of effects are categorized as facilitating anxiety, debilitating anxiety, and neutral anxiety

This relationship between anxiety and performance is depicted by a curvilinear shape, like an inverted “U” (He, 2018) Facilitating anxiety is described by the left side of the diagram, which shows that anxiety moves forward with the performance In other words, when anxiety is low, the performance also experiences a low level In contrast,

on the right hand of the diagram is debilitating anxiety, showing the adverse effect of anxiety and performance When anxiety increases to the optimal level, performance deteriorates The last effect – neutral anxiety – implicates no relationship between

anxiety and performance despite anxiety’s presence (Spielmann & Radnofsky, 2001)

In this case, anxiety is not entirely positive or negative to the whole language acquisition

Figure 2 2 Inverted “U” relation between anxiety and performance (He, 2018)

Lucas (1984) considered anxiety as a negative predictor of learners’ oral performance, which influences both the willingness to communicate and communication quality Additionally, considering exam grades, it is obvious to see that more anxious students tend to get lower results rather than less anxious ones (Phillips, 1992) MacIntyre & Gardner (1994) thus questioned whether task performance could arouse anxiety There is more than one study concluding that language anxiety could be both consequence and cause of the problems in language learning (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994; Sparks & Ganschow, 1993) For example,

when students are asked to respond to a question in a language class, in which students turn to be anxious, this anxiety, in turn, leads to disturbance (He, 2018)

2.6 Previous study

In addition to mentioned models of FLA above, some other significant studies were conducted later on FLA and its relevance to language performance The results were varied among studies, showing no relevance between anxiety and language performance or further supporting the negative relationship as Horwitz et al (1986) observed First, the findings of correlational studies revealing the strength of the relationship between language anxiety and oral performance will be outlined Then, those studies investigating FLA levels in the Vietnamese context will be discussed

The relationship between language anxiety and oral proficiency was investigated early by Young (1986) The research attempted to identify the effect of anxiety on oral performance which was taken from the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) by applying four different types of questionnaires Sixty participants took part in the research, from three separate universities and majors in French, German, or Spanish The proficiency and anxiety were measured concurrently during the research, in which various anxiety aspects were considered like state anxiety and cognitive interference The results demonstrated that there were no significant correlations between the OPI test and the anxiety measures

A correlational study investigating the link between language anxiety and perception of one’s speaking skill among 212 foreign language students was proposed

self-by Kitano (2001) The instruments were Japanese Class Anxiety Scale created self-by previous anxiety scales and three tools for self-rating speaking ability: the Self-Rating Can-Do Scale (SR-CDS), the Self-Rating for the Current Level of Study (SR-CL), and the Self-Rating Expected Perception by the Japanese (SR-EPJ) The first scale measured how difficult each student found performing a task orally in Japanese, the second one aimed at assessing participants’ speaking proficiency for their current level of study, while the last one was created to assess the respondents’ self-

perception of their ability which was compared to native speakers These two scales respectively referred to aspects of language learning such as pronunciation, fluency, grammatical accuracy, and overall speaking ability The quantitative results revealed the inconsistency among these three scales In detail, no significant correlation was found between the level of anxiety and self-rating of speaking competence on the SR-

CDS (r = -0.106, p = 0.62) Conversely, self-rating of the individuals’ speaking abilities was inversely related to class anxiety when measured on the SR-CL (r = - 0.509, p = 0.00) and the SR-EPJ (r = -0.389, p = 0.00)

Similarly, Subaşı (2010) then investigated speaking ability as perceived by foreign language learners with various language anxiety levels 55 Turkish students of English, aged from 17 to 19, participated in the research The three scales of Kitano (2001) were adapted as the main approach to evaluating self-perceived speaking ability Besides, language anxiety was measured with a modified Horwitz et al (1986) and Subaşı (2010) Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale Interestingly, the results

of the study corroborated Kitano’s (2001) research outcomes, providing no correlation between anxiety levels and self-perceived oral performance The

correlation results were reported in terms of each scales are: the SR-CDS (r = -0.174,

p = 0.205), the SR-CL (r = -0.303, p = 0.025) and the SR-EPJ (r = -0.169, p = 0.216)

