VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ NHÀI FACTORS CAUSING STUDENTS' ANXIETY IN ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASSES IN LE QUY DON HIGH SCHOOL, DONG DA, HANOI (Các nhân tố gây lo lắng cho học sinh việc nói tiếng Anh lớp trường THPT Lê Quý Đôn, Đống Đa, Hà Nội ) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 HANOI – 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION………………………………………………………………….i ACKNOWDLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT .iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .iv PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims and objectives of the study .2 Research questions Scope of the study .2 Methods of the study Organization of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW .4 I Theoretical background of anxiety Definitions of anxiety .4 Types of anxiety 2.1 Trait anxiety, state anxiety and situation - specific anxiety .6 2.1.1 Trait anxiety .6 2.1.2 State anxiety .6 2.1.3 Situation-specific Anxiety 2.2 Facilitating Anxiety and Debilitating Anxiety II Theoretical background of foreign language classroom anxiety Definition of foreign language classroom anxiety Early studies of foreign language anxiety Components of foreign language anxiety .10 3.1 Communication apprehension 10 3.2 Test anxiety .11 3.3 Fear of negative evaluation .12 Manifestations of foreign language learning anxiety .12 Sources of foreign language anxiety 13 iv Gender in foreign language anxiety .15 Effects of foreign language learning anxiety 16 7.1 Foreign language anxiety and its associations with three stages of language learning 17 7.2 Foreign language learning anxiety and its associations with language achievement 18 a) Debilitating anxiety .18 b) Facilitating anxiety 19 Language anxiety in the speaking skill 19 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 22 Context 22 Participants 22 Instruments 23 3.1 Students' journal writings 23 3.2 Teacher's observation .23 Chapter III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 24 I FINDINGS 24 Students' anxiety through teacher's observation 24 1.1 Case 24 1.2 Case 25 Students' anxiety through students' journal writing .26 2.1 Fear of making mistakes and negative evaluation 26 2.2 Fear of testing 27 2.3 Fear of being focus of attention .27 2.4 Comparison with oneself and with other students 27 2.5 Relationship between teacher and students .28 2.6 Result of low achievement 28 Lack of vocabulary .28 Difficulties in pronunciation 28 Difficulties in grammar 29 II DISCUSSION 29 III SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS 31 v Recommendations for students 31 Recommendations for teachers .32 PART C: CONCLUSION .34 Summary of the study .34 Limitations of this study 35 Recommendations for further study .35 REFERENCES .37 APPENDICES I APPENDICE A I APPENDICE B II APPENDICE C III vi PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Getting students to respond in classes is a problem that most ESL teachers face The problem of that is particularly acute with non major English students, who are generally considered to be more reserved and reticent than the majored ones Language teachers, including myself, have observed on numerous occasions when teaching in classes, the apprehension and discomfort experienced by many students who are attempting to acquire and produce a foreign language The nervousness and anxiety frequently seems to become particularly aggravated when students are required to speak in front of teacher and other students MacIntyre and Gardner (1991), for example, asserted that "anxiety poses several potential problems for the students of a foreign language because it can interfere with the acquisition, retention, and production of the new language" (p 86) As a teacher of English at Le Quy Don high school, from my own observation and experience, I myself have noticed that my students often experience foreign language anxiety especially in speaking skill They are afraid of speaking in front of the class, even when the teacher asks them to practice English in pairs or in groups; many of them keep their silence or have discussion in Vietnamese Students are more confident with written tests and they always feel reluctant when being asked to speak English and try to give answers as short as possible Some students even refuse to give any answers when assigned Some of them admit that they cannot find words to say and they always feel nervous and anxious when speaking English with teachers From this reality in my school and some findings in research, I have found that reducing anxiety in speaking English is of great importance to improve the communicative competence of high school learners Therefore, I decided to conduct a case study on the topic: "Factors causing students' anxiety in English speaking classes in Le Quy Don High School, Dong Da, Hanoi." Aims and objectives of the study The first aim of this study was to provide a review of major literature about foreign language learning anxiety as affective variable uniquely related to foreign language classroom situations, especially in speaking English Based on the literature review, this research aimed to take the initiative to investigate the cases' manifestations through psychological symptoms, physical symptoms and behavioral symptoms Moreover, it also analyzed anxiety factors among students and based on those factors, some strategies were suggested to reduce students' anxiety in speaking English Research questions In relation to the major purpose of the study, which was to investigate the students' anxiety in English speaking in classroom, two research questions were addressed They are as followed: 1) What are the factors that cause anxiety for high school students in speaking English? 2) How anxious participants describe their feelings while speaking English in front of teacher and other students in class? 