VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT

HỒ THỊ ÁNH
FACTORS INFLUENCING FIRST-YEAR NON-ENGLISH
MAJOR STUDENTS’ ANXIETY IN SPEAKING CLASSES
AT ACADEMY OF POLICY AND DEVELOPMENT- SOME
POSSIBLE TECHNIQUES TO OVERCOME THE
PROBLEMS

(NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC YẾU TỐ GÂY NÊN SỰ LO LẮNG TRONG
GIỜ HỌC KỸ NĂNG NÓI CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN
NĂM THỨ NHẤT Ở HỌC VIỆN CHÍNH SÁCH VÀ PHÁT
TRIỂN: MỘT SỐ THỦ THUẬT KHẮC PHỤC)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Methodology
Code: 6014.0111 Hanoi, 2013


Hanoi, 2013

i
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this thesis is entirely my own work. I have provided fully
documented references to the work of others. The material in this thesis has not
been submitted for assessment in any other formal course of study.
Hanoi, September 2013
Signature Hồ Thị Ánh
iii

ABSTRACT

Feeling anxiety, apprehension are common phenomena experienced by foreign
language learners, especially in learning to speak a foreign language. These
negative feelings are blamed to exert detrimental effect on communication in the
target language. This current research, therefore, was conducted with the aim to
investigate main factors of speaking anxiety phenomenon in the first year students
at Academy of Policy and Development (APD). The study involved 50 students
from 5 first-year classes at APD. Through the use of quantitative (questionnaires)
and qualitative (semi-structured interviews) methods as research instruments and six
sources of language anxiety as theoretical guideline for data collection and analysis,
major findings were drawn. First, the speaking anxiety tendency of the students
surveyed was obvious. Second, some factors believed to contribute to students‟
anxiety were also identified, among which the personal and interpersonal anxieties
seemed to be most highly regarded by the students. Several pedagogical strategies
of these findings were offered to assist instructors in helping learners acknowledge,
cope with, and reduce anxiety, as well as to encourage them to make the learning
context less stressful to their students.
1. SETTING 15
2. PARTICIPANTS 15
3. DATA COLLECTION 16
3.1. Instruments 16
3.2. Data collection procedure 17
4. DATA ANALYSIS: 18
CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 19
1. SOURCES OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY 19
1.1. Personal and interpersonal anxiety 19
1.2. Learner beliefs about language learning 21
1.3. Instructor beliefs about language teaching 23
1.4. Instructor-learner interactions 26
1.5. Classroom procedures 29

v
1.6. Language testing 31
CHAPTER IV: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 33
1.SUMMARY OF THE STUDY
2.SOLUTIONS
2.1. SOLUTIONS RELATED TO PERSONAL AND INTERPERSONAL ANXIETY 34
2.2. SOLUTIONS RELATED TO LEARNER BELIEFS ABOUT LANGUAGE LEARNING 35
2.3. SOLUTIONS RELATED TO INSTRUCTOR BELIEFS ABOUT LANGUAGE TEACHING 36
2.4. SOLUTIONS RELATED TO INSTRUCTOR-LEARNER INTERACTIONS 36
2.5. SOLUTIONS RELATED TO CLASSROOM PROCEDURES 38
2.6. SOLUTIONS RELATED TO LANGUAGE TESTING 38
3. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 39
4. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES 39
REFERENCES 40
APPENDIX 1 I
APPENDIX 2 IV

psychologists R.C. Gardner and Wallace Lambert about attitudes and motivation in
second language learning in the 1970s, SLA researchers have also considered
affective or emotional variables and how these factors may facilitate or hinder
language acquisition (Horwitz, Tallon, & Luo, 2010, p. 95). Among various
affective variables like attitude, anxiety, interest, motivation, inhibition, and self-
esteem, “anxiety is quite possibly the affective factor that most pervasively
obstructs the learning process” (Arnold & Brown, 1999, cited in Dornyei, 2005, p.
198). As a result, Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) has been gradually becoming
the research focus and interest of many language professionals as well as educators.
They have provided detailed understanding of FLA from different aspects:
theoretical models and frameworks of FLA (e.g., Tobias, 1977; Horwitz et al.,
1991; MacIntyre & Garner, 1994a, 1994b); sources and characteristics of FLA (e.g.,
Horwitz,1988; Koch & Terrell,1991; Young 1991); FLA effects on FL proficiency
and performance ( e.g., Kleinman, 1977; Madsen, 1982; Young, 1986); and anxiety
management strategies (e.g., Long & Porter, 1985; Price, 1991; Young, 1991).
Although a large number of studies in FLA have been carried out to investigate the
nature of FLA, to the best of the author‟s knowledge, little has been done on anxiety
experienced by Vietnamese learners in their English learning process.
In Vietnam, English has been now widely taught in almost all educational
institutions, at every level. Thus, learning English in Vietnam has gained a
remarkable achievement. However, in comparison with other developed countries,
learning speaking skill in Vietnam is not really efficient. As a teacher of English at 2
Academy of Policy and Development (APD), from her own observations and
experience, the present researcher has noticed that the feeling of anxiety,
apprehension and nervousness are common phenomena experienced by her first -
year students. Notably, the level of anxiety has been observed to be higher in
speaking classes compared with other ones, therefore, the outcome of oral English