On the contrary to the three pieces of research above, the investigation by Liu (2006), conducted among 547 Chinese undergraduate non-English majors, showed a significant negative relationship between language anxiety levels and oral performance in the classroom An adapted FLCAS (Horwitz et al., 1986) was administered to measure language anxiety levels of all the participants The FLCAS revealed that at least one third of the students experienced anxiety in oral English classrooms Meanwhile, female students are less anxious and more confident than males The research applied a triangulation method, including a survey, an observation, a journal, and an interview Teachers were requested to observe and note down special cases of anxious behaviors among students during classes Over a period of six weeks, participants were writing reflective journals, in which they responded to questions on anxiety experienced in L2 lessons, the degree of their

involvement in class activities, perceived sources of anxiety, and any other issues concerning L2 learning processes Additionally, the researchers conducted three classroom observations in the form of video recordings with a focus on the participants’ oral performance Finally, 2 high-anxious, 3 average-anxious, and 2-low anxious participants took part in semi-structured interviews, aimed at identifying speaking activities that had made them most and least anxious The statistical analysis

of the FLCAS results showed a considerable number of students at each level felt anxious while speaking English in class However, the qualitative analysis led to conclusions that the more proficient students tended to be less anxious, and students were most anxious in class when they responded individually to teacher questions and least anxious when they worked in pairs Importantly, with regards to three different proficiency levels, a significant difference in language anxiety did exist between two groups – the highest proficiency level and lowest proficiency level There was no significant difference between students at the medium level of proficiency and the other two groups

With a similar aim of examining relationships between FLA and global proficiency

in English, Wilson (2006) administered FLCAS (Horwitz et al., 1986) and a Background Questionnaire in accordance with two tests at the beginning and the end

of the first semester Evidently, students of both high and low abilities found the test very unnerving The results of the test and anxiety levels were then calculated and

revealed a negative correlation with r = -0.494, p < 0.001 These data indicated that

students from the highly anxious group tended to perform on average significantly more poorly than those from the moderate- and low-anxiety groups It was concluded that lower levels of language anxiety could be a prediction for higher oral grades among students Paradoxically, the research found that the number of incorrect words

or fragments in utterances of low anxiety students accounted for a significantly larger proportion than moderately anxious ones Woodrow (2006) showed similar negative

correlations between oral performance and speaking in-class anxiety (r = -0.23, p <

0.01), as well as oral performance and speaking anxiety experienced outside the

classroom (r = -0.24, p < 0.01) in the second language learning context The study

proposed a dual conceptualization of speaking anxiety, referring to in-class and

out-of-class second language anxiety as separate constructs The instruments used to measure the relationship between anxiety and oral performance were the Second Language Speaking Anxiety Scale designed by the researcher and the standardized International English Language Testing System (IELTS) oral test assessed by a certified examiner

Similar results were found in the study by Tóth (2010) Instead of the investigation the level of anxiety among students with beginner or pre-intermediate English levels, Tóth believed that there is the presence of target-language-related anxiety among advanced learners By conducting a survey to measure FLA levels by Horwitz et al.’s (1986) FLCAS translated into Hungarian over 117 students, she found that the participants were experiencing all levels of anxiety in language classroom More than a half of the students (58.1%) fell into the slightly anxious category, and slightly more than fifth of them (22.2%) could be described as considerably or very anxious From a sample of 117, Tóth (2012) selected the 8 most anxious and 8 least anxious learners for further research, to examine the role of language anxiety in oral performance Oral performance was assessed on the basis of maximum 15-minute-long semi-formal interviews with a native speaker for these 16 participants The interviews were recorded and rated on a 5-point scale from very poor to very good according

to the following criteria for measuring oral performance: task performance, effectiveness of communication, fluency, grammatical resource and accuracy, lexical resource and appropriacy, and pronunciation/intonation The results being calculated with the help of the Mann-Whitney U test revealed that the two groups differed statistically significantly in the scores assigned for each oral performance criterion In the case of highly anxious EFL learners, the effectiveness of communication, fluency, grammatical and lexical resources, pronunciation, as well as the overall score for oral performance were marked significantly lower than those with low language anxiety levels

In Vietnam, anxiety rose in the investigation relating to the relationship between student motivation and academic achievement by Le (2012) The researcher claimed that language anxiety was one of the criteria affecting learning achievement This

statement was supported by 38% of students who mentioned shyness as a barrier to practicing English and 30% of students who agreed that worry prevented them from learning a foreign language Nguyen & Tran (2015) concluded anxiety as a factor affecting students’ speaking performance, with agreement from half of the participants

