VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG THỊ HUYỀN A STUDY ON ANXIETY IN SPEAKING CLASS OF THE 1ST YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY ( NGHIªN CỨU VỀ SỰ LO LẮNG TRONG LỚP HỌC NãI TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIªN KH«NG CHUYªN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KỸ THUẬT HƯNG YªN) M. Minor Programme Thesis Field : English Methodology Code : 601410 Hanoi, 2010 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG THỊ HUYỀN A STUDY ON ANXIETY IN SPEAKING CLASS OF THE 1ST YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY ( NGHIªN CỨU VỀ SỰ LO LẮNG TRONG LỚP HỌC NãI TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIªN KH«NG CHUYªN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KỸ THUẬT HƯNG YªN) M. Minor Programme Thesis Field : English Methodology Code : 601410 Supervisor : PH¹M THÞ H¹NH, M.A Hanoi, 2010 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com iv Table of content PART ONE: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………… 1 1. Aims of the study………………………………………………………………………….
Scope of the study…………………………………………………………………………2 4. Methods of the study………………………………………………………………………2 5. Design of the study………………………………………………………………………. 2 PART TWO: THE STUDY…………………………………………………………………… 4 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………………….
Theoretical background of anxiety……………………………………………………… 4 Definition of anxiety…………………………………………………………………… 4 Types of anxiety………………………………………………………………………….5 Foreign language anxiety…………………………………………………………………5 Sources of foreign language anxiety……………………………………………………. 8 Effect of anxiety on learning…………………………………………………………… 9 Components of foreign language anxiety………………………………………………. Fear of negative evaluation………………………………………………………11 1. Theoretical background of speaking activities ………………………………………… 12 Concepts of speaking activities…………………………………………………………12 Roles of speaking activities…………………………………………………………… .12 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY………………………………………………………….
16 Semi-structured interview……………………………………………………………… .17 CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS……………………………………… 19 1. Level of speaking anxiety experinced by UTEHY non- English major freshmen …… 19 Communication anxiety……………………………………………………………… 19 Fear of negative evaluation……………………………………………………………. 21 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com v Test anxiety…………………………………………………………………………. Sources of students’ speaking anxiety………………………………………………….
27 CHAPTER IV: SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS………………………………………… 30 1. Recommendations for the teachers……………………………………………………… 30 2. Recommendations for the students……………………………………………………… 32 PART THREE: CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………35 1. Summary of the study……………………………………………………………………35 2.
Limitations of the study………………………………………………………………… 35 3. Recommendations for further research………………………………………………… 36 REFERENCES.I APPENDIXES………………………………………………………………………………… III LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vi LIST OF ABBREVEATIONS FLA: Foreign Language Acquisition FLCAS: Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale FL: Foreign Language UTEHY: Hung Yen University of Education and Technology LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Criteria to identify groups of FLA levels Table 2: Level of speaking anxiety experinced by UTEHY non- English major freshmen Table 3:Level of communication anxiety experinced by UTEHY non- English major freshmen Table 4: : Level of fear of negative evaluation experinced by UTEHY non- English major freshmen Table 5: Level of test anxiety experinced by UTEHY non- English major freshmen LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 1 PART ONE- INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale: Since the open policy was carried out in Vietnam, English has become a useful and indispensable means for the integration of our country into the world community. Learning English becomes a great necessity for Vietnamese people.
Especially, learning speaking gains a great stature as the need of communication is paid much more attention. The result of learning a language, though, is determined and affected by a number of factors. It is believed that there are some emotional factors in foreign language learning which affect our learning abilities. These are mainly thought to be intelligence, motivation, attitudes and anxiety.
Among these, anxiety stands out as one of the major influential factors for effective language learning. This foreign language anxiety is defined by some authors as “a feeling of tension, apprehension and nervousness associated with the situation of learning a foreign language.”(Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986, p.125) In fact, in speaking lesson in Hung Yen University of Technology and Education, students are usually reluctant to take part in class activities. Speaking tasks often take place in silence. Some students may be very good at writing or reading English but they fail to speak English fluently and naturally.
Some students state that they cannot find words to say. And some say that they do not like speaking in class. Some frankly admit that they feel nervous and anxious when speaking. Learning English in Vietnam has gained a considerable achievement.
However, learning speaking skill in Vietnam is not really efficient in comparison with other developed contries. While a certain amount of research has been conducted to investigate the nature of anxiety in second and foreign language learning, little has been done on anxiety in learning speaking skill alone in Vietnam. As a teacher of English, therefore, I decided to conduct research on the topic: “ A study on anxiety in Speaking class of the 1st year non-English major students at Hung Yen University of Education and Technology”. Aims and objectives of the study: LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2 The study is aimed at anxieties encountered by the first year non English major students in Economic Department, Hung Yen University of Technology and Education, and then finding some possible techniques for dealing with students’ anxiety in speaking class.