majors of English at Academy of Policy and Development was used to gather
information and evidence for the study. In addition, to gain more in-depth
information of the issue, semi- structured interviews with the informants were also
applied.
6. Design of the study
The study consists of three parts:
Introduction presents the rationale, the aims, the research question, the scope, the
method and the design of the study.
+ Chapter I: Literature Review provides the basic theoretical background from
literature in terms of speaking, foreign language anxiety in general and speaking
anxiety in particular. Especially, the effect and possible causes of anxiety, which are
the main issues of the study, are discussed thoroughly in this chapter.
+ Chapter II: Methodology deals with the overall picture of how the research was
carried out.
+ Chapter III: Data Analysis and Findings interprets the answer of research
question: What are the main factors influencing first year non - English major
students‟ anxiety in speaking classes at APD? What is the most common factor?
The findings of potential sources of speaking anxiety are reported and discussed in
this chapter.
+ Chapter IV: Dicussion and Conclusion summarizes the main contents and
findings of the study as well as the limitations of the study and suggestions for
further study and suggests possible techniques for both teachers and students with
an aim to reduce and cope with anxiety in speaking classes.
4


5
anxiety can be provoked in the confrontation of the perceived threat (MacIntyre &
Gardner, 1991b). However, it is temporary and altered in time. In order to attribute
the experience to a particular source, researchers adopt situation- specific
perspective to the study of anxiety. This perspective examines anxiety reactions in a
“well-defined situation” such as public speaking, during tests, when solving
mathematics problems, or in a foreign language class (MacIntyre & Gardner,
1991b, p. 90). Specific situations can offer more understanding to particular anxiety
in diverse situations.
1.3. Foreign language anxiety
Anxiety has been found to interfere with many types of learning but when it
is associated with leaning a second or foreign language it is termed as
„second/foreign language anxiety‟. It is a complex and multidimensional
phenomenon (Young, 1991: cited in Onwuegbuzie et al., 1999: 217). According to
Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986), foreign language anxiety belongs to situation-
specific anxiety, 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).
Horwitz et al. (1986, p. 128) defines foreign language anxiety as “ a distinct
complex of self-perceptions, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom learning
arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process” and Gardner and
MacIntyre (1993, cited in Arnold 1999:59) portraits language anxiety as “fear or
apprehension occurring when a learner is expected to perform in the second or
foreign language.”
Researchers have been unable to draw a clear picture of how anxiety affects
language learning and performance (Horwitz and Young, 1991: xiii). Some
researchers reported a negative relationship between language anxiety and
achievement. However, anxiety has occasionally been found to facilitate language
learning. Therefore, it is important that FL researchers and teachers understand

especially, speaking and listening. MacIntyre and Gardner (1991) further claims 7
that speaking is by far the main agent of anxiety- arousal, and that students with
high anxiety perform worse than those with low anxiety.
However, although a certain level of anxiety may be detrimental, some
researchers found positive correlations between foreign language anxiety and
language achievement, e.g. anxiety “motivates the learner to „fight‟ the new
learning task; it gears the learner emotionally for approach behavior” (Scovel, 1991,
cited in Tanveer, 2007, p. 11) or it is believed to enhance the learning process
(Alpert & Haber, 1960; Kleinman, 1977). Additionally, in Bailey‟s (1983) study of
competitiveness and anxiety, it was found that anxiety was one of the keys to
success, and closely related to competitiveness. It means that in active learning
atmosphere, students‟ anxiety will make them feel passive, reticence when taking
part in speaking activities in groups, pairs or responding the teachers. Consequently,
their achievements are not good, so they have to deal with the problem by many
ways in order to overcome it.
On the whole, the researchers agree that the relationship between anxiety and
language learning is probably not a simple linear one. Therefore, it is important that
FL researchers and teachers understand better the nature of FLA in order to find out
effective teaching methods to reduce the negative effects of anxiety.
1.5. Sources of foreign language anxiety
According to Horwitz, Howtitz and Cope (1986), while learning a foreign
language, approximately one-third learners experience some types of foreign
language anxiety. Researchers had indicated that, there are a number of factors that
can cause anxiety for language learners. Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) claim
that students were anxious in ESL/ EFL classroom due to communication
apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation. Bailey (1983) concluded
from his studies and interviews that competitiveness, tests and learners‟ perceived

