Examining Factors of Speaking Anxiety among Chinese EFL Students in Higher Education

Abstract

Many students will have speaking anxiety when they learn a foreign language. This study intends to look into the elements that lead to students' speaking anxiety in Chinese higher education English classrooms. The study included a total of 55 participants with various educational backgrounds and majors. The Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety Scale (FLSAS) has been adopted to gather quantitative data and in particular, measure speaking anxiety. Other questions related to online learning and students' self-rated anxiety-affecting elements were also added to the questionnaire. This study discovered three major elements that contribute to students' speaking anxiety, communication comprehension, exam anxiety, and fear of unfavorable evaluation. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate that online speaking sessions might help students relax. In students' self-evaluation, self-confidence is the most prominent factor affecting oral anxiety. According to the findings, the improvement measures that can be taken to help students reduce their level of speaking anxiety in teaching practice are discussed in the article.