ORAL PERFORMANCE ANXIETY SCALE (OPAS) FOR ORAL PERFORMANCE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Name: ____________________________________ Class: _______________
Gender: Male/Female
Please circle the number in the box to indicate your oral performance anxiety if you were to deliver in English language.
1= Strongly disagree 2= Disagree
3= Neither agree nor disagree 4= Agree
5= Strongly agree
Descriptors
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly
disagree Disagree
Neither agree disagree nor
Agree Strongly agree
1. I never feel quite sure of myself when I am giving an oral performance in the English
language. 1 2 3 4 5
2. I don't worry about making mistakes in
oral performance. 1 2 3 4 5
3. I tremble when I know that I'm going to be
called on in the oral performance. 1 2 3 4 5
4. It wouldn't bother me at all to do more oral
performance. 1 2 3 4 5
5. I keep thinking that the other pre-service teachers are better at oral performance than I
am. 1 2 3 4 5
6. I am usually at ease during tests in my oral
performance. 1 2 3 4 5
7. I start to panic when I must speak without
preparation in oral performance. 1 2 3 4 5
8. I am worried about the consequences of
failing my oral performance. 1 2 3 4 5
9. I don't understand why some people get so
upset over oral performances. 1 2 3 4 5
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Descriptors
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly
disagree Disagree
Neither agree disagree nor
Agree Strongly agree
10. In oral performance, I can get so nervous
I forget things I know. 1 2 3 4 5
11. It embarrasses me to volunteer to do oral
performance. 1 2 3 4 5
12. I would not be nervous to do an oral
performance. 1 2 3 4 5
13. I get upset when I don’t do my oral
performance well. 1 2 3 4 5
14. Even if I am well-prepared for oral
performance, I feel anxious about it. 1 2 3 4 5
15. I often feel like not going to do my oral
performance. 1 2 3 4 5
16. I feel confident when I speak in my oral
performance. 1 2 3 4 5
17. I am afraid that my lecturer is ready to
correct every mistake I make. 1 2 3 4 5
18. I can feel my heart pounding when I'm
going to be called on in the oral performance. 1 2 3 4 5
19. I don't feel pressure to prepare very well
for oral performance. 1 2 3 4 5
20. I always feel that the other pre-service teachers do the oral performance better than
I do. 1 2 3 4 5
21. I feel very self-conscious about doing the oral performance in front of other pre-service
teachers. 1 2 3 4 5
22. I feel more tense and nervous in my oral performance session than in my other
sessions. 1 2 3 4 5
23. I get nervous and confused when I am
speaking in my oral performance. 1 2 3 4 5
24. When I'm on my way to oral performance
class, I feel very sure and relaxed. 1 2 3 4 5
25. I am afraid that the other pre-service teachers will laugh at me when I speak the
oral performance session. 1 2 3 4 5
26. I get nervous when I do an oral performance which I haven't prepared in
advance. 1 2 3 4 5
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Self-Reflection Cycle adapted from Gibbs (1988)
Gibb’s (1988) reflective cycle is a popular model for reflection. The model presented below includes six stages of reflection.
Description
In this section, you need to explain what you are reflecting on to your reader. Perhaps include background information, such as what it is you are reflecting on and tell the reader who is involved. It is important to remember to keep the information provided relevant and to-the-point. Do not waffle on about details that are not required – if you do this, you’re just using up valuable words.
Feelings
Discuss your anxiety and thoughts about the experience. Consider questions such as How did you feel at the time? What did you think at the time? What did you think about the incident afterward? You can discuss your emotions honestly, but make sure to remember always that this is an academic piece of writing, so avoid ‘chatty’ text.
Evaluation
For your evaluation, discuss how well you think things went. Perhaps think about: How did you react to the situation, and how did other people react? What is good and what is bad about the experience? If you are writing about a difficult incident, did you feel that the situation is resolved afterward? Why/why not? This section is a good place to include the theory and the work of other authors – remember it is important to include references in reflective writing.
291 Analysis
In your analysis, consider what might have helped or hindered the event. You also have the opportunity here to compare your experience with the literature you have read. This section is very important, particularly for higher level writing.
Conclusion
In your conclusion, it is important to acknowledge: whether you could have done anything else; what you have learned from the experience; consider whether you could have responded in a different way. If you are talking about a positive experience…discuss whether you would do the same again to ensure a positive outcome. Also, consider if there is anything you could change to improve things even further. If the incident is negative…tell your reader how you could have avoided it happening and how you could make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Action plan
Action plans to sum up anything you need to know and do to improve for next time.
Perhaps you feel that you need to learn about something or attend some training. Could you ask your tutor or placement supervisor for some advice? What can you do which means you will be better equipped to cope with a similar event?
