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 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 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. NGUYỄN XUÂN THƠM HA NOI – 2015 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 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 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My deep and sincere gratitude is due to my supervisor Assoc.
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.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 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. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .iii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
iv LIST OF FIGURES, CHARTS, AND TABLES. vii PART A: INTRODUCTION. Objectives of the study. Significance of the study.
Scope of the study. Method of the study. The design of the study. 5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW.
The nature of speaking skill. Definition of speaking. The importance of speaking skill. Speaking activities in classroom and successful learning.
Overview of anxiety. In terms of psychology. Definition of anxiety. Types of anxiety.2 In terms of learning speaking activities.
Foreign language anxiety .The relationship between anxiety and foreign language oral proficiency. Previous studies related to speaking anxiety. 13 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Quantitative and qualitative method.
Setting of the study. Data gathering instruments. The questionnaires for students:. Data collection and analysis procedure.
19 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. Analysis of the questionnaires for students and class observations. The importance of speaking skill. Students‟ perception on the importance of speaking skill.
Students‟ interest degree in speaking lessons. Students‟ general opinion about anxiety. Students‟ opinion about anxiety in English communicative skills. The degree of agreement about anxiety in students‟ oral performance.
Causes of anxiety in speaking lessons. Activities causing high and low anxiety in speaking class. Common activities used in speaking class. Speaking activity making students the most and the least anxious.
Students‟ preference towards speaking activities. The impact of anxiety on students‟ speaking performance. Analysis of the questionnaire for teachers. Summary of the findings.
38 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Anxiety and students‟ oral performance have the negative relationship with each other. Speaking activities have effects on the degree of anxiety among students. Anxiety has effects on students‟ self-confidence and self-perception.
Communication Apprehension as the main source of anxiety. Recommendations for further study. IX vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF FIGURES, CHARTS, AND TABLES Figure 0.1: Students’ perception on the importance of speaking skill .2: Students’ interest degree in speaking lessons.3: Students’ opinion about anxiety in English communicative skills .4:The degree of agreement about anxiety in students’ oral performance .5: Students’ preference towards speaking activities .1: Causes of anxiety in speaking lessons .2: The frequency of using speaking activities .3: The impact of anxiety on students’ speaking performance .4: The frequency of creating relaxing atmosphere .5: Challenges the teachers face in teaching speaking .6: The relationship between the teachers and students .7: The frequency of interacting between teachers and students .1: Common activities used in speaking class .2: Speaking activity making students the most and the least anxious. 27 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 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.
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.
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 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 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.
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. 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. 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. 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.
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.