This study investigates the sources of provoking English speaking anxiety among Libyan university students. The data was collected through a close-ended questionnaire completed by 300 students randomly selected from English departments in three colleges. The findings reveal that ‘fear of making mistakes’ , ‘lack of practice’, ‘fear of negative evaluation’ and ‘lack of/limited vocabulary’ represent the main provokers of nervousness and uneasiness among the participants when they speak English in classrooms. Some anxiety alleviating strategies have been discussed and recommended.
1.Introduction
Developing good speaking skills represents a major challenge for language learners. Although it is always claimed that foreign language (FL) learning
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Cultural, emotional, psychological and social factors have their influence on this phenomenon. Shabani (2012:2378) attributed this difficulty to the wide scope of the concept which ranges “from an amalgam of overt behavioral characteristics that can be studied scientifically to introspecting feelings that are inaccessible”. It can be also attributed to its different components as explained by Horwitz (1986: 128) “self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process”. Language anxiety has been defined in Oxford dictionary as “a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome”… and as “abnormal fear of speaking in public or trying to speak”. According to Horwitz, et al (1986:125), it is “the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system”. Gardner and Maclntyre (11993:5) defined it as “ the apprehension experienced when a situation requires the use of a second language with which the individual is not fully proficient”. Awan et al (2010: 33-34) pointed out the three different types of anxiety: trait anxiety, state anxiety and situational anxiety. The first is a personality trait, the second refers to the anxiety felt at a certain …show more content…
Research reveals different sources that cause language anxiety. Horwitz et al. (1986) referred to three primary language performance anxieties: ‘communication apprehension’, ‘social evaluation’, and ‘test anxiety’. Six sources have been identified by Young (1991) including anxieties of personal and interpersonal, teacher-student interaction, teachers’ beliefs about language learning, students’ beliefs about language learning, procedures of classroom and testing. Lui (2006:23-25) investigated the causes of anxiety among 98 Chinese EFL learners during their English oral classes. He reported these causes: lack of practice, lack of/limited vocabulary, low proficiency level, personality, fear of making mistakes , lack of preparation, incomprehensible input, inadequate knowledge of grammar, fear of being laughed at, lack of confidence, difficulty of the task, poor/bad pronunciation, lack of familiarity with partners /classmates, lack of familiarity with the topic, fear of being negatively evaluated, fear of being the focus of attention, fear of speaking Arabic English, inability to find proper words to express ideas, inability to express oneself, eagerness/desire to speak fluently, poor memory, lack of familiarity with the type of activity, family communication pattern, lack of familiarity with the environment, and English is not the students’ mother tongue. This seems to be a comprehensive list and therefore it was
“Younger learners show fewer problems with language anxiety (Johnstone, 2009), higher levels of motivation and positive attitudes towards language learning (Bӧrner, Engel, & Groot-Wilken, 2013; Graham, Courtney, Tonkyn, & Marinis, 2016; Mihaljević Djigunović & Lopriore, 2011), and potentially better employability in the future” (Jaekel 632-2,
The way that Tan’s mother spoke English was not how it was taught in school and that resulted in Tan scoring lower on English test because the way she heard english most often was different from the type of English taught in school. I have never had this problem because both of my parents went through the same schooling that I am going through so they learned to speak the type of English that I am currently being
Similar to the previous point, teachers also express their frustration due to forcefully limiting their skills and ability to instruct students in a foreign language (P. 4). Additionally, the California Teachers Association comes out in “strong opposition because
The teacher’s approach to teaching is: The harder she pushes the students the harder they will work and the more they will learn. Some people might argue that this is not the proper way to learn. Many people would surely prefer a safe environment where it is okay to make a mistake and discuss issues in a language they are far more comfortable to speak. As a result of the teacher being so mean the students are frightened to speak. Though through hard times most people will often feel like it helps that you are not the only one struggling, something that the refugees most defi-nitely must be feeling when they arrive at a new country and has to learn a new language.
study in the United States can lead to negative emotions, academic difficulties, and higher levels of cultural stress. This is because language proficiency plays a critical role in transmission of information and regulation of cognitive processes. The language barrier can also lead to lack of confidence and poor social integration. Some of them may avoid communicating because of the fear of making mistakes. This contributes to the feeling of loneliness and homesickness because the students feel that they have no family to rely on.
Anxiety: A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome. That word was very prominent when I got accepted to the NCIBA honor band my 7th grade year. I was one of the most apprehensive times of my life, partly because I was extremely under prepared. Wednesday, I never liked Wednesdays during school.
Anxiety is the body and mind’s reaction to stress and dangerous or unfamiliar situations. Unlike stress, anxiety is a typical part of life that everyone goes through and has. If you're taking an important exam, talking to your crush, or going to a new school, anxiety is a common side effect of these
Like fear, anxiety happens when people worry about different events that won’t kill you. a. These events haven’t even happened or may not happen. 2. Anxiety is a feeling of fear with often no clear reason. D.
Many topics have been covered through this semester of Com 101 dealing with public speaking. Some of the topics include: speech anxiety, plagiarism, and abusive language. All three of those topics can relate to The Office in one or more ways. The first topic, speech anxiety can be caused by more than one reason. One reason speech anxiety can be caused is by a bad experience in front of a group of people.
The United States is a place of freedom. We are a mixing pot that unifies as one. Many religions, cultures, and languages make their home in the Unites States. Many foreigners see the U.S. as an opportunity to seek better lives and education, but when it comes to foreigners and native-born non-English speakers that do not yet know English, it becomes a little more difficult to go about an average day let alone make a better future. Children in school often become English Language Learners, or ELL, to assimilate to the American standards.
• Concentration Since worrying about everything takes up most of the time, people cannot concentrate on any one particular thing for an elongated period of time. Due to the lack of concentration, people also do not remember and forget things easily. • Feeling of danger Every anxiety disorder is based on some feeling of impending danger or doom. Even in completely safe situations, people think up scenarios where some catastrophe is possible!
Anxiety Anxiety is a sense of fear or dread that something terrible is going to happen. Anxiety can be general or specific to a place, social situation or thing (phobia) Anxiety disorders are a group of mental disorders characterized by significant feelings of anxiety and fear. Anxiety is a worry about future events and fear is a reaction to current
Its persistence is crippling. As long as daily living is characterized by struggle, strife, and suffering, the anxiety-experience is an inevitability. The Nature of Anxiety Anxiety is a mental tension which expresses itself in worry, irritability, apprehension, or uneasiness. The mental tension results either from a sense of uncertainty about future or impending events, or from a sense of inability to control one 's environment or state of affairs.
The Burns Survey: A measure of Academic Anxiety College students are swamped with work and constantly under intense pressure to perform at their best. The hypothetical construct that this survey will be measuring is academic anxiety in a college setting. It’s important to create a measurement scale to gage the levels of academic anxiety students are burdened with.
Students have difficulties learning when a class is given in another language or when