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


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


Hanoi, 2015

Đỗ Thị Thùy Trang

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My deep and sincere gratitude is due to my supervisor Assoc.Prof.Dr.
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.

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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.

5. Scope of the study .......................................................................................................... 3
6. Method of the study ........................................................................................................ 3
7. The design of the study ................................................................................................... 4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................................. 5
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................... 5
1.1. The nature of speaking skill ........................................................................................ 5
1.1.1. Definition of speaking ......................................................................................... 5
1.1.2. The importance of speaking skill ......................................................................... 6
1.1.3. Speaking activities in classroom and successful learning ................................... 6
1.2. Overview of anxiety.................................................................................................... 8
1.2.1. In terms of psychology ........................................................................................ 8
1.2.1.1. Definition of anxiety ..................................................................................... 8
1.2.1.2. Types of anxiety............................................................................................ 8
1.2.2 In terms of learning speaking activities ................................................................ 10
1.2.2.1. Foreign language anxiety ............................................................................. 10
1.2.2.2. Speaking anxiety.......................................................................................... 11
1.2.2.3.The relationship between anxiety and foreign language oral proficiency...... 12
1.3. Previous studies related to speaking anxiety .............................................................. 13

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1.4. Summary ................................................................................................................... 15
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................ 16
2.1. General method ......................................................................................................... 16
2.1.1. Quantitative and qualitative method ................................................................... 16
2.1.2. Case study........................................................................................................... 16
2.2. Setting of the study .................................................................................................... 17
2.2.1. The context ......................................................................................................... 17
2.2.2. Student participants ........................................................................................... 17

1.3. Anxiety has effects on students‟ self-confidence and self-perception ................. 39
1.4. Communication Apprehension as the main source of anxiety ............................ 40
2. Implications ................................................................................................................. 40
3. Limitations ................................................................................................................... 41
4. Recommendations for further study ............................................................................ 42
5. Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 42
References ............................................................................................................................ 43
APPENDIX 1 ..........................................................................................................................I
APPENDIX 2 ....................................................................................................................... IV
APPENDIX 3 ..................................................................................................................... VII
APPENDIX 4 .................................................................................................................... VIII
APPENDIX 5 ....................................................................................................................... IX

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LIST OF FIGURES, CHARTS, AND TABLES
Figure 0.1: Students’ perception on the importance of speaking skill ................................ 20
Figure 0.2: Students’ interest degree in speaking lessons................................................... 21
Figure 0.3: Students’ opinion about anxiety in English communicative skills .................... 22
Figure 0.4:The degree of agreement about anxiety in students’ oral performance ............ 23
Figure 0.5: Students’ preference towards speaking activities ............................................. 29

Table 0.1: Causes of anxiety in speaking lessons ................................................................ 24
Table 0.2: The frequency of using speaking activities ......................................................... 26
Table 0.3: The impact of anxiety on students’ speaking performance ................................ 31
Table 0.4: The frequency of creating relaxing atmosphere ................................................. 35
Table 0.5: Challenges the teachers face in teaching speaking ............................................ 35
Table 0.6: The relationship between the teachers and students .......................................... 36
Table 0.7: The frequency of interacting between teachers and students ............................. 36

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
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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
4.1. Theoretical aspect

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.
Second, the other survey questionnaire was sent to the teachers of English in
order to find out their frequency of creating relaxing atmosphere in the classroom as
well as the relationship between them and their students, their challenges they face in
teaching speaking, and their opinion and thought about students‟ speaking anxiety.
Next, class observation was conducted to observe students‟ signs of anxiety in
speaking class.

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Then, realistic results were obtained after the data and statistic were collected
and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively.
Lastly, implication for students and teachers to improve speaking skill and
reduce anxiety were proposed.

7. The design of the study
This study consists of three parts as follow:
Part A: Introduction
This part presents the rationale for choosing the topic, the objectives, the
significance, scope of the study, and the research questions as well.