With the same focus, Tran et al (2013) conducted a piece of research on 419 English major students which aims to understand the status of FLA among these students and find out the awareness and attitudes of students towards this problem The result indicates that the students reported learning EFL made them feel anxious and most of them considered FLA as a serious problem that needed to be managed The above review of selected empirical research findings on the subject of language anxiety and oral performance that entails different results The table below will outline the instruments, participants, aims, and outcomes of the studies to provide a general picture of research on language anxiety and oral performance

No correlation between language anxiety and oral performance

1

Young (1986) To examine the

relationship between anxiety and oral performance through the assessment of OPI test among students learning different foreign languages

Instrument(s): Questionnaires – the

State Anxiety Inventory, the Cognitive Interference Questionnaire, a Self- Report of Anxiety, and a Foreign Language Anxiety Scale of Reactions; OPI test; dictation test

Result(s): No significant correlation

between anxiety and oral performance

2

Kitano (2001) To investigate the

relationship between self-perceived speaking skill and language anxiety of students learning Japanese as a foreign language

Instrument(s): The Japanese Class

Anxiety Scale based on the FLCAS, the Self-Rating Can-Do Scale (SR-CD), the Self-Rating for Current Level of Study Scale (SR-CL), and the Self-Rating Expected Perception by the Japanese (SR-EPJ)

Result(s):

- No significant correlation between language anxiety and self-perceived speaking measured on the SR-CD

- A moderate negative relationship between language anxiety and self- perceived speaking measured on the SR-

CL and the SR-EPJ

3

Subaşı (2010) To investigate the

relationship between self-perceived speaking skill and language anxiety among Turkish students of English

Instrument(s): The adapted version of

Kitano’s self-rating scales, adapted version of the FLCAS, the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale

Result(s): No correlation between

anxiety levels and self-perceived oral perfrormance

Negative Correlation between Language anxiety and Oral performance

4

Liu (2006) To examine the

interplay between language anxiety and oral performance among undergraduate learners

of English in China

Instrument(s): The adapted FLCAS,

classroom observations, reflective journals, and interviews

Result(s):

- Learners are most anxious while answering teachers’ questions individually

- Highest proficiency group experiences lowest language anxiety levels

5

Wilson (2006) To investigate the

relationship between oral performance and language anxiety among students of English at Granada University

Instrument(s): The adapted FLCAS,

recorded oral exam, and interviews

Result(s): There was a negative

relationship between language anxiety and oral performance

6

Woodrow (2006) To investigate the

relationship between second language speaking anxiety and speaking performance

of students of English for Academic Purposes

in Australia

Instrument(s): The Second Language

Speaking Anxiety Scale, the IELTS oral test

Result(s):

- A weak negative relationship between speaking in-class second language anxiety and oral performance

- A weak negative relationship between speaking out-of-class second language anxiety and oral performance

7

Toth (2010) To examine the

interplay between language anxiety and oral performance among Hungarian learners of English

Instrument(s): The adapted FLCAS,

recorded semi-formal interviews with a native speaker

Result(s):

- Advanced English level students at university are also experiencing anxiety while learning, a half of them are slightly anxious in English language classroom

- Learners experiencing high and low levels of language anxiety have different results in oral performance (effectiveness of communication, fluency, grammatical and lexical resources, pronunciation)

Research on anxiety in Vietnamese context

8

Le (2012) To examine the

relationship between student motivation and academic achievement from socio-cultural perspective among 200 students aged from 18 to

20 studying English

Instrument(s): The questionnaire and

focus group interview

Result(s): Students had a rather high

level of anxiety while learning

9

Tran et al (2013) To examine the

perceptions and experiences of foreign language students and teachers about sources and effects of FLA, over approximately 500 students from five economic faculties in a university in Vietnam

autobiographies, and semi-structured interviews

Result(s): FLA mainly originated from

learner-related factors, and may have negative or positive impacts However, students tended to suffer from FLA rather than benefit from it

10

Nguyen & Tran

(2015)

To investigate factors affecting students’

speaking performance at

a high school

Instrument(s): The FLCAS and class

observation

Result(s): Students worried about

making mistakes, criticism, or losing face Those factors inhibited them from speaking in the target language

