Spring  2017  

 
Fac ulty of E duc ation and S oc iety  
 
Department  of  English  and  
Education  

     
   
     
 
 
 
Degree  Project  with  Specialization  in    
English  Studies  in  Education  
15  Credits  
 
 

Overcoming Speech Anxiety in the

Classroom

Övervinnande av talångest i klassrummet

 
Erik  Rogland-­‐Harutunian    
 
 
 
 
 
   

Master  of  English/History  in  Education,   Examiner:  Shannon  Sauro  

300  Credits    
English  Studies  in  Education   Supervisor:  Björn  Sundmark  
Date  for  the  Opposition  Seminar  17th  Aug  
  

Abstract
Speech anxiety is an issue that persists and presents itself innumerably in schools,
especially affecting students who learning English either as their second language or
as a foreign language. Speaking anxiety may stem from different sources and affect
each individual student differently.
The research question that is key to this research is “How can teachers support
students who are struggling with speech anxiety?”
The research for this thesis has been done through the use a qualitative interview with
two secondary school teachers in Lund. The interview was structured after a semi-
structured style to allow for guided questions and openness of any unexpected
questions and answers during the interview process.
The results of this research is that that tackling speaking anxiety in the classroom is
no easy feat, although, from the literature and interview content it has been made
clear that for a teacher to be successful in supporting their students, being prepared for
possible difficulties, composed for sudden changes to lesson plans, and ready to adapt
assignments where speaking is involved in order to allow students to be most
comfortable and given their utmost honest performance while speaking in front of
others.

Key words: ESL, face-to-face, web-based speaking, gender differences, performance

VS interaction anxiety, positive thinking, NEST, non-NEST,
Speaking anxiety, ESL, gender, performance, interaction, native English speaker

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Table of Contents
Introduction..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..…………...……….5
Aim and Research Questions……..………..……..….....……..……..……..………..7
1. Concepts and Theoretical Framing ……..……..……..………………..……….....8
1.1 Causes for Speaking Anxiety ……………………..……..……..……..………....8
1.2 Non-English and English Speaking Teachers….……..……..……..……..……...9
1.3 Gender……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..………....9
1.4 Grades, Ages and Gender Disparities……..……..……..……..……..……..…...10
1.5 Positive Thinking……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..…....11
1.6 Face-to-Face and Web-Based Speaking……..……..……..……..……….….….11
2. Method……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..….……...13
2.1 Ethics for Interview……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……….……...15
3. Results and Discussion…...……..……..……..……..……..……….…………….17
3.1 NEST’s and Non-NEST’s……..……..……..……..……..….....………….…....17
3.2 Performance Anxiety and Interaction Anxiety……..……..……..……...……...18
3.3 Gender……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……...……….19
3.4 Grade Level, Ages, and Gender……..……..……..……..……..……..……..….20
3.5 Positive Thinking……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..………….20
3.6 Face-to-Face and Web-Based Speaking……..……..……..……..……..………21
4. Integration of Research and Results..……………..……..……..……..………....23
5. Conclusion and Implication……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……….26
References……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……….30
Appendix……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..….32

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Introduction
Non-native speakers learn English through different means: dialogue, written
language, and listening to others speak. One of these means can prove to be more
challenging and even hinder development of a learner’s way of communication,
namely, spoken English. Specifically, speaking in front of a group of people, also
known as public speaking. This issue may arise amongst students in the process of
preparing a presentation or a speech, and realizing that they experience anxiety or do
not possess enough confidence with their level of spoken English. This in turn can
lead to few students exhibiting a tendency to avoid public speaking in any form, or
require certain measures and situational control (audience size, speech duration,
subject matter) in order to actually speak about a certain subject in front of a group.

The purpose of this research is to investigate why native students of English may
experience anxiety with public speaking in the classroom, specifically, what hinders
their English-speaking skills during individual presentations. More importantly,
investigating how teachers experience speech anxiety in the classroom, and their
thoughts about working with speech anxiety.

According to Skolverket (Swedish curriculum) in regards to students striving and

performing their best, along with difficulties of speaking anxiety, it states that
teachers should overall (throughout the school) “base their work each individual
student’s needs, prerequisites, experiences, and thinking” (Skolverket, 2011),
“strengthen each student’s self-confidence as well as a will and ability to learn”
(Skolverket, 2011). Within the subject of English (within the course English 5), in
‘Production and Interaction’ - which deals with communication and interaction (i.e.
speaking and presenting), the content of this should contain “oral and written
production and interactions of different types, including formal contexts, where
students instruct, tells, summarizes, explains, comments, evaluate, motivate their
views, discuss, and argue” (Skolverket, 2011). As well as “processing of their own,
others oral and written requests to be able to have variety, clarification, precision, as
well as create structure and adapt towards purpose and situation” (Skolverket, 2011).
This relates to how teachers interpret speaking anxiety, and how they address it in
their teaching.

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Previous studies on speaking English in front of others has been researched before
and even clarifies new questions and perspectives within the subject. Elmenfi &
Gaibani (2016) provide research into the effect of social evaluation of public speaking
anxiety of English foreign language learners at Omar Al-Mukhtar University in
Libya. Their research explains how ‘Public Speaking Anxiety’ (PSA) has become a
widespread negative phenomenon amongst EFL (English as a Foreign Language)
students within higher-level education environments, which may lead to future
decline of adequate English level proficiency. This negative phenomenon, as
explained by Elmenfi & Gaibani (2016), leads to a decline in attendance and
participation of students during oral presentations or group discussions, while others
who attend these oral events instead avoid speaking, or fail to establish connections
with their colleagues. Elmenfi & Gaibani (2016) further explain that the emotional
and mental state of anxiety plays a key role in preventing students from experiencing
positive oral situations, or on a lower scale, speaking in public forums.

