MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ HO THI HONG PHUC ANXIETY AND ITS EFFECTS ON ENGLISH SPEAKING LEARNING OF STUDENTS AT QUOC HOC HIGH SCHOOL IN HUE MA THESIS IN EDUCATION HUE, 2011 -1- MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ ANXIETY AND ITS EFFECTS ON ENGLISH SPEAKING LEARNING OF STUDENTS AT QUOC HOC HIGH SCHOOL IN HUE FIELD OF STUDY: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.10 MA THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: PHAN VAN HOA, ASSOC. HUE, 2011 2 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ------------- NGUYÊN NHÂN VÀ ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA TRẠNG THÁI LO LẮNG ĐẾN VIỆC HỌC KỸ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG QUỐC HỌC HUẾ CHUYÊN NGÀNH: LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.10 LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ HUẾ, 2011 3 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission from associates and have not been published elsewhere. Author Ho Thi Hong Phuc 4 First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc.
Phan Van Hoa for all of his enthusiasm and constant encouragement. His excellent insight and whole-hearted directions as well as his patience play an important role for the fulfillment of my study. I am greatly indebted to the teachers and students at Quoc Hoc high school, who were kind enough to help me to perform the process of collecting the necessary date for my research. I am also heartily grateful to all of the teachers who have devotedly taught me during my master study at Hue College of Foreign Languages.
Finally, my warmest thanks go to my family members and my boyfriend, who always encouraged and created the most favorable conditions for me during the time I conducted this research paper especially in the moments of difficulties. Hue, January 2011 Ho Thi Hong Phuc 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Pages SUB COVER PAGE STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .1 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.5 LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS. Motivation and research questions. Background of the research .17 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW.
The importance of English speaking skill. The students’ background. The students’ English speaking competence. Anxiety in language learning.
Definition of terms. Types of anxiety. Foreign language anxiety. Impact of Anxiety on Foreign Language Learning.
Anxiety- provoking factors in learning English speaking skill. Cultural or socio-cultural factors. Psychological or affective factors. How anxiety is manifested in language classroom.
Reducing students’ anxiety in language classroom .33 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY. Subjects of the study. Procedure and method .38 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. The current situation of learning English speaking skill in students’ perspectives.
Students’ English background. Students’ attitudes towards English speaking skill. Students’ perception of the importance and necessity of speaking skill. Students’ interest in learning English speaking skill.
Students’ feelings when speaking English in front of the class. Influential factors causing anxiety for students in English speaking. Cultural or socio- cultural factors. Shyness in Vietnamese communicative culture.
Losing- face psychology in Vietnamese communicative culture. Students’ beliefs about language learning. Fear of negative evaluation. Impacts of anxiety on students’ learning speaking skill under students and teachers’ perspectives.
Manifestations of students’ anxiety when speaking in English classrooms. Strategies students use to overcome or control anxiety when speaking. Feasible solutions for teachers to cope with anxiety when teaching English speaking skill under students and teachers’ perspectives .79 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS LIMITATIONS. Implications and suggestions .88 APPENDICES 8 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL : English as a foreign language SA : strongly agree A : agree N : neutral D : disagree SD : strongly disagree 9 LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS List of tables Table 4.1: The influence of shyness on communication of Vietnamese communicative culture under students’ perspectives Table 4.2: The influence of losing face psychology under the perceptions of teachers and students Table 4.3: Students’ personality Table 4.4: Characteristics of anxious students Table 4.5: Students’ beliefs about language learning Table 4.6: Students’ fear of negative evaluation Table 4.7: Students’ proficiency Table 4.8: Impacts of anxiety on students’ learning speaking skill Table 4.9: Manifestations of students’ anxiety when speaking in English classrooms Table 4.10: Students’ strategies to deal with anxiety in speaking Table 4.11: Feasible solutions for teachers to cope with students’ anxiety List of charts Chart 4.1: Students’ English background Chart 4.2: Students’ English speaking competence Chart 4.3: Students’ perception of the importance and necessity of speaking skill Chart 4.4: Students’ interest in learning English speaking skill Chart 4.5: Students’ feelings when speaking English in front of the class 10 ABSTRACT This study aims to identify the effects anxiety causes to students when they learn English-speaking skill.
The study also aims to investigate the influential factors and manifestations of anxiety on students’ English speaking learning to find out some feasible solutions for teachers and students to cope with this emotional feeling. Hopefully, the solutions can make teaching and learning English speaking more effective. The subjects of the study include five teachers of English who are in charge of the eleventh grade and 129 students from Quoc Hoc high school (100 students from non-English major classes and 29 students from English major class). The data were collected by means of questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations and then analyzed through tables and charts according to statistical frequency and percentage.
