scholarly journals An Investigation of Factors Causing ESL Learning Anxiety in Classroom: A Case Study of ESL Learners at Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Farah Naz Abbasi ◽  
Siraj Ahmed Channa ◽  
Shehla Anwar Kurd ◽  
Farheen Shaikh

English language plays crucial role as an official language of Pakistan and it is applied normally as a medium of instructions crossway over instructional institutions and business organizations. Since anxiety hinders the studying and learning techniques, in this way it's been widely inquired approximately the world and indicates to be underneath seemed into Pakistani context. As a result the important aim of this research is to investigating factors causing language anxiety in learning to speak English in classroom among undergraduate students of Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur, Sindh, Pakistan. This Study followed a case study with mixed method approach using both quantitative and qualitative tactics. The population of this research study was 214 learners of English from Faculty of social sciences, Departments of Economics, International Relations and Media Studies. In this research study sampling size of 150 students was taken randomly who participated. Questionnaire used “to know students’ level of anxiety was adopted from FLCAS scale, developed by Horwitz et al (1986)”. Qualitative data was also obtained by conducting semi-structured interviews from 15 students randomly from three departments, 5 from each, and classroom observation was also carried out for three weeks. The results showed that anxiety of English classes is high rated Mean=31.98, Secondly fear of negative evaluation Mean=30.62, thirdly communicative apprehension Mean= 25.01 and fourthly test anxiety Mean= 13.89. It indicated that students have problem of anxiety. The statistics was analyzed in element eventually each quantitative and qualitative findings have been mixed to attain the end result of the study. The Findings of study mostly shown anxiety factors in classroom and are prominent such as fear of teacher, other student’s fear of being mocked, fear of making mistakes, lack of confidence, peer pressure, anxious personality, unsure about their abilities, fear of negative evaluation, worry of failing in examination tests, low proficiency, lack of vocabulary. Therefore results are significant that students have problem of anxiety while learning to speak English in classroom.

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Abdullah Al Mamun

The prime objectives of this study were to unveil the level of anxiety and the sources of English language anxiety of the tertiary level students of Bangladesh. Through a questionnaire survey using Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale developed by Horwitz et al. (1986), the study found that most of the tertiary level learners have high anxiety of English as a foreign language. Based on an exploratory factor analysis with principal component analysis and varimax rotation (Kaiser Normalization), a four-factor (communication anxiety, comprehension and test anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, and lack of anxiety) solution emerged. Following a close analysis of the EFA and other established valid models, the study found that six components, namely, speaking anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, peer pressure/social-image anxiety, comprehension-related anxiety, negative attitude towards class, and test anxiety were the main sources of anxiety, which need to be addressed for alleviating the anxiety of the students.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noor Hanim Rahmat ◽  
Amirul Mukmin Abu Bakar ◽  
Akmal Haziq Zamri ◽  
Aida Nasuha Roslan ◽  
Ain Zuhraa Zakaria ◽  
...  

This research investigated English as a second language (ESL) speaking anxiety faced by university students. Data was obtained through a group of 44 students in the undergraduate course, in public university in Malaysia through questionnaires in a Google Form. This study examined reasons of anxiety, types of anxiety, and methods to cope with the anxiety. The instrument is a questionnaire. The data was analysed using SPSS. The result of the analysis revealed that ESL students suffered from English language speaking anxiety. Furthermore, fear of negative evaluation and lack of confidence was proven to be the source of ESL speaking anxiety. Additionally, different students have different types of anxiety such trait anxiety and situation anxiety. In order to cope with anxiety, development of self-confidence is important. Preparation is another way to relieve language anxiety for instance implementation of roleplay or simulations. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0740/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Latisha Asmaak Shafie ◽  
Aizan Yaacob ◽  
Paramjit Kaur Karpal Singh