Further research on public speaking and anxiety has also been investigated by
Yaikhong & Usaha, who focused on contributing a “Public Speaking Class Anxiety
Scale (PSCAS)”. Their study (taking place in the Thai school system) focused on
finding out the level of anxiety in an EFL classroom. Their study explains why
several students show traits of agitation when asked to speak in a foreign language, in
EFL pedagogical situations (Yaikhong & Usaha, 2012). Since it is very strenuous for
Thai learners to use English fluently, it has become vital to tackle speaking skills, and
therefore they have become a vital part of the Thai EFL teaching and learning process
(Yaikhong & Usaha, 2012). They finally noted, “foreign language classroom anxiety
has been proven to affect EFL learners’ language performance depending on each
individual’s anxiety level in different learning situations” (Yaikhong & Usaha, 2012).
Their study also includes seven aspects that can be used when exploring both levels
and factors of anxiety, that have an impact on students studying verbal discourse in
English. The aspects included in their study are “English for communication subject;
speaking anxiety: listening anxiety; reading anxiety; writing anxiety; teaching-
learning anxiety, and teaching media and evaluation anxiety” (Yaikhong & Usaha,
2012). For this thesis research, focus will only be on speaking anxiety.

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Aim and Research Questions

The purpose of this thesis is to look into different areas that are related to spoken
English in the classroom: public speaking, language confidence, and anxiety/stress.
Additionally, how teachers can support students experiencing speaking anxiety in
their classroom.
The research questions are as follows:

Research Questions:
1. What factors do practicing teachers identify as contributing to speaking
anxiety in the Swedish English classroom?
2. How can teachers support students who are struggling with speech anxiety?

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1. Concepts and Theoretical Framing

Within the genre of public speaking exists numerous factors affecting the speaker
either in a positive or negative manner, although the negative, also known as speaking
anxiety, may plague a speaker from their early days of speaking in front of others.
Speaking anxiety may stem from one, or several different factors, which may further
affect the speaker negatively at the early stages of speaking in front of others, namely,
secondary school or even earlier.
In the following section, different causes for speaking anxiety i.e. causes for anxiety,
non-English and English speaking teachers, gender, grade level and age, positive
thinking, face-to-face and web-based speaking are investigated as to how large of an
effect each factor may have on a student.

1.1 Causes of Speaking Anxiety

When examining the causes of anxiety in the field of speaking in front of other
individuals, it is important to distinguish the difference of anxiety of speaking in front
of a group of individuals, or interacting within a group. These two distinctions are
labeled by Hook, Valentiner, & Connelly (2013) as performance anxiety (PA) and
interaction anxiety (IA), where performance anxiety is described as “anxiety while
being observed or scrutinized by others” (Hook, Valentiner, & Connelly, 2013). And
interaction anxiety is “anxiety during dyadic and group interactions” (Hook,
Valentiner, & Connelly, 2013). These two concepts are distinct from each other,
though related within the dimensions of social anxiety (Hook, Valentiner, &
Connelly, 2013).
Moreover, several theorists have suggested that performance anxiety and interaction
anxiety are connected to underlying phobias, specific social phobia (SSP) and
generalized social phobia (GSP). In support of this supposed correspondence between
PA and IA, along with SSP and GSP, performance anxiety appears to elicit several
symptoms of panic disorder and other fear disorders (Hook, Valentiner, & Connelly
2013). For interaction anxiety, the concept is seen to have a close association to
depression in comparison to performance anxiety (Hook, Valentiner, & Connelly,
2013), while generalized social phobia show higher levels of distress among
individuals compared to specific social phobia (Hook, Valentiner, & Connelly, 2013).

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1.2 Non-English and English Speaking Teachers

When looking at speaking anxiety in students at secondary school (and even lower
grades), it is vital to consider whether the employed teacher “is a native English-
speaking teacher (NEST), or a non-native English-speaking teacher (non-NEST)”
working at various English language teaching (ELT) positions in a school, as
researched by Han, Tanriöver, and Sahan (2016), as this may influence students in the
classroom. Their study examined the possible impact of the difference of NEST’s and
non-NEST’s on students’ foreign language speaking anxiety (FLSA) (Han, Tanriöver,
and Sahan, 2016), and how both parties (teachers and students) felt about FLSA.

The results were divided into two sections: students’ experience of FLSA, NEST’s
and non-NEST’s, and teachers’ views on FLSA. Firstly, the results from Han,
Tanriöver, and Sahan’s (2016) study illustrated three core themes in regards to
students experiencing FLSA: difficulty with English, fear of making mistakes (as
these could cause reactions i.e. teaching pointing out errors and fellow students
teasing) and teachers attitudes in the classroom which originated from students
believing that a teacher’s negative attitude towards producing mistakes created a
sense of demotivation for students (Han, Tanriöver, and Sahan, 2016).

From a teacher’s perspective, one of the main causes of FLSA is making mistakes
(Han, Tanriöver, and Sahan, 2016), noting that some students’ low level of language
proficiency aggravated their fear of making mistakes when speaking. Additionally, a
native English-speaking teacher noticed that students who initially were agitated and
nervous when speaking to a native speaker, gained confidence over time as the level
of comfort in the classroom increased (Han, Tanriöver, and Sahan 2016).
In regard to whether there was a difference of impact between NEST’s and non-
NEST’s, Han, Tanriöver, and Sahan’s (2016) results indicate that there was “no
significant difference between students’ attitudes towards FLSA they experienced in
classes taught by NEST’s and non-NEST’s.”

1.3 Gender
Gender is a vital discussion within the school context, as to determine if there is a
difference of possible results between the two genders, and if any action can be taken

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for teachers to be more prepared for any possible disparities. In regard to “foreign
language speaking anxiety and motivation”, Özturk and Gürbüz (2012) research
focused on possible differences between female and male students. By determining
any possible discrepancies between the genders, in regards to speaking in front of
others, teachers can implement suitable guide and direction to aid male and female
students.

