The Role of Social Evaluation in Influencing Public Speaking Anxiety of English Language Learners at Omar Al-Mukhtar University

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of social evaluation on Public Speaking Anxiety (PSA) of English foreign language learners at Omar Al-Mukhtar University, in Libya. The findings that will be reported in this study will be significant particularly to educationist, language teachers, and policy makers and most importantly to the body of knowledge in the area of Public Speaking Anxiety and second language learning. In the quest of achieving the highlighted objectives in this research in a methodologist approach, the study approached Libyan students that are learners of English. The study employed a data collection instrument to inquire about the type of Public Speaking Anxiety they experience. And it also covers different factors that are responsible for the PSA. The questionnaire distributed concentrate on the impact of social evaluation on public speaking that provoke fear anxiety of student. A random sample of 111 students were used in the study. To analyse the collected data, means, standard deviations, a three-way ANOVA analysis, the correlation coefficients and Statistical Product and Service Solution (SPSS) were used with social evaluation as the dependent variable and Public Speaking Anxiety as the independent variable. The findings show that social evaluation is a very significant aspect and is an important contributor to Public Speaking Anxiety of English foreign language learners at Omar Al-Mukhtar University. The study recommends that students need to sense their feelings about their speaking anxiety associated with English language, they also should be advised to participate in speaking practice out loud either lonely or with other classmates as this has the tendency of increasing their proficiency level of speaking English language and encourages their confidence to speak in public without fear or feeling of anxiety.