<p>This qualitative research investigates the practice of lurking among English as a second language (ESL) learners in a Facebook group discussion. Lurking is a term used to describe the activity of following and observing any online discussions or activities without contributing to the discussions. Lurkers are often accused of being invisible and passive participants. Facebook groups with international members usually uses English as the medium of communication in their group discussions. It is a norm for L2 learners to lurk in the group. These L2 learners often do not have the required English language proficiency and the confidence to participate actively in the group they join. This study explores lurking behaviours of three participants in learning English in informal Facebook contexts. This study uses a qualitative case study. The study involved three L2 learners who were university students and members of a Facebook group. The study involved online observation and semi-structured interviews with these three participants. Their Facebook accounts and a common Facebook group were observed for 14 weeks, and after the online observation, the participants were interviewed. Data collected from online observation and semi-structured interviewed were analysed and managed using Atlas.ti 7. The study reveals five emerging themes such as that lurkers have poor online communication skills, lack of confidence, learning by lurking, lack of a sense of belonging and lurking is the norm of Facebook groups.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-53
Author(s):  
Michael Pazinas

Purpose Commercially produced educational materials often reflect the pedagogical beliefs and culture(s) of the content developers. While many teachers involved in teaching English as a foreign language have relied on commercially published content in the past, the advent of ubiquitous technology has afforded them the ability to create content that is contextualised and to share it with other educators across the globe. The purpose of this study is to investigate cultural determinants which affect the pedagogical decisions of teachers when designing content. Design/methodology/approach This case study, conducted at a higher educational institution in the Gulf, addresses the issues that arise when cultures or ideologies of educators as material developers are different to that of the target audience. Three semi-structured interviews with teachers were conducted in an effort to understand cultural determinants that influence decision-making about pedagogy when creating in-house content to motivate undergraduate students on an English language program in the United Arab Emirates. Findings The results of this study indicated that the participants maintained mainly essentialist perspectives of local cultures and sub-cultures and their thinking in content creation was not all that different to that of commercial publishers. Practical implications This study holds implications for awareness-raising and pedagogical training for educators involved in in-house content development. Originality/value This case study addresses an area that has been under-researched in the Gulf region.


Author(s):  
Nusrhamira Afiqah Binti Mohd Shamsuri ◽  
Anita Anita ◽  
Liyana Syahira Binti Kamaruddin ◽  
Nurin Auni Syauqina Binti Azhan

This research study aiming at identifying the sources of the ESL students’ speaking anxiety in English speaking comprehension and identifying the strategies used by ESL students to overcome speaking anxiety in English class. This research used a qualitative approach that employed a case study and gathrered the information through interviewing 8 undergraduate students from a private university in Shah Alam Malaysia. All the interview questions covered three components, they were communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation and test anxiety and the strategies that were used by the respondents to overcome their speaking anxiety. The data analysis technique used was descriptive qualitative. As the result, the researcher found that anxiety, commonly felt by most second language learners contributed by some factors that came from the students and also from teachers. Therefore, to deal with these conditions, both teachers and students need to take part in contributing to what they can do to eliminate the speaking anxiety. Since the success of learning language mostly depends on the communication skills that definitely  requires a lot of effort to make the learning journey meaningful.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Takad Ahmed Chowdhury ◽  
Sarbani Roy ◽  
Muhammad Kamarul Kabilan Abdullah

English proficiency is considered a door opener almost in any field anywhere in the world, yet all the attempts to improve effectiveness of teaching and learning of English language in Bangladesh seem to fail over decades. Although poor learning motivation is counted as a key aspect why students do not hold their attention to their English classes and make use of their capabilities to understand and learn cognitively, there has been a very limited number of studies in Bangladeshi context to deal with this critical issue. This mixed method study attempted to identify the sources of motivation for attending English classes of the 1st year undergraduate students at a Bangladeshi university. Quantitative data was collected using two close-ended questionnaires from 50 randomly selected Bangladeshi tertiary level English language learners and 10 teachers. The student questionnaire was developed by adding three items with the ten items adapted from Clement et al. (1994) and the teachers questionnaire was developed and administered to follow up the findings from the student participants. For a more complete analysis, structured interviews were conducted with 10 purposively selected students. The results indicated lack of intrinsic motivation among the learners, and based on the existing literature, the study recommended the way outs to improve motivation of the non-performing learners. The recommendations included, shifting from exam-oriented assessment system, teachers’ reflection of their own teaching practices, redesigning course curricula based on learning need and learners’ expectations, ensuring easy access to the latest educational facilities, and encouraging the roles of students and their peers to develop learners’ motivation and foster their autonomous learning opportunities. Finally, the limitations are drawn and suggestions for further research are provided.