In learning speaking a target language, learners have to cope with many
obstacles that prevent them from communicating. Undoubtedly, nowadays, the need
to communicate in English is the central purpose of most people in the world. In
this part, definition of speaking skill will be considered carefully because it is
crucial to understand the exact meaning of the term. The importance of speaking
skill is also mentioned in this part. Then, types of speaking activities are described
in detail as it plays a core role in developing speaking skill.
1.1.1. Definition of speaking
Speaking is one of the four skills beside reading, writing and listening of a
language that is very important for any students in studying the English language.
According to Brown (1994) and Burns $ Joyce (1997), speaking is an interactive
process of constructing meaning that involves producing and processing
information. In other words, it is the action of passing on information or expressing
one‟s thoughts and feelings as speaking involves two skills: oral interaction
(dialogue) and oral presentation (monologue).
In addition, “speaking is the ability to pronounce articulation of sounds or words
for expressing, starting and conveying thoughts, ideas, and feelings” (Tarigan,
1990: 15). We can see the complexity of speaking although it only uses language by
producing ordinary sound, not rhythm as singing production. Speaking consists of
many factors for any learner to master such as vocabularies, grammar,
pronunciation and fluency. No matter how different the objects of speaking are, all

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components mentioned above must be achieved by learners. Moreover, beside
giving definition of speaking as other authors, Nunan (2003: 48) also differentiates
it from writing. First, in spoken language, speaking must be listened by others. It
has temporary and immediate reception. Some factors like stress, rhythm and
intonation are accompanied with speaking activities. Through this activity, speakers

speaking since most foreign language learners are interested in becoming actual
speakers of the target language. As a result, developing learners‟ speaking skill with
activities is necessary in a language course. There are, as Ur states, four
characteristics for successful speaking activities
Learners talk a lot
Participation is even
Motivation is high
Language is of an acceptable level
Likewise, Lighbown and Spada (2003: 61-63) argue that outgoing students
who find opportunities to practice language skills and interact without inhibitation
are the most successful learners. Inhibitation is a problem discouraging students‟
risk-taking in speaking. They also point out that learners‟ characteristics that have to
do with one‟s personality are strongly related to oral communication skills. This can
be explained why personality plays a key role in language learning. Besides, these
two authors claim that it is the teachers who have much influence on students‟
motivation as they control lessons and atmosphere in the classroom. Therefore, if
teachers can vary activities, tasks and materials as well as can motivate their
students before any speaking activities, students‟ interest and motivation during the
lessons will surely arise. In general, three researchers have the same opinion that
inhibitation is a problem that students have with speaking activities. Moreover, Ur
(2000) also shows more negative characteristics namely “nothing to say, low or
uneven participation and Mother-tongue use” are the problems as well.
In a word, choosing suitable speaking activities for students is not easy
enough with foreign language teachers. They should also take cultural and age
differences in consideration when choosing activities. At the same time, to be
successful in learning speaking a foreign language, students need to overcome
problems as given out.
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predisposition to be anxious” (Brown, 2007: 161). Consequently, people with high
level of trait anxiety seem to be easily stressed and anxious even others wouldn‟t
be affected in the same situation.
- State anxiety, on the other hand, is a more momentary condition that develops
in response to a fear or danger of a particular situation. In language learning
setting, state anxiety is usually experienced by students, especially when they
participate in activities such as speaking in front of class, making mistakes, or
taking examinations. Most students feel anxious before they are about to give
speech and it continues during their performance but it will be cut down on right
after they finish their presentation. This is a very clear example for state anxiety.
- Situation-specific anxiety refers to the anxiety experienced in a specific
situation or context. According to MacIntyre and Gardner (1991: 90) situationspecific anxiety can be considered as trait anxiety. It is limited to a specific
context. As a result, this can be used to examine anxiety reactions in educational
setting such as public speaking, during tests, when solving mathematic problems,
or in a foreign language class.
Apart from the classification above, anxiety can be distinguished as
facilitating and debilitating. At some point, stress can be a good motivation. For
instance, it may keep one alert and enhance him/her with motivation. This positive
anxiety is known as facilitating anxiety. It is thought to be a kind of anxiety that
motivates and improves the progress for learners to learn and succeed. As Scovel
(1970, cited in Ellis, 1994: 482) states facilitating anxiety keeps the learners
motivate, fight new information and push them to make more efforts to reduce the
negative impact of anxiety. However, anxiety that is called debilitating has a
negative impact on students‟ motivation and their preparation in their learning and
performance. In fact, facilitating and debilitating anxiety are closely related with
each other. It is the self-image of language learners and the learners to compare
themselves continually with others and react emotively to such comparison (Baily,

