Speaking anxiety: a pilot study among the ESL undergraduates at the South Eastern University of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Fear to speak in front of other students in the class or an audience is the most common fear faced by many second or foreign language learners in English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a foreign Language (EFL) classes. The same scenario exists in Sri Lanka too where the ESL instructors constantly find it a problem to conduct speaking classes since students do not contribute to the classroom discourse or cooperate with them in speaking activities. It was believed that inadequate language proficiency was the problem for poor speaking ability but later studies revealed that anxiety is one of the hindering factors to prevent students from speaking in classes. The reasons for anxiety vary based on the context and setting. Hence, identifying the causes of speaking anxiety of ESL learners may help ESL teachers develop the communication skills of their students. This study, which is a pilot study on speaking anxiety of ESL students, specifically investigates the speaking anxiety faced by students in the ESL undergraduate classes of the South Eastern University of Sri Lanka (SEUSL). Second year students of one of the faculties were used as the respondents for this study. A questionnaire survey was used, followed by focus group discussions with the students. It is revealed that more than 90% of the students experience a form of anxiety in the ESL classes. This anxiety is more pronounced during oral tests and in-class presentations. This paper elaborates the causes of anxiety and suggests measures to rectify the situation.