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

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


DECLARATION
Do Thi Thuy Trang, hereby certify that this M.A thesis entitled “The impact of
anxiety on the 10th grade students‟ oral performance at Ham Long upper-secondary
in Bac Ninh: A case study” is the result of my own study in the fulfillment of the
requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies,
University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University,
Hanoi. I commit that this thesis has not been submitted anywhere for any degree.

Hanoi, 2015

Đỗ Thị Thùy Trang

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My deep and sincere gratitude is due to my supervisor Assoc.Prof.Dr.
Nguyen Xuan Thom, for his valuable direction and assistance.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my most sincere thanks to all
students and teachers at Ham Long upper-secondary School in Bac Ninh who took
part in the study.
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.

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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.

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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

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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
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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

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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

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PART A: INTRODUCTION
In this part, the rationale of the study, the objectives, the research questions,
the significance, the scope, and the method of the study will be presented.
1. Rationale
As we know there are many ways used to communicate such as verbal language,
body language, gestures and signals. However, it is undeniable that verbal language is
the most effective method for communication. For that reason, communication skills in
which speaking skill is a big part of learning any languages because “of the four skills
(listening, speaking, reading and writing), speaking seems intuitively the most
important” (Ur, 2000: 120). It is not unusual for us to speak our mother tongue
language fluently without obstacles since it is the language we have digested naturally;
However, learning to speak a foreign language in general and English in particular is a
big challenge with most students at schools throughout Vietnam. Learners may be good
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
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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.
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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

6


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.
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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

8


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) situationspecific 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).

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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 selfperceptions, 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.
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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

11


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.
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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
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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
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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.

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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,

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