Table 2 1 Summary of selected research on the relationship between language

anxiety and oral performance

The above review of selected research findings shows the levels of FLA over students

of different educational settings, and the range of research results on the subject of language anxiety and oral performance These studies reveals the discrepancy in the levels of FLA among participants, according to gender Liu (2006) or learning situations (Tóth, 2010) The correlation between FLA and oral performance might not be recorded or showed the inverse effect to each other The tool used for calculating language anxiety levels is mostly the FLCAS (Horwitz et al., 1986), adapted for different cultural contexts (e.g., Kitano, 2001; Subaşı, 2010; Liu, 2006; Wilson, 2006); whereas, oral performance is measured with a number of instruments: OPI test (Young, 1986); observations, reflective journals, interviews (Liu, 2006), or IELTS (Woodrow, 2006) Therefore, the measurement of FLA levels in the study will adapt the FLCAS, a tool widely employed in a number of research projects focusing

on language anxiety, and seems to be justifiable for the purposes of the study

The studies summarized in Table 2.1 also present the gap in the area of language anxiety Firstly, not many studies was conducted to measure the level of FLA among students who are studying English as their major, except for Tóth (2010) As Tóth (2010) has found, not only English learners at beginner level but also advanced English learners have to experience language anxiety Secondly, not much research has investigated FLA in Vietnam and there is no adapted version for FLCAS Therefore, this study will propose the adapted scale to measure FLA for students in this project

while speaking Oral performance which is negatively self-perceived may lead to feelings of fear of negative evaluation by peers or teachers Similarly, an evaluative situation may raise the feeling of anxiety if a learner is aware of incompetence in their command of L2 Therefore, the research will investigate how each constituent of FLA influence oral performance

The study assumes that FLA is taken into account in the low or high performance of students which is evaluated by four variables of fluency and coherence, lexical resources, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation In other words,

anxiety may be a factor in poor skills (described by a minus “-”), or may be considered as a facilitating factor (described by a plus “+”)

Communication

Apprehension

Fear of Negative Evaluation

Grammatical range and accuracy Pronunciation

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction

This chapter presents a detailed description of the research, the general objective of which was to investigate the level of FLA among students and the interplay between levels of language anxiety and oral performance achieved in midterm tests and final examinations in a group of EFL students in Vietnam First, the description of the educational setting and participants is presented This is followed by the methodology employed in the study, revealing details of each instrument, together with the procedure and the way to analyze the results Finally, the chapter provides ethical considerations towards instruments and ends with a summary of the chapter

3.2 Research site

The study was conducted at my current teaching place, a public institution in HCMC

It was founded in 2008 with 11 majors for college students, including the Faculty of English

The Faculty of English was established in 2009 to equip the young work force with good English competence to meet the increasing English demand of the society After graduation, students are expected to have both professional working manner and basic knowledge for further education To meet those demands, many opportunities

to practice English have been processed beside the learning program at school, such

as a monthly speaking club or speaking contests Besides, an IELTS community has been formed to exchange their experiences and challenges while learning

The course mainly aims at English for Business; students are trained in English to use

in various contexts and to negotiate in the workplace They need to learn English for specific purposes such as advertising, customer care, or negotiating Therefore, speaking is one of the foundation courses for the learning program and future career There are over 300 students who enrolled in the faculty in 2016 At the time of the research, those students were in the second semester of the first year

The Faculty of English at Thu Duc is quite young and regarded as a typical educational setting in Vietnam, where they are changing both teaching methodologies and administration to integrate the development of society Therefore, the findings of the study may contribute to the following action plans Additionally, the majority of students in Vietnam enroll in public institutions, so this context may provide a mixture of samples from various education systems to investigate the common level

of FLA among Vietnamese students

3.3 Participants

The research participants were 91 English-major students, studying in their first year

at Thu Duc College in Ho Chi Minh City in 2016 Their age ranged from 19 to 23, with an average age of 19.7 years Importantly, most participants were Vietnamese and used Vietnamese as their L1, except for one Chinese student who is using Cantonese as his L1 They were all non-native speakers of English

Most of these students started to learn English in junior middle school (more than 80%), the rest of them started even earlier All of them had learned English as a foreign language for seven years or more before entering college Their English learning at high school (3 periods/ week, equivalent to 2.25 hours) focused on grammar rules, intensive text reading and analysis, vocabulary study (meaning and usage of each word and phrase), and listening Only a minimal number of the student participants had the opportunity to participate in intensive courses or extra classes at private language centers, which emphasized developing listening and speaking skills instead of grammar and reading In other words, most participants had limited number

of English lessons to practice speaking at high school

At college, they were in the first-year program of English major, focusing on the development of four language skills They were included in the study as Yan (1998) reported that Year-1 students are the most anxious university students in language learning Regarding the Speaking course, it is considered as one of the four basic skills, including Speaking 1 and Speaking 2 These courses are compulsory for all students, and Speaking 1 is the conditional course for the latter Both speaking