else looked down on them.” Likewise, Bailey (1983) analyzed the diaries of 11
learners and found that competitiveness can lead to anxiety when language learners
compare themselves to others or to an idealized self-image.
In addition, Gergerson and Horwitz (2002) have discovered the link between
anxiety and perfectionism and found some common characteristics between anxious 9
language learners and perfectionists (e.g., higher standards for their English
performance, more worry over the opinions of others, and a higher level of concern
over their errors). These things seem to make language learning unpleasant and less
successful for the perfectionist students than for others.

1.5.2. Learner beliefs about language learning
Unrealistic and erroneous learner beliefs about language learning are also a
major factor contributing greatly to creating language anxiety in students (Young,
1991, p.428). In his study, Horwitz (1988) found that over one- third of the students
believed that foreign language learning primarily involved translating from English
and memorizing vocabulary words and grammatical rules. Additionally, many
students also thought that success of L2 learning limited to a few individuals who
are gifted for language learning. Gynan (1989) conducted a similar study and
reported that some learners believe that pronunciation is the most important aspect
of L2 learning. Some others prefer other learning practices, such as vocabulary,
translation, communication, traveling to a country where the language is spoken, or
making friends. As is apparent from these results, it is quite conceivable that such
erroneous beliefs may make the students later become disappointed and frustrated.
For instance, if beginning learners believe that pronunciation is the most important
aspect of L2 learning, they will naturally get frustrated when failing to produce
perfect speech even after a lot of practice. All of those faulty beliefs can play
another major role in forming language anxiety.

teacher‟s English may be hard for students to understand.
1.5.5. Classroom procedures
Classroom procedures or class activities are also counted another source of
foreign language learning anxiety. Young (1990) proposed a list of classroom
activities which are perceived as anxiety-provoking:
o spontaneous role-play in front of the class
o speaking in front of the class;
o oral presentations or skits in front of the class;
o Presenting an unprepared dialogue in front of the class; and 11
o Writing work on the board.
Palacios (1998) found demands of oral production, feelings of being put on the spot,
the pace of the class, and the element of being evaluated (i.e., fear of negative
evaluation) to be anxiety- provoking source. Another practice that was cited as a
potential source of language anxiety by the students concerned calling on students
one after another in seating order in the speaking classes. These practices would
frequently cause language anxiety for students.
1.5.6. Language testing
This can be a further source causing foreign language anxiety (Young, 1991)
which “refer to a type of performance anxiety stemming from a fear of failure”
(Horwitz et al, 1986). For example, difficult tests, especially tests that do not match
the teaching in class, as well as unclear or unfamiliar test instructions can all create
learner anxiety.
According to Young (1991), these six sources of language anxiety discussed
above are interrelated. Therefore, language teachers should be fully aware of these
sources to lessen FLA in their students.
1.6. Anxiety management strategies:
Many researchers, such as MacIntyre (1991a), Young (1991a), Phillips (1999),

1988) to language teachers should be used to understand their viewpoints. Besides,
Young (1991) proposes that teacher needs to be aware that his role is that of a
“facilitator” (p. 431) who gives regular information about language learning. The
teachers should focus exclusively on “student- student interactions” rather than
“teacher-student communication”, and put the emphasis on “…conveying meaning
rather than underscoring mistakes” (Phillips, 1999, p. 144). To decrease anxieties
stemming from teacher- student interaction, Young (1991) suggests that it is
important to create an in-class environment where the learners feel more at ease.
The atmosphere must consist of “mutual acceptance and mutual respect, where
students know how to appreciate other students, teachers appreciate students, and
students appreciate the teacher.” (Young, 1999, p. 5). Additionally, Young (1990)
found that the students felt more at ease when the instructors deal with corrections
in non- threatening manners and when they are friendly, humorous and patient. 13
Therefore, it can also be suggested that equal relationship between teacher and
student is an important aspect to reduce language classroom anxiety.
Thirdly, to lessen anxieties caused by classroom procedures, Young (1990)
offers some useful suggestions: using more student to student interaction in pairs or
small groups, role-playing with preparatory activities to instill class rapport, playing
language games with an emphasis on problem-solving. These in – class practices
will emphasize on interactions, conversations and language use (Lightbown &
Spada, 1993) and make language learning enjoyable and more comfortable. Another
method to reduce language anxiety is the participation to certain language clubs or
extra curriculum activities, where the practice of self–talk could be central (Young,
1991, p.431). To cope with language testing anxieties, Young (1991) believes that
teachers should consider the use of fair and comprehensive tests that accurately
affect what has been instructed in the class.
In conclusion, there is a broad range of methodologies developed by

