Perceptions of the influence of anxiety on students’ performance on English oral examinations

Abstract

This case study sought to determine the way in which different actors perceive the impact of anxiety markers on the quality of EFL students’ performance on oral examinations. The group of participants was made up of 17 students, two teachers, and seven external observers from an undergraduate English teaching program in Colombia. The data collection process involved structured observations during students’ presentations and semi-structured interviews to both teachers and students. The results showed that presenters focused on avoiding notorious anxiety markers, but, from the observers’ point of view, these did not affect speech quality as much as intermittent and sustained markers did. Moreover, although anxiety affected students’ oral performance, teachers filtered it out when grading students’ language ability. Teachers and students are therefore invited to reflect upon anxiety’s actual impact on public speaking in test situations, particularly in contexts other than the classroom.