The study concentrates on finding out: 1. The current situation of English speaking learning in 11th grade classes at Quoc Hoc high school. Influential factors causing anxiety for students when they learn English speaking skill. Manifestations of students’ anxiety when they speak English in class.
The possible solutions to deal with students’ anxiety when speaking English. The findings indicate that most students have positive attitude towards learning English-speaking skill as well as admit the importance and necessity of this subject. The result from questionnaires, interviews and class observations show the effects of anxiety on students’ English speaking. Anxiety can have facilitating effects, which motivate students to study better or debilitating effects, which discourage students in their speaking.
Based on the findings, some recommendations and implications are made with the hope that the quality of English speaking teaching and learning at high school will be improved in the future. Besides, some limitations are indicated and further researchers are thus suggested. Motivation and research questions Nowadays, with the wide spread of globalization and international integration, English has become more and more important in the world. In Vietnam, English is considered an important language to master and since 1993, it has been obliged as a compulsory subject at schools for years.
In Vietnamese schools today, this language is officially taught as a foreign language from the lower secondary schools and even earlier (at primary schools). It means that high schools students have had at least four years learning English. However, a reality at some high schools in Hue is that many students who have memorized hundreds of words and many grammar rules, but they still cannot speak well (as cited in Dang, 2007). High schools students’ level of English speaking is estimated upper-intermediate.
Downs (2000) claimed that Vietnamese students as well as Chinese students are self- conscious when being asked to express their views in public. This is true even if their language abilities are comparatively good. Therefore, many researches were done to find out the factors affecting students when they speak a foreign language. Among these factors, language anxiety can be a determining factor in the language performance of students (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986).
Due to the apparent importance of this factor in language learning, it seems relevant to focus on this element more. This research paper is an attempt to provide some of the underlying points in this regard, discussing its effects on language learning especially English speaking leaning, and offer some important tips for students as well as teachers to overcome the problems arising from it. Feelings of anxiety, apprehension and nervousness are commonly expressed by second/foreign language students in learning to speak a second/foreign language (Tanveer, 2007). Anxiety is one of the most challenging obstacles to overcome in learning a new foreign language.
Learners are afraid of making mistakes, of looking and sounding foolish, of being vulnerable. They like the feeling of being smart, self- 12 confident and self-controlled for their skills and knowledge, knowing their true personality is coming through (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986). These feelings are considered to have certain effects on communication in the target language. The application of communicative language teaching and the widespread use of English worldwide have increased the demand to learn good communication skills.
However, the existence of such feelings in the students may prevent them from achieving the desired goals (Tanveer, 2007). These students may be good at learning other skills but when they are asked to speak another language, they claim to have a “mental block” against it (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986:125). Theorists and second language acquisition researchers have demonstrated that these feelings of anxiety are specifically associated with speaking a second/foreign language, which distinguishes second/foreign language learning from learning other skills or subjects (Tanveer, 2007). Both teachers and students generally feel that anxiety is a major obstacle they have to overcome in learning to speak another language.
Considering students’ anxiety in speaking English is highly important for language teachers to draw out the effects of anxiety on students when they learn English speaking. In addition, the result from the research can assist both students and teachers to achieve the goals in the target language. With the hope to investigate how language anxiety affects high school students when they learn English speaking, the researcher carries out this study “Anxiety and Its Effects on English Speaking Learning of Students at Quoc Hoc High School in Hue”. In this study, I would like to explore the factors causing anxiety to EFL students when they learn English speaking.
Besides, the study also aims to draw out the ways anxiety is manifested in the students’ speaking English. Moreover, it aims at observing the strategies used by both students and teachers to deal with anxiety when learning and teaching English speaking. Finally, the researcher provides some implications for both language students and teachers to reduce language anxiety in language classroom. 13 With those purposes, the researcher concentrates on answering the following questions: 1.
What factors cause anxiety for students in their English speaking learning? 2. How does anxiety affect students in their English speaking learning? 3. How is anxiety manifested in the students when they learn English speaking? 4. Which strategies can be used by teachers and students to successfully cope with anxiety? I.
Background of the research According to Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986), anxiety is one of the common factors associated with language learning. Their research takes a profound and comprehensive consideration into anxiety as well as its roles and effects on language learning. Their research entitled “Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety”- builds up the FLCAS (Appendix A) which is later widely used by many scholars when they do research related to anxiety. Language anxiety does not only have impacts on adult learners but also on primary students as Chan and Wu (2004) expressed.
The research shows that there is a significantly negative correlation between foreign language anxiety level and English learning achievement. Kondo (2004) points out the relationship between Japanese students’ language anxiety and their proficiency. Also doing research on Japanese students, Andrade and Williams (2009) provide physical, emotional, expressive and verbal reactions of anxious students. Their research at the same time includes significant differences between male-female and high-low perceived ability groups on several dependent variables.