"Korean Students` English Speaking Anxiety and Their Coping Strategies

Abstract

This study aims to explore Korean ESL students’ degree of English speaking anxiety and how their perceptions and experiences of this anxiety vary with respect to their speaking proficiency. In addition, the study seeks to identify the language learning circumstances which may provoke the most and the least anxiety and to describe the strategies that students use to mitigate their own anxiety. Thirty-one students completed two questionnaires, a background questionnaire and an anxiety questionnaire, and six of them voluntarily participated in the follow-up interview. Descriptive analysis indicates that the degree of anxiety decreased with respect to language proficiency level in the following order: intermediate, advanced, and low. Moreover, the interview results reveal that students who felt high anxiety tended to be highly self-conscious about speaking English, whereas students with low anxiety had an inclination to be less affected by nervous feelings. All six interviewees reported that they felt the most anxious when having an oral presentation due to the fear of negative evaluation. Speaking with less competent learners and participating in group discussions turns out to be less anxiety-provoking to some students, which implies that careful classroom management can play a positive role in reducing students’ speaking anxiety.