efficiently contributes to the success of the learners in school and success later in
every phase of their lives. Learners often evaluate their ability and proficiency of
second/ foreign language learning based on how well they feel they have improved
in their speaking skill. In the classroom, teachers pay much attention to teaching
speaking skill and they design a lot of speaking activities such as giving
presentation, working in groups/pairs, role- playing, discussing and so on to get the
improvement of students. However, these activities are quite difficult and stressful
to language learners so they may suffer language anxiety.
Due to the importance of oral skills in language teaching and learning, language
teachers should pay more attention to teaching speaking skills. It is necessary for
learners to speak with confidence to carry out many of the most basic transactions. 15
CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY
1. Setting
The study was conducted at Academy of Policy and Development. All students at
this academy are required to complete five semesters of English as part of their
general education requirements. In the first and second semester (first year),
students finish the General English program. English is taught during the first and
the second term with the total of 120 periods (50 minutes each) with the aim of
developing students‟ ability of conducting English conversations in which students
can communicate and interact with each other orally with fluent English. The
textbook chosen is New Cutting Edge, Elementary by Sarah Cunningham, Peter

Less than 4 years
6
12%
More than 4 years
44
88% 16
Students’ profiles (total: 50)
3. Data collection
3.1. Instruments:
To address the research question, the researcher used both quantitative (survey
questionnaire) and qualitative (semi- structured interview).
3.1.1. Survey questionnaire:
A questionnaire was designed based on a review of the literature about factors
viewed as causing anxiety that influence speaking skills. The questionnaire consists
of two parts. Part one aims at obtaining some background information of the
subjects including their name, age, sex and the number of years they have been
learning English. Part two consists of 20 items. Some items were partly formulated
on the basis of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) (Horwitz,
Horwitz & Cope 1986). More specifically, items 1, 2, and 20 were respectively
reconstructed from items 1, 23, and 21 of the FLCAS. In the questionnaires, the
respondents were asked to express agreement or disagreement to each item on a
five- point Likert response scale (Strongly disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree nor
disagree, Agree, Strongly Agree). The data obtained from the questionnaire was
tabulated, presented, and frequencies and percentages were calculated.
3.1.2. Semi- structured interview:
The second research tool employed in this study was semi- structured
interviewing (see appendix 2). The major concern is students‟ opinion of why each

students‟ attitudes, opinions and beliefs, semi-structured interviews were conducted
with 5 students. The interviews were conducted in the participants‟ native language,
which is Vietnamese, in order to overcome the incapability of self-expression in the
target language. The interviews were tape- recorded and transcribed for analysis.
The interviews were conducted in location students feel at ease and at time they
suggested. At the beginning of the interview, the students were explained clearly
about the nature of the study. The length of each interview was from 20 to 25
minutes.

18
4. Data analysis:
The data obtained through the questionnaire and the interviews were
organized and analyzed based on Young‟s (1991) six categories of FLA sources,
namely, personal and interpersonal anxiety, learner beliefs about language learning,
instructor beliefs about language teaching, instructor-learner interactions, classroom
procedures, and language testing (section… )
While the data from the questionnaire were analyzed quantitatively and
qualitatively, the data from the interview were analyzed qualitatively. The audio-
recorded interviews were first transcribed by the researcher. The researcher read
through the transcriptions carefully and coded the participants‟ responses into
meaningful concepts. After that, the concepts were put into categories on the basis
of common themes. These categories were given suitable headings like “personal
and interpersonal anxiety”, “beliefs about language learning”, “personal and
interpersonal anxiety”, etc., and were used to explain the phenomenon under
investigation (English language learning anxiety).
For descriptive convenience, the researcher used pseudo- initials for each
participant (A, G, H, K, and T).