English Language Speaking Anxiety Among Public University Undergraduates

English Language speaking anxiety

In Malaysia, the English Language has long been introduced as a second language and implemented in government schools and learning institutions. Malaysians typically begin formal education and exposure to the English language in preschool and continue through high school and/or higher education. Nonetheless, a number of studies, like Achanan et al. (2021), Dellah et al. (2019), as well as Miskam and Saidalbi (2019), have reported that many of these learners exhibited second language anxiety that is even more pronounced in speaking classrooms. Similar observations were also made in foreign or second language classrooms in other countries such as Indonesia (Fitriah & Muna, 2019; Tridinanti, 2018), Sri Lanka (Wijewantha, 2021) and Bangladesh (Mobarak, 2020), indicating how common yet significant such a situation is. Speaking anxiety can be described as feelings of fear and worry associated with language speaking (Tridinanti, 2018). The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) was used in most studies on second language anxiety.

FLCAS is an instrument to measure language anxiety among learners that was developed by Horwitz et al. (1986). It comprises three components: communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation. Communication apprehension refers to the uneasiness of communicating in a foreign or second language that is due to limited language knowledge and vocabulary, while test anxiety refers to the anxiousness exhibited when the language activities are viewed as assessment tools instead of platforms for improvement. Fear of negative evaluation, on the other hand, refers to concerns about one’s own image in certain situations, such as when mistakes are made in the language classrooms. Communication apprehension was recorded as the most significant factor that affected the participants’ oral performance in Miskam and Saidalbi (2019). A different result was reported by Achanan et al. (2021) as well as Zabidin et al. (2020) where the participants’ speaking anxiety was found to be attributed mostly to fear of negative evaluation.

Factors and impacts of speaking anxiety

Speaking anxiety in foreign or second language classrooms can come from various causes. In developing FLCAS, Horwitz et al. (1986) claimed that the three components of the instrument are contributing factors to language anxiety, including speaking anxiety. So, communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation could lead to speaking anxiety. In addition to these three factors, this type of anxiety could also be caused by a lack of motivation and self-confidence (Mobarak, 2020; Tridinanti, 2018), a lack of speaking opportunities and low language performance or knowledge (i.e. vocabulary) (Wijewantha, 2021). Wijewantha (2021) further explained that the participants’ speaking anxiety was derived from inadequate vocabulary knowledge, fear of making mistakes, fear of testing, as well as the nature of the speaking activities. Impromptu and public speaking activities seemed to generate a higher level of speaking anxiety. Achanan et al. (2021) also mentioned two more causes of speaking anxiety: learners’ individual personalities and the type of learning environment they are in.

Speaking anxiety can have some impacts on the language acquisition process. Fitriah and Muna (2019) stated that speaking anxiety could affect learners’ self-confidence and stress level as they are learning the language. In addition, Miskam and Saidalbi (2019) also reported observable physical effects of speaking anxiety among learners such as profuse sweating, obvious panicking, and an inability to speak. To add to these, speaking anxiety also influences the learners’ willingness to participate in language classroom activities (Dellah et al., 2019). In most of the studies on speaking anxiety, it is emphasised that speaking anxiety could conclusively influence overall language achievement in the end. Hence, it is imperative for language instructors to assess or at least be aware of their learners’ speaking anxiety.

Sampling

This study used a quantitative approach to explore pre-diploma students’ speaking anxiety in their English class. Based on data obtained from the System Information Management Students (SIMS), the total number of pre-diploma students from the Faculty of Business and Management at UiTM Melaka, was 323 students from 10 classes. In order to have a high confidence level and a minimum sample error, 177 students (109 female and 68 male) were selected based on the sample size recommended by Krejcie and Morgan (1970). Purposive sampling method has been utilised to ensure that all respondents were undergoing the same English courses for that semester. The respondents in this study had all obtained satisfactory English grades in their previous English paper of Malaysian Certificate of Education, a national examination taken by all fifth-form secondary school students. 23 students earned A, 47 students acquired B, 49 students scored C, 45 students obtained D, and 13 students gained E. These participants were all Malay students in the age range of 18 to 20 years old.