Özturk and Gürbüz (2012) reference Krashen (1982) who explains how language is
seen as a significant emotional factor of the foreign language learning process. In
addition, Krashen’s (1982) study shows how anxiety can impede the process of
learning and acquiring a language. Özturk and Gürbüz (2012) further explain that
previous research (Horowitz and Cope 1986) has treated foreign language anxiety as
separate and distinct experience to language learning.

The question that Özturk and Gürbüz raise is whether gender is a prominent factor in
language learning. The results of Özturk and Gürbüz’s (2012) research show that
female students demonstrated higher levels of motivation compared to male students.
Additionally, female students, according to Özturk and Gürbüz’s (2012) results,
experienced more anxiety speaking English, and more worry and anxiety speaking
English in the classroom environment. Thereby, gender can play a role within the
classroom environment, as Özturk and Gürbüz’s (2012) results show, female students
may appear more confident than in foreign language speaking, yet may have a
downfall resulting from more anxiety than male students when speaking English in
the classroom.

1.4 Grades, Ages and Gender Disparities

Another important factor when researching speaking anxiety amongst students is to
investigate whether this issue exists and potentially persists between different grades,
ages, and even gender. Research was carried out by Tugce Mestan (2017), who
researched possible speaking anxiety across grades, age groups, as well as the gender
of the EFL students.

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Mestan (2017) explains that the foundation to their research (language learning) stems
from numerous studies pointing at anxiety as the culprit of negative repercussions on
language learners’ production and reception skills, as well as the level of anxiety
developing as language learners proceed with unrehearsed oral speaking in public.
Mestan’s (2017) research led to results explaining that students whose speaking
anxiety was due to their self-deprecation, and fear of making a mistake while
speaking in front of each other.

In regard to if there exists a discrepancy between speaking anxiety and grade level,
Mestan’s (2017) research showed that speaking anxiety increased according to the
grade students where in. Furthermore, previous studies (Zhiping, 2013) argued that
the fear of being in public, shyness, and fear of speaking inaccurately affected
students in a negative way, effectively hampering their oral speaking skills.

1.5 Positive Thinking

Another study that researches on performance in front of others look into whether
positive thinking in anticipation of a performance situation is better itself in contrast
to distraction. Such research can be adapted onto different fields of research, such as
the field of speaking anxiety and the performance that takes place.

Vassilopoulos, Brouzos, Tsorbatzoudis, and Tziouma (2017) research focused on

understanding how various cognitive coping strategies in response to stress affect
social anxiety in young adolescents, and how it could shape intervention strategies for
students who experience difficulties with managing anxious feelings related to an
impending performance situation.

The results from Vassilopoulos, et. al. (2017) displayed several outcomes. Firstly, that
social anxiety was associated with more negative prediction of personal appearance
pessimistic thoughts in relation to an oncoming performance. Secondly, relating to
distraction, positive anticipatory thinking led to an elevated state of anxiety with more
pessimistic thoughts and predictions of personal appearance (Vassilopoulos, Brouzos,
Tsorbatzoudis, & Tziouma, 2017).

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1.6 Face-to-Face and Web-based Speaking

Alternative discussion to be presented within the field of public speaking and related
anxieties is the comparison of face-to-face and web-based speeches and possible
discrepancies between these two speaking methods. Research by Campbell and
Larsson (2013) investigated whether or not students inhibit different levels of anxiety
between giving a speech to a group of people face-to-face in a classroom setting, to a
speech given to an audience (on a projected screen) into a camera with web-based
technology.

The results showed that near half of the students in the study experienced more
anxiety when giving a speech face-to-face in a classroom setting, and that a little over
a third of the students experienced more anxiety in web-based speech setting
(Campbell & Larsson 2013). Such results presented by Campbell and Larsson allows
for further research and studies to investigate whether using face-to-face or web-based
speeches in a classroom setting can give different results by students, along with how
they fare with any presented symptoms of anxiety from speaking.

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2. Method
Initially, I will consider literature and research that focuses on speaking issues within
the English language amongst non-English speaking students. With this literature I
will also conduct interviews with two secondary-school teachers, investigating their
experiences with speaking anxiety in their classrooms, as well as their possible
solutions to speaking anxiety issues with students.
Additionally, I will investigate the kind of issues that students exhibit in regard to
speaking in different situations, and what research has concluded in what schools and
educators can do in order to improve on speaking skills of students. This secondary
research would provide explanation for the possible anxiety and stress that student’s
experience in relation to speaking in different forums at school, and how these factors
can hinder their English-speaking skills. Lastly, I will focus on research literature that
discusses the solutions provided by educators and teachers on how to combat such
issues in the classroom, and how to build confidence with public speaking amongst
students.

Participants
The participants chosen for the interview section for this work both worked at a
secondary school in Lund, and both have worked at the same school for the past few
years. Both participants had English as a common subject, although participant A
taught religion as their secondary subject, and participant B taught philosophy.

Method Choice Conducting Research

I then continue on with my investigation with the method of interviewing teachers in
regard to how they experience public speaking. The interviews will focus on
experience, which will then delve into how firstly teachers experience students with
reluctance to public speaking, and their ways of combating this reluctance. Finally,
the experience of students would look into their mindset in regard to speaking
publicly, how anxious or stressed they may be, and if other factors may influence
their reactions to public speaking in English.
These method approaches will stem from Alvehus Skriva uppsats med kvalitativ
metod and Brymans Samhällsvetenskapliga metoder and their research into
investigating and researching content for a thesis. Alvehus (2013) and Bryman (2011)

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explain as to how different approaches into research can be done, along with how and
why different methods are performed in different manners.

