College Students’ Oral Communication Strategy Use, Self-perceived English Proficiency and Confidence, and Communication Anxiety in Taiwan’s EFL Learning

Abstract

The English language is widely disseminated globally, where it is the major medium of cross-communication in international/intercultural contexts. The purpose of this study is to assess (1) non-English major college students’ self-perceived overall English proficiency, speaking confidence, and communication anxiety/apprehension (CA) in EFL classes; (2) the most- and least-used types of student EFL communication strategies (CSs); (3) the interrelation between the choice of CSs, self-perceived overall English proficiency, speaking confidence, and CA; and (4) the significant predictors affecting CA. A total of 333 students with non-English majors at a private university in Taiwan participated in this study. Participants filled out two questionnaires that used moderations of the Oral Communication Strategy Inventory (OCSI) and the Communication Apprehension Subscale (CAS). Results found that students tend to perceive their English proficiency and speaking confidence as low and their anxiety in speaking English as high. The higher number of CSs used by students included message abandonment, non-verbal, and social effective strategies and the least-used types were “attempt to think in English” and “accuracy” strategies. The OCSI choices were found to have significant positive or negative correlations with the three variables of CA, self-perceived overall English proficiency, and speaking confidence, which is also significantly correlated with each other.