To help the students overcome such difficulties, the specific objectives of the study are: - to identify the anxiety and point out factors affecting students’ anxiety in learning speaking skill - to suggest some realistic and appropriate pedagogical implications to improve students’ ability to cope with anxiety in learning speaking skill. Scope of the study: There are many types of anxiety. However, this study only focuses on anxiety of speaking skill for the First Year Non English majors at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education. This study is claimed to be an overview of current situations of the first year non English majors when learning speaking skill and some suggestions for students to cope with anxiety in speaking class as well as techniques for the teachers to improve their teaching methods of speaking skills.
Methods of the study: The study will be conducted using quantitative and qualitative methods with questionnaires for informants of one class of about 30 first- year non majors of English and 15 teachers at the University of Technology and Education in Hung Yen- Department of foreign languages. In addition to the questionnaire, informal interviews with the informants and their teachers and personal observation will also be employed. Design of the study: LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 3 The study consists of three parts: Part A, introduction, presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, the methods and the design of the study. Part B, development, consists of 3 chapters.
+ Chapter I - Literature Review – provides the basic theoretical background from literature on anxiety such as definition, types of anxiety; and speaking activities. Especially, the effect and possible causes of anxiety, which are the main issues of the study, are discussed thoroughly in this chapter. + Chapter II - Practical Research – provides an analysis on the current situation of teaching and learning speaking skill and reports the results of the survey research which are carried out at the beginning of the third term of the 2009- 2010 academic year at the foreign language department, UTEHY. The report includes the following information.
research questions context informants questionnaires and procedures data analysis and findings suggested solutions + Chapter III – Implications for teaching and learning speaking skill– focuses on anxieties facing students in learning speaking skill and suggested techniques and activities for the teachers to improve their teaching, suggested solutions for students to reduce and cope with anxieties facing them in speaking classes. Part C, conclusion, summarizes all the key issues as well as the limitations of the study and suggestions for further study. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 4 PART TWO- THE STUDY CHAPTER I- LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Theoretical background of anxiety: 1.
Definition of anxiety: There has been a variety of studies carried out on anxiety. Anxiety is “the subjective feeling of tension, comprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of autonomic nervous system” (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986, p. Or “the worry and negative emotional reaction aroused when learning a second language” (MacIntyre, 1999, p. Second language anxiety is defined here a distinct complex of self- perception, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to using a foreign/ second language for communication beyond class language.
They identified three related anxieties as components of foreign language anxiety: communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation. In addition “Anxiety is a psychological construct, commonly described by psychologists as a state of apprehension, a vague fear that is only indirectly associated with an object” (Hilgard, Atkinson, & Atkinson, 1971 cited in Scovel, 1991:18). Anxiety, as perceived intuitively by many language learners, negatively influences language learning and has been found to be one of the most highly examined variables in all of psychology and education ( adapted from Horwitz, 2001:113). To sum up, anxiety is a feeling of tension, apprehension and nervousness associated with the situation of learning a foreign language.
In general, it can have physical, emotional, and behavioral manifestations and these manifestations can differ with each individual. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Types of anxiety: Usually anxiety is classified into trait anxiety, state anxiety and situation-specific anxiety. Trait anxiety, as Scovel (1978) noted, refers to “a more permanent predisposition to be anxious” while state and situation-specific anxiety are usually experienced in relation to some particular event or situation (Brown, 2001).
Language anxiety, the research target of this paper, belongs to the latter category, which refers to the apprehension experienced when a situation requires the use of a second language with which the individual is not fully proficient (Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993). Foreign language anxiety: (quoted by Dr. Language anxiety has been defined as a specific-situation anxiety experience by students in the process of learning and / or using a foreign or second language. A specific-situation anxiety is an anxiety that arises from a specific-situation such as flying in an airplane, giving a speech, dealings with math, taking tests, as opposed to a trait anxiety which is a permanent part of a person’s personality.
(1986) say that, “We conceive foreign language anxiety as a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process”. In addition to the definition, it is important to point out that anxiety can be both facilitating – a positive factor assisting people towards success – and debilitating – a negative factor, blocking or preventing people from success. Speaking in the foreign / second language has been cited in the literature as the greatest source of anxiety, followed by listening, as opposed to reading and writing. Anxiety, in general, can have physical, emotional, and behavioral manifestations and these manifestations can differ with each individual.
LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 6 In addition to these types of foreign language anxiety above, there is a version of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) that was designed by Horwitz (1986) to measure the level of foreign language anxiety in class. This questionnaire consists of 33 statements, of which 8 items were for communication anxiety (1, 9, 14, 18, 24, 27, 29, 32), 9 items for fear of negative evaluation (3, 7, 13, 15, 20, 23, 25, 31, 33) and 5 items for test anxiety (2, 8, 10, 19, 21). As for the remaining 11 items, they were put in a group which was named anxiety of English classes. The respondents were asked to rate each item on a five- point Likert scale ranging from 1 (“strong disagreement”) to 5 (“strong agreement”).
The higher the score, the higher the anxiety level. And this is claimed to be the theoretical background for all the findings of the research.