provoke test and oral communication anxiety simultaneously which can lead to
higher than normal anxiety in the oral examination. As a result, the marks for
students‟ oral tests may not truly reflect their real ability and competence.
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Fear of negative evaluation
People with social anxiety are very worried about being judged negatively.
That is the reason they often avoid evaluative situations. Fear of negative evaluation
can occur in any social situations which particularly important in language classes.
Students may have feeling that they are continuously being evaluated by their
teachers and peers (Horwits and Young: 1991). Therefore, they are often inhibited in
their behavior. In general people who are high in fear of negative evaluation have a
heightened level of anxiety that they will be judged in negative ways – an anxiety
which affects their behavior and choices.
In conclusion, understanding language anxiety is vitally important due to its
strong influence on students‟ attitudes towards learning a foreign language, especially
learning speaking skill because this skill is distinctive from others and require
students‟ demonstration face to face with their classmates and teachers.
1.2.2.2. Speaking anxiety
Most students experience some level of speech anxiety when they have to
deliver presentations in front of class because it is, in fact, the greatest fear of many
students. As MacIntyre (1999: 33) states it is “the single most important source of
language anxiety”. Psychologists consider speaking anxiety a special case of shyness.
At the same time, Horwitz et al (1986) give confirmation that foreign language
anxiety has been almost entirely associated with the oral aspects of language use. In
other words, foreign language speaking is an aspect that seems to be the most easily
aroused by anxiety. Moreover, Steinberg and Horwits (1986) also argue the impact of
induced anxiety on the denotative and interpretive content of second language speech.
In terms of quality the language use, students who tend to be more anxious than less

language
On the other hand, MacIntyre and Gardner (1989) examine the learning and
production of vocabulary items. They found that anxiety significantly correlated with
students‟ score on the learning trials, written production, and of course oral
production. From their study, they claim that a sequence of poor performances raises
students‟ anxiety levels. They also have the same opinion with Phillip that students‟
anxious experiences form their attitudes about learning a foreign language. The more
negative experiences students pass, the more foreign language anxiety students have.
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Consequently, students become to be nervous and perform poorly in their learning a
foreign language.
In short, foreign language anxiety may come from negative expectations that
lead to worry and emotionality. Students‟ poor performance and negative emotional
reactions further reinforce the arousal of debilitating anxiety which elevates state
anxiety. On the contrary, favorable experiences and increased achievement can
reduce anxiety and increase proficiency among students.
1.3. Previous studies related to speaking anxiety
It is obvious that of the four skills, speaking skill plays an essential role in
learners‟ language achievement. If students master all fields such as vocabulary,
grammar, and so on but have no communicative competence, they acquire nothing.
As a result, any learner wants to be a good speaker when learning a foreign language.
However to achieve fluent speaking ability may entail a number of hardships because
affective factors seem to be remarkably involved in the process of speaking practice.
It is the reason why many researchers concern about investigating issues related to
second or foreign

language


Without an exception, some Vietnamese scholars also studied students‟ anxiety and
found out their sources of anxiety. Among them, Sam (2011) conducted an
investigation on 135 tenth form students at Quan Nho high school in Thanh Hoa
Province. Her study is concerned with courses of speaking anxiety on the basis of
learners‟ responses. The results showed that the tendency of students‟ nervousness
was obvious.
Moreover, Nhai (2012) studies two cases from Le Quy Don high school. The
results from two students‟ writing and teacher‟s observation suggested that they had
high anxiety in English speaking. Some factors causing their anxiety were identified.
Fear of negative evaluation, fear of testing, and self-perception of speaking ability
were three most common factors for their anxiety.
In short, every student may encounter anxiety or nervousness when learning a
foreign or second language. It is completely true when most students have difficulty
in learning to speak English, even though they may be good at grammar and
vocabulary. The reason underlined is the fact that affective factors contribute much
to the success in speaking practice of the learners. However, little has been done to
analyze carefully the degree of anxiety while learning speaking English and how it
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impacts on their oral performance as well as proficiency, especially in Vietnam. The
purpose of this study is, therefore, to focus on two factors above. Specifically, my
research will investigate foreign language anxiety and its impact on my students‟ oral
performance.
1.4. Summary
In sum, in this chapter, the researcher has tried to give an overview of the
relevant literature in the concern of the study. It has dealt with the definition of
speaking as well as anxiety. Furthermore, the chapter helps the students and teachers
understand more profoundly and acknowledge the importance of speaking, especially
anxiety in speaking learning. From that point, both students and teachers have

activity/activities.
2.1.2. Case study
I was determined to conduct a case study research as it “is used to describe an
intervention or phenomenon and the real life context in which it occurred” (Yin,

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