An Investigation Into The Factors That Lead To Speaking Anxiety Among Efl Learners

Year 2019, Volume: 5 Issue: 1, 27 - 44, 30.06.2019

Naeela Elsharkawy

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the factors that cause speaking
anxiety in English language learners. The participants of this case study were randomly selected 50 Turkish
university students who are at the pre-intermediate
language proficiency level of English at the Preparatory School of Istanbul Aydın
University. Two main
data collection instruments were used in this study. The first data collection
instrument was a Foreign Language Anxiety Scale, which was developed by
Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986). The second data collection instrument was the
focus group interviews. Using the item categorization of the Foreign Language
Anxiety Scale, the data of the study were analysed
in four sections: self-perceived proficiency, self-comparison to
others and competitiveness, fear of performance in test
situation and learners' beliefs about making mistakes in English class. The findings
on self-perceived proficiency showed that although the majority of the students
have self-confidence and feel relaxed about speaking English in the class,
there are a few students who have self-perceived low-level ability in learning
a foreign language. We may conclude that being confident and feelings of
comfort during speaking in foreign language are significant factors in
speaking. With regard to the self-comparison to others and competitiveness
category, we realized that more than half of the students don't think of
others’ competence during the language learning process, while the rest of them
compare themselves with the other students in the class. Those students stated
that they don't get anxious
about the English language examinations because they always prepare themselves
for the examinations in advance on daily-basis. In addition, they mentioned
that studying hard at home and also listening to the teacher in the class help
them to become aware of the topics they are not good at. Moreover, they pointed
out that their teacher is very good and that is why there is no need to get
nervous about the examination time. But we cannot
deny those learners who do have problems in test situation even though they
represent the minority of the participants. Regarding the learners' beliefs
about making mistakes in English class, we concluded that all of the students
don't feel anxious about making mistakes in the English class. 

Keywords

Foreign language anxiety, speaking anxiety

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