Choosing a Qualitative Research Method

Furthermore, the interview styles I will adopt when interviewing will the “formal
interview” method, as described in Doing Qualitative Research In Education Settings
by Hatch (2002), as the interview will be both ‘structured’ and ‘semi-structured’. The
sense of structure will stem from me, the interviewer, leading the interview, planning
it, recording it, and have leading questions (Hatch, 2007). The sense of semi-structure
comes from any scenario that arises during the interview, outside of the guiding
questions, that allows for following the leads of the participant and areas that I may
want to probe further in with unprepared questions (Hatch, 2007). Along with having
a formal interview style, my interview will also inhibit a ‘standardized interview’, in
which the interview itself will “contain predetermined questions, asked in the same
order, using the same words, to all informants” (Hatch, 2007).

For the method section for this research, a qualitative interview was conducted as to
obtain first hand information and experience pertaining to how students at secondary
level of school experience speaking and the possible connected anxieties that come
with this action. By utilizing the method of a qualitative interview, my aim is to
gather information from experienced and knowledgeable teachers who have witnessed
first-hand instances of students speaking at different forums, the difficulties that can
surface during such moments.
For the interview section of this research, I contacted two teachers to whom I had
been assigned to during my internship with my education, and both obliged to the
interview offer. Both teachers are of Swedish descent and have taught English for
several years as one of their secondary level subjects. Other subject’s that the two-
interviewed teachers teach are either religion or philosophy.

Implementing a Qualitative Interview

According to Kvale (2007) in regard to implementing a qualitative interview, the
reason for this choice is to acquire both a factual and meaning level from the
participant, listening to their descriptions and explanations of their meanings, and
between the lines of the subject. Furthermore, using a qualitative interview, according

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to Kvale (2007) is to seek qualitative knowledge that is expressed in normal language,

seeking the aspects of the participant’s life perspective.

Method and Process of Interviewing

According to Nunan (1992) and his work Research Methods in Language Learning,
he goes into detail at how the process of interviewing has been used as a tool in
gathering first hand information within an area of knowledge. Nunan (1992) further
explains the difference of adopting a structured or a semi-structured approach to the
interview. The first of which process (structured interview), the agenda for the
interview is predetermined by the interviewer, who works through their
predetermined list of questions (Nunan, 1992). While a semi-structured interview
allows for flexibility during the interview process, giving advantages such as a degree
of power and control for the interviewee during the process, as well as access into
another person’s perspective and experience of life (Nunan, 1992).

Advantages and Disadvantages of Interviewing

Bell (2005) explains both the advantages and disadvantages of conducting an
interview when gathering first hand information when writing a research project.
Starting off with the major advantage of using an interview, Bell (2005) states simply
“adaptability”, and by this Bell (2005) explains that an experienced interviewer can
probe for responses, investigate possible motives, feelings, in contrast to using a
questionnaire where such features are not directly available. Bell (2005) further
explains that any responses given during an interview can be further developed and
even clarified immediately during the process, rather than returned to at a later time
when using a questionnaire. The disadvantages of using of the interview process is
that it is time-consuming, both the process of the interview as well as the possible
transcription and listening for information and patterns from the recording of the
interview afterwards (Bell, 2005).

2.1 Ethics of Interview

The ethical perspective of this interview method was explained to each participant
prior to starting with the interview. According to Steinar (2007) there are key factors
that must be made apparent for the participant regarding the interview itself, the
ethics, and other considerations.

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Firstly and importantly, I explained what the aim and objective of this research and
the reason for choosing to interview individuals within the education field and their
experience with student’s public speaking. Secondly, that the participant has the
choice to stop the interview at any point and ask questions regarding the content of
the questions. Thirdly, who will have access to the research, interview recording, and
transcription, and that the participant has the option of requesting any or all of the
research at any time if they choose to do so. Fourth and lastly, the participant has the
option of remaining confidential through the research process, wherein data is
privatized as to avoid identification.

Such information given to the participant is regarded as informed consent (Steinar

2007), wherein the participant has understood the purpose of the research and agreed
to the benefits and risks of continuing the research through interview process.

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3. Results and Discussion

For this section of the thesis, the information gathered from the interview of two
teachers of English at the secondary level will be divided into subsections that
previously have been introduced and explored. In the following section, each area will
be cordoned off by each reason for anxiety when speaking in front of others (i.e.
NEST’S, performance and interaction, etc.), explaining their role in this question,
along with relevant connections from the provided background, as well as the content
from the interviews with two teacher (experiences and answers). Each area will
explain how social speaking anxiety can be seen through literature, as well as from
first hand accounts from interviewed educators.

3.1 NEST’s and Non-NEST’s

In regards to Han, Tanriöver, and Sahan’s (2016) study into speaking and students in
secondary school, and whether the employed teacher’s origin (whether they were a
NEST or non-NEST within English language teaching) had any impact on the
students anxiety with foreign language speaking anxiety (FLSA). Firstly, both
teachers were non NEST’s and of Swedish origin, speaking both Swedish and English
in the classroom environment, though primarily English in the classroom.

Participant A expressed that she heard from her students that they feel that speaking
“in another language (i.e. English) in front of others in a classroom setting is more
difficult” than speaking in their native language, as well as experiencing a difference
between speaking the two languages. Also, participant A explains that she tends to
begin on a low level with speaking assignments in her classes, and then raises the
difficulty level in accordance to the English courses her students are taking. Further
on expressing the importance of speaking with her students, and thoroughly explain
any future speaking assignments. This is due to her having observed her students
become extremely more nervous during the speaking assignment, even reacting when
anxious, as she puts it with “different actions that they do, things that they don’t
realize themselves. This has led her to put away pen and paper and just listen to her
students speak, although, missing the opportunity to directly write down feedback,
and as she puts it, “for better or worse”.