Instrument and analysis

In this study, FLCAS questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale adopted from Horwitz et al. (1986) has been utilised to measure the speaking anxiety level of the pre-diploma students. The questionnaire consists of 33 items that were constructed to probe students’ language anxiety pertaining to communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation. The scale consists of 33 items scored on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree." According to Horwitz et al. (1986), this scale has been shown to have an internal reliability of 0.93 with all items and test-retest reliability of r=0.83, p=0.001. In this study, the questionnaire was presented in two languages, English and Malay. This is important to ensure the respondents were able to fully comprehend the items. Using SPSS, a descriptive analysis was run to answer the research questions of this study.

Results

A set of questionnaires was distributed to investigate speaking anxiety levels in second language classrooms among pre-diploma students at UiTM Melaka. The analysis of the survey divulged the following findings.

The first research question of the study is: ‘What are the levels of speaking anxiety among UiTM undergraduates in their second language classrooms?’. Table 1 unveils the level of speaking anxiety among students at UiTM. Based on the analysis using descriptive analysis, the finding indicates that of all of them, 100% (177) experienced a moderate level of speaking anxiety in their English class.

The second research question is: ‘What are the factors that contribute to the levels of speaking anxiety among UiTM undergraduates in their second language classrooms?’. Table 2 shows the mean and standard deviation scores for the three dimensions of FLCAS. In terms of communication apprehension, the mean score is 3.0714 while the mean score for fear of negative evaluation is 3.0478. On the other hand, the mean score for test anxiety is 3.2857 while the mean score for overall speaking anxiety is 3.1061. The finding reveals that learners experienced a moderate level of speaking anxiety in English class with test anxiety as the dimension with the highest mean score. Hence, further analysis was conducted to determine the mean and standard deviation scores of speaking anxiety items for each dimension in detail.

Table 3 exhibits the students’ responses on every item related to communication apprehension. Some of the highest mean scores recorded indicated that participants believed that they felt very self-conscious about speaking English in front of other students, that they started to panic when they had to speak without preparation in language class, and that they were not quite sure of themselves when they had to speak English in class.

Table 4 indicates the students’ speaking anxiety on items pertaining to fear of negative evaluation. Some of the highest mean scores are related to their worry about the consequences of failing in English class as well as not being bothered if they have to attend more English classes.

Table 5 displays the students’ responses to each item associated with the test anxiety dimension in their English class. Some of the highest mean scores recorded for students’ speaking anxiety in this dimension were due to their feeling and thinking that the other students spoke better English and were better at English than them.

Discussion

To answer Research Question 1: ‘What are the levels of English Language speaking anxiety among UiTM undergraduates?’, the results revealed that all of the participants in this study experienced a moderate level of English Language speaking anxiety. This is a stark difference compared to Achanan et al. (2021), Miskam and Saidalbi (2019), Nordin et al. (2020), and Zabidin et al. (2020). These studies also involved Malaysian undergraduates but reported a high level of speaking anxiety among the majority of the participants. The finding also differs from other speaking anxiety studies, such as Fitriah and Muna (2019) and Wijewantha (2021), which also claimed that most participants exhibited a high level of speaking anxiety. One possible explanation for this is that the factors that lead to speaking anxiety discussed in this paper were less apparent in the participants’ English Language classrooms. As these factors became less prominent in their language classrooms, the participants’ speaking anxiety subsequently became less noticeable.

With regards to Research Question 2: ‘What are the factors that contribute to the levels of English Language speaking anxiety among UiTM undergraduates?’, the analysis indicated that the participants’ speaking anxiety was largely attributed to test anxiety. This is in contradiction to the findings from Achanan et al. (2021), Dellah et al. (2019), Nordin et al. (2020), and Zabidin et al. (2020). In these studies, fear of negative evaluation contributed the most to the participants’ speaking anxiety. They felt apprehensive about the possibility of getting negative comments and views, not only from their language instructors but also from their peers. In addition, this finding also contradicts Miskam and Saidalbi (2019) who found communication apprehension to be the most significant factor in speaking anxiety among their participants. They indicated that they mostly felt inadequate as they had limited knowledge and proficiency of the language. In this current study, however, test anxiety was the most significant, followed by communication apprehension and lastly, fear of negative evaluation, as the contributing factors in speaking anxiety among the participants. In other words, the participants of this study were most anxious when it came to their speaking assessments.