3) Which strategies can be used to successfully cope with language anxiety? Scope of the study In order to explore high school students' English speaking anxiety in classes, this study investigated and analyzed non major English students at Le Quy Don high school because the researcher had an assumption that the non major English students might experience a higher level of anxiety then the major ones In addition, the researcher was doing teaching those two students during the time this research was being conducted, as a result, it was most convenient for researcher to collect data from students as well as observe the students' manifestations This study only investigated the students' anxiety phenomenon in English speaking performance instead of focusing on all four skills or in learning any foreign language in general Methods of the study In my opinion, qualitative research methods are the most suitable for this case study because they seek to understand the given research problem from the perspectives of the cases Moreover, qualitative methods are especially effective in obtaining culturally specific information about the values, opinions, behaviors and social contexts of particular subjects Some qualitative methods I applied in this study are teacher's observation, students' journal writings In comparison with quantitative methods, qualitative methods are typically more flexible With qualitative methods, the relationship between the researcher and the participants is often less formal Participants have the opportunity to express their ideas more elaborately in their journal writing with greater detail than the case in quantitative methods Organization of the study The study is organized into three main parts: Part A: Introduction This part offers a brief introduction to the rationale for choosing the topic, the aims and objectives, research questions, the scope, the methods and the organization of the study Part B: Development The part consists of four chapters, as follows: Chapter I: Literature Review This chapter provides the theoretical background of anxiety with some definitions and types of anxiety It also gives the theoretical background of foreign language anxiety, in which stated the findings of previous researches relating to the study, gender in foreign language anxiety, the measurement of foreign language anxiety, the possible factors and sources of anxiety and anxiety in speaking skill Chapter II: Methodology This chapter addresses the research's context, the participants and the instruments which were used to collect data including students' journal writing, teacher's observation and interviews Chapter III: Findings and Discussion The findings from the data collected from teacher's observation, students' journal writing and interviews are presented and discussed in this chapter In this chapter, I also provide some possible suggested improvements to reduce students' anxiety in English speaking in classroom Part C: Conclusion and implications This part offers an overview of the major findings, the implications and suggestions for further research in this matter PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW In this review of literature, I shall state theoretical background of anxiety in general, as well as foreign language anxiety and language anxiety in speaking skill I Theoretical background of anxiety Definitions of anxiety There has been a variety of studies carried out on anxiety Simply speaking, anxiety is a kind of troubled feeling in the mind It is "a subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the automatic nervous system" (Horwitz, 1986) or “the worry and negative emotional reaction aroused when learning a second language” (MacIntyre, 1999) Second language anxiety is defined here as distinct complexity of self- perception, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to using a foreign/ second language for communication beyond class language Hansen (1977) called anxiety as "an experience of general uneasiness, a sense of foreboding, a feeling of tension" (p.91) Anxiety might exert a deleterious influence on language achievement, and equally intuitively, that poor language achievement might arouse even more anxiety According to Hilgard, “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) In short, 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 Types of anxiety 2.1 Trait anxiety, state anxiety and situation - specific anxiety Usually anxiety is classified into trait anxiety, state anxiety and situation-specific anxiety 2.1.1 Trait anxiety Trait anxiety has been referred to as "a constant condition without a time limitation" (Lewitt, 1980, p.11) and it is a stable feature of personality, referring to an "acquired behavioral disposition that predisposes an individual to perceive a wide range of objectively non-dangerous circumstances as threatening" (Spielberger, 1966, p 16) Mischel and Peake (1982) and Endler (1980) submitted that "Traits are meaningless, they are considered in interactions with situations" The four trait anxiety scale options are: (1) "Almost never" which responses indicates lowest degree of trait anxiety; (2) "Sometimes"; (3) "Often"; and (4) "Almost always" which signifies the highest degree of trait anxiety 2.1.2 State anxiety State anxiety, on the one hand, is fleeting and not an enduring characteristic of an individual's personality It is a "transitory state or condition of the organism that varies in intensity and fluctuates over time" (Speilberger, 1966, p.12) The four state anxiety scale options are (1) "Not at all" which points to the lowest level of state anxiety; (2) "Somewhat"; (3) "Moderately so"; and (4) "Very much so" which reflects the highest degree of state anxiety Morris et al (1981), in their definitions of both state anxiety and trait anxiety, take into account the importance of "situation": "State anxiety refers to transitory experiences of tension, apprehension, and activation of the autonomic nervous system in certain situations, whereas trait anxiety refers to a personality variable of anxiety proneness, the tendency to experience state anxiety in a variety of situations" (p.543) 2.1.3 Situation-specific Anxiety ... competence of high school learners Therefore, I decided to conduct a case study on the topic: "Factors causing students'' anxiety in English speaking classes in Le Quy Don High School, Dong Da, Hanoi. "... study In order to explore high school students'' English speaking anxiety in classes, this study investigated and analyzed non major English students at Le Quy Don high school because the researcher... students'' anxiety in English speaking in classroom, two research questions were addressed They are as followed: 1) What are the factors that cause anxiety for high school students in speaking English?