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In regard to FLSA, as explained by Han, Tanriöver, and Sahan (2016), participant A

explains that from her observation during her lessons, there have been clear signs of
students experiencing anxiety and/or stress. Signs, as participant A explains, such as
tapping the surface of table vigorously with one or numerous fingers (so called
‘temporary ticks’), producing additional words when speaking, also known as ‘filler
words’, mostly in Swedish (i.e. ‘alltså’) along with not realizing they are adding these
‘filler words’. Although, participant A explains this is just one part of FLSA out of the
three. Han, Tanriöver, and Sahan (2016) mention, it is still likely that her students
experience forms of FLSA, possibly the anxiety of committing mistakes, along with
the difficulty of speaking another language.

Participant B firstly explains that when he presents an assignment for their class, he
explains to them that “no one is forced to present their presentation or speech in front
of a larger crowd (i.e. majority of classmates) than what a student would feel
comfortable with.” Additionally, participant B lays out his system of gaining
confidence with his students, which is that he “tries to establish a relation with them
where they feel that they can ask any him anything, and let him know if anything is
difficult and such, and if they wonder about doing an assignment differently”, such as
decreasing amount of students listening to their speech.

3.2 Performance Anxiety and Interaction Anxiety

The impact of performance anxiety and interaction anxiety was asked during the
interview, a study by Hook, Valentiner, and Connelly (2013), who investigated the
origin and impacts of these two concepts amongst students in a classroom. Participant
A, in being asked whether the anxiety her students experienced stemmed from
performing in front of others or from speaking a secondary language, responding that
it was “purely performance” anxiety that her students experienced. Also, participant A
expressed that it was an easier feat for her students to speak in front of others if either
they were alone (with only the teacher listening) or a few students out of the whole
class listened, further explaining that she could personally see her students commit to
trying their best when they were more comfortable in a more controlled classroom
setting, in contrast to being overly anxious with a larger audience.

Participant B responded similarly to participant A explains, “it’s likely performance,

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though it could also be a lot else, for example language proficiency”. Additionally, he
believed that language proficiency was also a factor in his students experiencing
anxiety when speaking. Further clarifying that language proficiency anxiety possibly
stems from feeling insecure of not knowing the correct way of saying a phrase,
mispronouncing a word, as well as overall anxieties of making a fool out of yourself,
or saying a sentence wrong due to a mistake with vocabulary or grammar. Finally,
participant B commented that anxieties about speaking do exist in both Swedish and
English, though that English was more difficult, likely due to the English language
being a second language for most students.

3.3 Gender
An interesting factor to look at when discussing speaking anxiety is whether the
difference of gender can determine the level of anxiety of students in the classroom.
In the study of Özturk and Gürbüz (2012), whose results illustrated that female
students experienced more anxiety in comparison to male students, to which
participant A and B show some agreement to participant A explains that, when asked
if her students would like to present to different class variations (i.e. class size,
groups, gender) it is the female students who primarily express a want for presenting
only for the other female students in class, and not the male students. Additionally,
participant A further comments “it’s always the girls, in that case, that wish to present
their work with the suggestion ‘the girls first and the boys afterwards’, but you get
that question from the girls and once in a while from the boys”. This is possibly done
to gather more control over possible anxieties in relation to speaking in front of others
or having less time to prepare. This can be explained by Özturk and Gürbüz (2012)
who concluded that that female students were more motivated than male students,
which may lead to them expressing their thoughts and opinions more frequently in
attempting to acquire higher grades and more control of their schoolwork. Also,
Özturk and Gürbüz (2012) explain that female students experience more anxiety
while speaking English in the classroom, which may explain participant A receiving
questions about class size when a speaking assignment is given.

Participant B expressed a somewhat similar understanding of gender differences and

anxieties when speaking in front of others. He states that there is not really a
difference between female and male students in regard to anxiety, that instead it is

  19  
  

more likely that the male students will improvise any speeches or presentations, and
on the other hand that the female students will be a bit more prepared. Participant B
finally commented that the differences aren’t likely to be genetic, but instead adapted
from the gender structured we are forced into through culture, school, and academics,
more or less subconsciously. According to Özturk and Gürbüz (2012), as participant
B mentioned about his male students, male students from the study were less
motivated than female students, which may lead to less time spent preparing for
speaking assignments and time is given to attempt to improvise instead.

3.4 Grade Level, Ages, and Gender

Since both participants teach English at the secondary school level, the study by
Mestan (2017) is vital as it investigates whether the issue of speaking anxiety amongst
students exists and persists between different grades, ages, and ever gender. The
results of their study showed that speaking anxiety increased according to the grade
students where in, with possible increased anxiety stemming from being more in
public, shyness, and fear of speaking incorrectly in front of other students. There
wasn’t any direct question in the interview correlating to whether the participants had
witnessed their students experiencing more anxiety over the course of having taught
them, which is possibly due to the participants only teaching a class of students for
two years, and a handful for three. Although, an additional question was presented to
participant A, asked to whether she witnessed any difference in her teaching career in
students experiencing difficulty or anxiety when speaking in front of others. Her
response was “no, it’s always been like this, since I started working here. There’s
always been a few students in each class (with difficulties), and then in other classes
there aren’t any visible issues”. Participant B’s response can explain the level of
anxiety about speaking that may appear for some her students when speaking
assignments are given, as Mestan (2017) explains from their study that students
experienced more speaking anxiety each consecutive grade. This may explain that by
the time participant B’s students have reached the secondary school level, they may
already be experiencing a high level of speaking anxiety.

3.5 Positive Thinking

In the study about whether positive thinking in a performance situation by
Vassilopoulos, Brouzos, Tsorbatzoudis, and Tziouma (2017), research focuses on

  20  
  

whether positivity can attribute the field of speaking anxiety and the related
performance with it. In relation to positivity, participant A expressed that her students
feel more at home when more control is put in place, such as the number of people
listening, gender-divided presentations, and time-limit on speeches, all which helps
elevate symptoms of severe anxiety. This control is explained by Vassilopoulos,
Brouzos, Tsorbatzoudis, and Tziouma (2017) whose results about social anxiety,
which can be associated to thoughts of negative predictions and thoughts relating to
an impending performance task. By allowing students to control class size, participant
A has given her students more opportunity and room for positive thinking and less
anxiety about a speaking assignment.

