1. THE STRUGGLE OF EDUCATION
STUDENTS WITH SPEAKING
ANXIETY IN ORAL DISCUSSION
Researchers:
CHARENA GEN CONDINATO
ELVA GRACE M. AMAD
ANGELIE E. NITUMAY
Adviser:
ANA MAE M. MONTEZA, MAEd
2. Introduction
Background of the Study Research
Questions
Significance of the Study
Second language speaking anxiety has
sparked a lot of attention in recent years.
Speaking has been cited as the foremost
anxiety-inducing skill in language
learning and it is the most prominent
source of anxiety in an oral discussion
among education students (Miskam &
Saidalvi, 2019). Additionally,
communicating orally in English,
students usually encounter various
speech problems that impede their
communication. Speaking remains the
hardest skill to master for the majority of
English learners, and they are still
incompetent in communicating orally in
English (Azagra, 2017).
1.What are the
struggles that
education
students face
with speaking
anxiety in the
oral
discussion?
2.How these
students cope
with these
struggles?
Education Students. Results of this study may
help them be aware of the possible feelings and
experiences towards speaking anxiety in oral
discussion and thus they may devise techniques
on how to deal with their emotions.
Education Teachers. This study may provide
baseline data for them to understand their
students' experiences with speaking anxiety in
oral discussion and thereby they may conduct
interventions to help students manage their time
and utilize their skills in dealing with different
challenges in speaking anxiety.
Future Researchers. Results in this study may
provide a good reference for future research use.
3. Methodology
Design This study employed a descriptive qualitative phenomenological study. Neubauer et al.
(2019) defined phenomenology as an approach to research that seeks to describe the
essence of a phenomenon by exploring it from the perspective of those who have
experienced it. Thus, this design is uniquely positioned to help education students to
learn from the experiences of others. As the main purpose, this is a powerful research
strategy that is well suited for exploring challenging problems of Education students who
encountered struggles in having speaking anxiety in an oral discussion.
Participants The participants of the study were the twelve (12) Education students of UM Digos College.
This is suggested by Moser and Kortjens (2016) who claimed that phenomenological studies
require fewer than or exactly 10 interviews. Additionally, Vasileiou et al. (2018) stated that
purposive sampling places participants in groups relevant to criteria that fits the research
purpose which is to provide richly-textured information and relevant to the phenomenon
referring to the challenges that education students face with speaking anxiety in oral discussion.
Instrument The researchers established a set of questions which served as an interview to gather the data
needed in the study. There were based on the problems being observed about the students`
struggles with speaking anxiety in oral discussion and the strategies to overcome the
challenges that they experienced. Hence, the questions were validated by the data analyst.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Struggles that Education Students Face with Speaking Anxiety in Oral
Discussion
Thematic analysis implies with the final theme: Struggles that Education Students Face with Speaking Anxiety in Oral
Discussion, presented according to the composite themes emerged are as follows: Negative Behavior, Fear of
Speaking, Inability to Express Thoughts and Feelings, and Low Self-esteem.
-The participants mentioned that one of the struggles that the Education students encounter with speaking anxiety in
oral discussion was the negative behavior. They said that when they speak in oral discussions, they feel a lot of
emotions that can contribute to a negative behavior. They lack of confidence, feel nervous, shy, afraid, and
uncomfortable. Hence, they cannot perform well because they just show negative behavior.
-The participants also confessed that the one os the struggles that they experienced is having the fear of speaking.
With the presence of fear, students cannot speak in an oral discussion. It is because they felt that they do not have
trust within themselves, they are afraid of judgement, and they felt shy or uncomfortable to speak.
-The participants additionally said that most of the time they did not have the chance or opportunity to speak, they
had a hard time to explain or express their ideas, they had doubt of their opinions, and had a hard time to choose the
right words to use in contructing a sentence to form their speech or conversation with others.
- Lastly, the participants highly emphasized that they felt shy, nervous, and uncomfortable when they speak in an oral
discussion. They are afraid to be critized or judged by others. They do not trust themselves in expressing their
opinions.
5. Coping Mechanisms in Dealing with Speaking Anxiety
Thematic analysis implies with the final theme:Coping Mechanisms in dealing with Speaking
Anxiety, presented according to the composite themes emerged are as follows: Preparedness in
Speaking, Develop Strategies in Speaking, Accepting One’s level of Speaking, Talk Minimally,
and Develop Strategies of Improvement.
- The participant said that in order to combat nervousness, they tend to develop eye to eye contact, try
to relax, focus on things studied, practice, focus on the end, and be positive.
- The students also revealed that whenever they feel anxious in speaking, they tend to cope with it by
means of organizing thoughts first, being positive, self- comforting, polite speaking, calming oneself,
being confident in speaking, being optimistic and sincere.
- The participants additionally said that they combat speaking anxiety in an oral discussion by being
observant, using L1, speaking carefully or politely, being silent, giving ideas when asked, convincing
oneself that nobody is perfect, accepting everyone's uniqueness, being honest in telling the speaking
skills, and insisting one's opinion.
- According to them, in order to deali with speaking anxiety they just prefer to be quiet, just listen, avoid
conversation, try to speak up, make fun of it, and be careful with utterance. In other words, they think
before they speak in order to avoid mistakes.
- Students mentioned that they read the dictionary, seek help from others, believing in oneself, trying to
relax, think that they do not know others, read books, be confident , just smile, read books, watch
grammar videos, try to fit myself, and they also seek help from expert (tutors).
6. Conclusion
With reference to the aforementioned findings, the
researchers concluded that on the struggles of education students
with speaking anxiety in oral discussion, final themes with their
composite themes were identified which are Struggles that
Education Students Face with Speaking Anxiety in Oral Discussion,
presented according to the composite themes emerged are as
follows: Negative Behavior, Fear of Speaking, Inability to Express
Thoughts and Feelings, and Low Self-esteem. Meanwhile, the
second final theme is Coping Mechanisms in dealing with Speaking
Anxiety, presented according to the composite themes emerged
are as follows: Preparedness in Speaking, Develop Strategies in
Speaking, Accepting One’s level of Speaking, Talk Minimally, and
Develop Strategies of Improvement.
7. Implication
Speaking in an oral discussion takes a lot of courage and skills in
order to express one’s opinion and feelings. However, some people
experience struggles or difficulties in speaking in front of people. Based on the
findings, the Education students show speaking anxiety due to many reasons.
They have low self-esteem or lack of confidence, unprepared of what to say,
fear of judgment, and lack of knowledge to speak using the second language.
Due to these factors, students cannot perform well in an oral discussion and
just prefer to be quiet and passive learner. Hence, there academic performace
will be affected because they are not participating in a class discussion.
On the other hand, even though Education students experienced
struggles in speaking in an oral discrussion, they were still willing to improve
their speaking skills by coping with their difficulties in speaking. They still had
actions to combat such struggles. They prepare themselves, think first before
speaking, choose words to speak carefully, and accept their weaknesses and
convert into strengths. Indeed, despite of the struggles they still learned to
fight and improve themselves in the field of speaking in an oral discussion.
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