SPEAKING ANXIETY AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT AT TERMEZ STATE UNIVERSITY, UZBEKISTAN

Mohammad Shah Zaki

Abstract


Speaking anxiety, particularly in foreign language learning, was a prevalent issue among undergraduate students. This study investigated “Speaking Anxiety among Undergraduate Students in the English Department at Termez State University, Uzbekistan.” Among 80 undergraduate students, 75.9% were female, and 24.1% of the remaining were male. Participants’ ages ranged from 16 to 22 years old, and the native language of the majority (78) was Uzbek, and very few of them (2) were Russian, but nobody spoke Persian. The results revealed that internal factors such as fear of making mistakes and lack of self-confidence were the two most important factors contributing to speaking anxiety; however, feeling insecure had the least impact on speaking anxiety. In addition to that, external factors such as a lack of vocabulary, grammatical errors, and incorrect pronunciation had the highest impact on speaking anxiety, respectively. Conversely, excessive use of the mother tongue had the least influence on students’ speaking anxiety. The findings showed that factors such as enough speaking practice time and supportive feedback played a significant role in solving or reducing students’ speaking anxiety, respectively; however, immersive speaking activities had the lowest impact on reducing anxiety among undergraduate students. The study also highlighted the role of teachers in either alleviating or aggravating anxiety. It was found that while overly critical feedback and high-pressure situations intensified anxiety, positive teacher-student interactions and supportive classroom environments mitigated it. In addition to that, the results revealed that a significant number of the students did not experience moderate to high levels of speaking anxiety. Lastly, this research contributed to the understanding of language learning anxiety in the context of Uzbekistan and provided actionable insights for educators to better support their students in overcoming this challenge.

 

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external factors, internal factors, speaking anxiety, undergraduate students

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejlll.v9i1.596

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