With participant B, he explained that, in order to create a positive tone for

assignments, he allows numerous moments where students can reflect, discuss, and
improve their speeches and/or presentations. Giving the example of an argumentative
speech assignment, he gives numerous lessons to which his students can prepare
themselves, write drafts, practice their speeches on each other, and finally create key
notes or cue cards to which they can use during the speech. Once again, this choice of
method to prepare his students is explained by Vassilopoulos, Brouzos,
Tsorbatzoudis, and Tziouma (2017) whose study results explain that positive thinking
can decrease negative predictions and thoughts of an upcoming performance task.

3.6 Face-to-Face and Web-based speaking

Lastly, the study by Campbell and Larsson (2013), which focuses on whether
speaking in front of crowd of people, or speaking through the web can cause speaking
anxiety, concluded that students experienced more anxiety when giving a speech face-
to-face in comparison to a web-based speech setting

Although participant A was not directly asked about her experience and observations
about face-to-face speech and web-based speeches, she did express her thoughts of
how some of her students feel much more anxious speaking in front of the whole
classroom, leading her to give the options of half-class or small group presentations.
This can be partly explained with Campbell and Larsson (2013) study results, which
indicate that students experienced more anxiety when giving a speech face-to-face to
a group of individuals. On the other hand, participant B spoke about getting asked “do

  21  
  

we have to do it live?” in regard to speaking in front of other students in the class,

sparking the question if they can record their presentation instead. This, as participant
B explains he “haven’t been in that situation yet, but can consider it if it reaches those
extremes of difficulty, but the more important thing is to talk with them.” Such a
question from participant B’s students coincides with Campbell and Larsson’s (2013)
results about students experiencing less anxiety when given the choice of a speaking
assignment given through a web-based approach.

  22  
  

4. Integration of Research and Results

When applying the literature study and my research questions to the content of the
participant’s answers, I have come to the conclusion that both participants have a
similar agreement on what methods they employ in order to decrease the levels of
anxiety their students may experience during speaking assignments in front of others.
Firstly, when introducing an assignment that has a speaking component, both teachers
give a thorough and well-founded explanation and presentation via Powerpoint
outlining the expectations of what is to be done for the assignment, important dates
and lesson content, and the amount of times the class will have to practice, and
rehearse their speeches before the assignment takes place. More importantly, before
starting with a speech or presentation assignment, both participant A and B start on a
lower or easier level for their classes, with short impromptu speeches or ‘3-minute
talks’ about a certain subject, with some given time for their students to prepare
themselves before speaking. Participant A explains “it depends on the assignment
itself, what they have to do, like for example the ‘3-minute talk’ where the main thing
is that they aren’t given time to prepare.” By doing so, participant A can gauge each
student’s ability to speak impromptu and view their reaction to speaking within a
small group. Participant B uses “a variety of assignments, for example a short 1-
minute speech, where they a whole lesson to prepare themselves.”

By starting off with a more approachable minor assignment, both teachers lay the
foundation for their students when they are given tasks for speaking in front of others,
and can continue building with this foundation for the duration of the year that they
have a class of students. Furthermore, when more difficult speaking assignments are
given, both teachers allow their students to control the size of the class that is to listen
to their speech, as well as given the option of dividing the class into either only
female or male students, thereby decreasing any possible high levels of anxiety that
may appear during a speech in front of others. Participant A explains her approach to
this, as “I tend to listen to them, listen to how they want to do it… I will present the
assignment and start with a whole class presentation, and when I notice that some
seem anxious, get worried, I get the question if it is possible for them to present to
fewer students, and that isn’t any problem.”

  23  
  

In regard to the students who experience more severe speaking anxiety and require
more safeguards to able to speak in front of others (especially of the other gender),
both participants had experience with such students. Participant A had the experience
of one female students fainting when giving a speech, which prompted participant A
to “bring it up during a staff meeting, and she of course has to be careful (in the
future), so I had her by myself last week during a presentation” which later on led to
receiving help from a speech counselor from the school, as well as decreasing the
amount of people she had to speak in front of – only the teacher and the student at
first, and then gradually allowing more students to listen to the affected student’s
future presentations.

Participant B expressed that “I haven’t found myself in that situation, but I would
consider this with an extreme case, but the more important thing is to actually speak
with the students” in regards to students feeling anxious about speaking in front of
others in the classroom.
In both cases, both teachers have enough experience to give appropriate and
comfortable support to students who struggle with speech anxiety, whether it is an
anxiety to do with performance, or to do with language proficiency, they are
knowledgeable and prepared enough to give anxious students suitable and controlled
classroom settings for them to feel less anxious and more comfortable in speaking in
front of others.

The answers provided by both participants even go into the areas of the two sub
questions, “what obstacles (i.e. stress, anxiety) exist in the classroom for speaking,
and what creates a speaker friendly environment (i.e. confidence) within the
classroom), as well as “how can teachers best support and assess English-speaking
confidence during individual presentations in the classroom?”

In both cases, both interviewed teachers make it clear that being positive and clear
with assignments, along with what control measures (class size, speech time) that can
be implemented during speaking assignments, are key elements to limiting anxiety
levels amongst their students. The obstacles that the interviewed teachers can identify
as problematic is a negative atmosphere within the classroom which can demoralize
students in their feelings towards speaking in front of others. As well as having no

  24  
  

foundation of prior minor speaking assignments to which the teachers can gauge how
their students fare with speaking in front of others and if they experience normal or
higher levels of speaking anxiety. As participant B explains, “I try to establish a
relation with them where they feel comfortable with asking me any question, if
anything is difficult, or if they can do the assignment in another way”, thereby trying
to bridge a positive relation between himself and his students, allowing for honesty
and more control for students when deciding on how to present an assignment in front
of others.