Author(s):  
Rosnah Mohd Sham ◽  
Mohd Nazri Latiff Azmi

This paper presents part of a study that investigates the washback effect of a School-Based Oral Evaluation (SBOE) performance from the teachers’ perceptions.  It also investigates the causal relationship between students who have passed in the school-based oral evaluation (SBOE) with fear of negative evaluation. The participants are 302 of form four students and four English teachers from the Putrajaya Federal Territory government secondary schools in Malaysia. It is a mixed-method study in which data were collected in sequential, analysed separately, and then explained. The quantitative data were collected by using FLCAS, the School-Based Oral Evaluation (SBOE) results and the qualitative data were collected from the semi-structured interviews with the English teachers and guidelines on SBOE from the Ministry of Education Malaysia. The quantitative method used descriptive statistical analysis, whereas the qualitative method used content analysis.  Students’ result in the mid-term examination 2017 had shown that they scored high marks in the SBOE.  The quantitative results revealed that the students experienced low mean level of fear of negative evaluation.  The teachers reported that students had shown positive attitude during the SBOE and English class interaction.  They were focused, confident, responsive and not panic.  There is a positive washback effect of SBOE on the students’ result. High results in SBOE affected the mean level of fear of negative evaluation. The partial eta-squared showed the value of 0.106 which is considered high.  This study suggests two broad future tasks.  The first task involves the development of national curriculum in English language which dependence upon oral English language.  The second task focuses on the development of English language training and skills for the English teachers.Keywords: washback effect, School-Based Oral Evaluation performance, causal relationship, fear of negative evaluation


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Cevallos Bravo ◽  
Eder A. Intriago ◽  
Jhonny Villafuerte Holguin ◽  
Gustavo Molina Garzon ◽  
Luis Ortega Arcia

This quantitative research aims to examine how different levels of motivation relate to frequency of occurrence of autonomous language learning activities undertaken by undergraduate students. Eight hundred and sixty-two college students from 10 vocational training programs of a public university located in Ecuador, South America, participated in this study. Spratt’s questionnaire that regards ‘autonomy and motivation’ as a cyclical interaction in the language learning process, was updated by the researchers, adding digital education elements. The data were analyzed using the program SPSS v24.0.0 The results showed that there was a significant relationship between: the language learning stimulation generated by professors and the participants’ learning attitudes. In addition, it was determined that the most frequent language practices in which the participants showed greatest autonomy were: listening to songs in English language, worrying about the correct pronunciation, and noting down interesting words or expressions in English.


2021 ◽  
Vol VI (IV) ◽  
pp. 34-41
Author(s):  
Hina Iqbal ◽  
Muhammad Saeed

Academic writing plays a pivotal role in developing research proposals. The present study aimed to explore the grammatical errors that M.Phil/PhDs scholars commit in academic writing. The present study employed a qualitative case study designed to explore the challenges in the English language faced by the M.Phil and PhDs scholars. The 20 Ph.D. and 36 M.Phil scholars were selected by busing purposive sampling technique. Data were collected by using two self-developed semi-structured interviews protocol. Thematic analysis approach was employed for data analysis. The findings revealed that all the participants reported that correct use of tenses was a big hurdle that entailed the other grammatical mistakes and reduced the report quality because all the lexical aspects are linked with these mechanics. The study recommended that English language courses be offered to postgraduate, M. Phil and Ph.D. scholars to learn the technical aspects of the language and provide students with online interactive programming.


GERAM ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-72
Author(s):  
Fauzul Etfita ◽  
Sri Wahyuni

Teaching materials are a set of tools or facilities that contain materials, methods and evaluations used by teachers or lecturers in learning. So far, the teaching materials released by several developers have rarely been in accordance with the needs of Mechanical Engineering students, where some of the teaching materials available still use general English. In this study, in order to compile an appropriate teaching material, researchers have conducted a needs analysis. Needs analysis is a fundamental aspect for English language lecturers for specific purposes (ESP) in identifying information or the main needs of students and investigating areas of student shortages. In line with this statement, this research is a case study design that aims to determine the needs of mechanical engineering students in learning English through Padlet at the Faculty of Engineering in the 2019-2020 academic year. The data in this study were collected from researcher observations, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with 40 students and two English language lecturers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The results revealed that speaking and writing are the main focus of English skills in the Mechanical Engineering department and listening along with reading are the next English skills needed than others.


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