Both teachers explain that they can see confidence in their students when they don’t
exhibit certain movements shown during anxiety such as pen tapping, resorting to
‘filler’ words in Swedish, or forgetting what to say when speaking in front of others.
Participant A explains that one way she reduces anxiety for her students is to “put
away (pen and paper) all that and just listen to them, which makes them calmer”,
which allows them to speak freely without distractions. Other support and assessment
in providing confidence is to give their students ample and long enough time to
prepare and practices future speaking assignments, allowing their students to be more
in control of their speaking and the content of their speeches.

  25  
  

5. Conclusion of Implication
What is clear throughout the results in this thesis is that the issue of speaking anxiety
that can plague students does not present itself with one singular reason or cause
within a group of students. Speaking anxiety can manifest itself within any speaker of
English, whether native or second language speaker, speaking anxiety can prove to
hinder advancing speaking in front of others due to several reasons (discussed below).
Although, further discussion within an ESL context is that students that are in the
process of learning of learning and improving their English as a second language
potentially inhibit more anxiety than native speakers. This additional anxiety might
stem from performing orally in a new language, elongating distance from the ‘safety’
and familiarity of their native language. This, along with grasping different rules of
grammar, language intonation, sentence structures would add to any pre-existing
speaking anxiety that students may inhibit in their native language, but exacerbates
when speaking a second language during the learning of process of it.

The reasons for speaking anxiety are numerous and vary in different forms, degrees of
anxiety, physical, and mental manifestations for every individual in a classroom,
which has been explained by both interviewed teachers.

As Mestan’s (2017) study shows, in regard to anxiety manifesting itself differently for
students at the secondary level, speaking anxiety increases according the students
grade, so for those who have reached their secondary level, they are likely
experiencing years of inner speaking anxiety, which then makes it more difficult for
students to speak in front of others. When asked about her experience and if she has
noticed a difference in a trend of speaking anxiety amongst students, participant A
replies, “No, (anxiety) it hasn’t increased, it has always been like that … there’s
always a few students in a few classes, and a few other classes there may be none at
all.” So at secondary level, participant A has noticed no difference of the number of
students who experience anxiety when speaking in front of others.

As young adolescents, performing in front of others, as Hook, Valentiner, and

Conelly (2013) explain, brings out more negative thoughts and emotions for students,
who then experience higher levels of anxiety when being “observed or scrutinized by

  26  
  

others”. In regards to mental manifestations when anxiety occurs, this is explained by

Vassilopoulos, Brouzos, Tsorbatzoudis, and Tziouma’s (2017) study about positive
thinking, explaining that social anxiety was associated with “negative predictions of
personal appearance and catastrophic thoughts relating to an impending performance
task”, which ties into Hook, Valentiner, and Conelly (2013) study, both have a
combined discussion that negative thoughts and anxiety grew from being observed,
scrutinized, and catastrophic thoughts of speaking in front of others. This may explain
what participant A experienced with one specific student who fainted during a
Swedish lesson during an oral presentation, from sheer anxiety of speaking in front of
others. Participant A’s solution to this was to (as previously mentioned) discuss the
issue with other teachers, and let the student present solely to participant A,
eventually increasing the number of people during her presentation at future
occasions. This experience ties into Hook, Valentiner, and Connelly’s (2013)
explanation of negative thoughts and increased anxiety during observation of oneself.

To reiterate the questions at hand, ‘How can teachers support students who are
struggling with speech anxiety?’, and ‘What factors do practicing teachers identify as
contributing to speaking anxiety in the Swedish English classroom?’. Numerous
solutions from different angles have been explored in this thesis, one such solution
simply taking account the method a student may ask for in regards of a speaking
assignment. Such a request have both participants been asked by from their students.
Both teachers explain that their students can have minor to major difficulty when
given a speaking assignment, to which the students may ask for a smaller audience,
thereby asking for control of a presentation situation.

Such examples and explanations are backed up by the numerous named studies and
research provided in the literature background in this thesis, which explain how
complex speaking anxiety can manifest itself, as well as how its symptoms and
causations can vary from individual to individual.

One important aspect to speaking anxiety amongst students is whether it presents

itself as a major issue when students are faced with a situation wherein they are to
speak in front of others, and whether this comes from an issue to do with being
prepared and given ample amount of time to practice, as expressed by the participants

  27  
  

A and B. Participant A has explained that she gives no time for proper preparation for
her ‘3-minute’ impromptu talk, while participant B decides to give his students a
lesson’s worth of time to prepare for a similar assignment. Both participants explain
that it depends on the assignment at hand, and participant explicitly explains “it
depends on how you interpret the course criteria, but I don’t believe that the ability to
speak in front of others is a requirement that can aid you in an English course.”
Preparation time can in turn tie back into Hook, Valentiner, and Connelly’s (2013), in
a way, the more time for preparation, the better a student may perform, but then again,
may increase negative thoughts and anxiety about speaking.

The consequences of the provided results from the various studies and interviews that
have taken place are that there exists numerous sources for speaking anxieties
amongst students. That any student in a class can possibly experience mild anxieties
when speaking in front of others, experience severe anxieties speaking a secondary
language, or even experience severe anxieties when speaking in front of others which
can result in panic attacks or even fainting when speaking in front of others. As a
future teacher of English towards secondary school, it is of vital importance of
students who experience varying difficulties when speaking in front of others,
whether they give off physical signals of anxiety (tapping a table top) or refuse to
speak in front of others. In situations such as these, it becomes important for me to
use correct and appropriate ‘tools’ to support and assess students in overcoming their
anxieties with simple and careful steps in completing a speaking assignment.
Furthermore, even if I am given time to prepare for students with possible speaking
anxiety difficulties, it will be equally important to be comfortable, and prepared to set
aside time for students who want more control of their speaking situations (i.e. class
size) in order to grant them a more comfortable situation for themselves. This in turn
is to provide an environment where students can give their utmost sincere and calmest
speech/oral presentation without their anxieties plaguing their actions.

Taking a critical perspective towards the choice of method (interview), the first and
foremost critique that can be given is that only two teachers of English at secondary
level were interviewed, providing only a small window into how teachers think about
their students experiencing speaking anxiety, what support they give, as well as how
they work with students with anxiety difficulties. If I were to allow more teachers to

  28  
  

be interviewed, I would have a much larger source with varying content and
experience from their teaching career as to how they have worked with speaking
anxiety and students of varying anxiety degrees. More importantly, interviewing
teachers responsible for modern languages at the secondary level (ex. Swedish,
German, Spanish, French) could provide a larger foundation as to if speaking anxiety
differs between the different languages, or if there may exist a trend between speaking
in another language.

Another critical point to this method is that only teachers were interviewed, gathering
only one side for information about students experiencing speaking anxieties. Of
course, if this thesis considered the perspective of students experiencing anxiety and
how they work around it, then it would be vital to interview students either through
direct face-to-face interview, or possibly through the use of a questionnaire to gather
more information from students with varying factors (age, gender, experiences).

Finally, as previously mentioned, future research could consider how students fare
and work with speaking anxiety, and what they do to work around such difficulties in
the classroom environment. Research from a student’s perspective on speaking
anxiety would possibly help in bridging an understanding between the teacher and the
student in finding appropriate, and effective methods in controlling speaking anxiety.
This could in turn aid in minimizing the feelings of anxiety to allow students to fully
express themselves in speech, body language, and importantly, self-confidence in the
future when speaking in front of others.

Other research possible future research areas could look into what methods could be
employed by a teacher to alleviate symptoms, and feelings of anxiety amongst
students when speaking assignments are given. By looking at different methods,
teachers can then choose the most appropriate method to give to their class that will
help the majority when anxious situations occur in the classroom. Even if a method
can be applied to the majority of the class, research into aiding those students who
experience severe anxiety or reluctance to speak in front of others is equally as
important, and only help the teacher more in building their knowledge of supporting
their students to overcome their difficulties in speaking in front of others, or other
areas of foreign language difficulty.

  29  
  

References

Alvehus, J. (2013). Skriva uppsats med kvalitativ metod. Stockholm: Liber

Bell, J. (2005). Doing Your Research Project – A Guide for First Time Researchers in
Education, Health and Social Science. Berkshire, Open University Press

Bryman, A. (2011). Samhällsvetenskapliga metoder. [2 rev uppl.) Malmö: Liber.

Elmenfi, F. & Gaibani, A. (2016). The Role of Social Evaluation in Influencing Public
Speaking Anxiety of English Foreign Language Learners at Omar Al-Mukhtar
University. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED564038.

G. Özturk & N. Gürbüz (2012). The Impact of Gender on Foreign Language

Speaking Anxiety and Motivation. Retrieved at
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.01.106

Hatch, J. A. (2002). Doing Qualitative Research In Education Settings. State

University of New York Press, Albany

Horwitz, E. K, Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom

anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125-132

K, Steinar. (2007). Doing Interviews. Retrieved at

http://methods.sagepub.com.proxy.mah.se/book/doing-interviews

Hook N. J., Valentiner D. & Connelly J. (2013). Performance and Interaction

Anxiety: Specific Relationships with Other- and Self-Evaluation Concerns.
Retrieved at http://www-tandfonline-
com.proxy.mah.se/doi/abs/10.1080/10615806.2012.654777

Nunan, D. (1992). Research Methods in Language Learning. Cambridge, Cambridge

University Press

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S.P. Vassilopoulos, O. Tziouma, A. Brouzos & H. Tsorbatzoudis (2017). Is positive

Thinking in Anticipation of A Performance Situation Better than Distraction?
An Experimental Study in Preadolescents. Retrieved at
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.proxy.mah.se/doi/10.1111/sjop.12355/full

S. Campbell & J. Larsson (2013). Public Speaking Anxiety: Comparing Face-to-Face

and Web-Based Speeches. Retrieved at https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1097130

Skolverket. (2011). Läroplan, examensmål och gymnasiegemensamma ämnen för

gymnasiaskola 2011. Ordförrådet AB, Stockholm

T. Han, A. S. Tanriöver & S. Ö. Sahan (2016). EFL Students' and Teachers' Attitudes
toward Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety: A Look at NESTs and Non-NESTs

Mestan, T. (2017). Speaking Anxiety among Different Grades of K12: 6th, 8th, 10th
and 12th Grades. Retrieved at
https://doaj.org/article/3e204f4cedc24f0aba0151712e888434

Yaikhong, K. & Usaha, S. (2012). A Measure of EFL Public Speaking Class Anxiety:
Scale Development and Preliminary Validation and Reliability. Retrieved from
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1080110
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Appendix  
 
Questionnaire (Teacher):

1. What ‘precautions’ (crowd limit, time limit, etc.), do you take when you’re going to
introduce an assignment where the students are to speak in front of each other?

2. How do you cope with students who show reluctance to speaking in front a crowd
of people?

3. Where do you think students insecurity from speaking in front of others originate
from?

4. Do you think that students exhibit different ‘personality’ or ‘oral’ characteristics

when speaking? Either personally, or that they take on a ‘characteristic’

5. Do you think it is a speaking, or performance anxiety that students with difficulties

exhibit when speaking in the classroom?

6. Have you witnessed any differences when students speak in front of others, in
regards to the language they speak in?

7. What other phenomenon, in regards to speaking, have you observed during a

speaking assignment?

8. What methods do you employ to try and create more confidence in students when
speaking, or control any anxiety that they experience when speaking?

9. Do you have any other questions or thoughts regarding this subject during this
interview process?
 

  32