Adapted from: Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods. Oxford: Further Education Unit.
Using Gibb’s (1988) reflective model in reflective writing
The following text is an example of a piece of reflective writing, following Gibb’s (1988) model. The task is to write a reflection about an incident which occurred during the first few weeks of a teaching placement (1000 words). Please note that the references used are fictional.
Description
I am currently on a teaching practice placement in an adult education college in the southwest of England, learning how to teach GCSE maths to various groups of adults.
As my placement is in the early stages, I am mainly assisting the class tutors and have just started planning and delivering a small part of each lesson. The incident occurred in an evening class during which I am due to deliver my very first session. The class tutor had been teaching the learners about fractions, and my task is to continue with this instruction, looking specifically at how to multiply two fractions. However, when I am due to teach the session, I got to the whiteboard and became so nervous that I struggled to speak to the group. I felt myself visibly shaking and is unable to articulate my first sentence coherently. The students were quite understanding, as they are all mature students who are aware that I am new to teaching and am nervous, but the class teacher is unsympathetic and responded by taking over the lesson whilst I sat at the back of the room trying not to cry. I left the session as soon as the class is over and did not speak to anyone.
Feelings
I felt extremely miserable at the time and even considered leaving my teacher training course. I am also embarrassed and upset by my own inability to speak in front of the group, but I am also extremely angry with the class teacher for her response in the presence of the learners. I felt afterward that she had not given me sufficient time to compose myself, and that she should have allowed me to address my nerves. The
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situation left me very distressed and I rang in sick the following week; it is only when I reflected on the experience that I decided I needed to speak to the placement supervisor. I also realised later that feeling nervous is a natural reaction to speaking in public (Jones, 2000) which made me feel less embarrassed.
Evaluation
At the time, I did not feel that the situation had been resolved at all. I very deliberately left at the end of the class without speaking to the class teacher or the learners. However, after speaking to a fellow trainee about his own experience, I felt much more positive.
I realised that everyone feels nervous before their first few classes. This is clear in the relevant literature, as Greene (2006, p. 43) points out, saying that nine out of ten new trainee teachers found their first session “incredibly daunting”. It appears that most trainee teachers have moments of being “tongue-tied” and “losing their way with the lesson” (Parbold, 1998, p. 223).
Analysis
The situation is made worse by both my own actions and those of the class teacher. I feel that I should have stood up to her, rather than letting her take control of the lesson and that I should have spoken to her immediately after the lesson about how I am feeling. Dealing with situations like this immediately is preferable, as Cooper (2001) points out.
Instead, I spoke to my placement supervisor several days later and did not see the class teacher again until a formal meeting consisting of myself, the teacher and the supervisor. Daynes and Farris (2003) say that, by not dealing with situations immediately and personally, and instead of taking it to an authority figure, the situation can be made worse. The class teacher could have felt that she is being “ganged up on”
(Thomas, 2003, p. 22), which could lead to future problems. The teacher’s actions also made the situation worse, because she did not give me time to overcome my fears and she deliberately embarrassed me in front of the class. She claimed that she had thought she is helping me to overcome my anxieties, but I do not believe that to be the case.
However, as we only spoke about the incident over a week later in the meeting with the supervisor, she rightly argued that I should have said something to her at the time.
Conclusion
In retrospect, I would do several things differently. I should have spoken to the class teacher immediately after the session and voiced my opinions. I should also have been more assertive by advising the tutor that I could continue with the lesson. However, the incident made me realise the importance of building up a relationship with the teacher, a skill that Jackson (1999) stresses as fundamental to a successful placement. I feel that, had I developed a professional relationship with the teacher in the preceding weeks, I would have been able to explain how nervous I am beforehand. This would have provided the opportunity to discuss strategies for dealing with nerves and perhaps the incident could have been avoided entirely.
Action Plan
In the future, I will ensure that I build up a relationship with colleagues. I am working alongside several different teachers during my placement, and I intend to speak to each of them about my nerves. I have already had a beneficial conversation with one teacher
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and together we have developed a program of team-teaching for the next few weeks so that I do not feel so pressurised. I plan to do this with the other class teachers, as it will help them to understand how I feel. I also need to speak to my fellow trainees more often about how they feel, as I think I will be able to learn from them. In terms of training, I have booked onto a presentation skills workshop at University, and intend to follow it up by attending the practice sessions afterward. This experience has made me realise that I need to gain more confidence with presenting and I feel addressing my presentation skills will help me to do this.
Extract adapted from: www.salford.ac.uk
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Checklists adapted from Cavanagh et al. (2014)
Modes Poor performance Excellent performance
Body Language Moving around too much
Shuffling
Slouching
Rigid stance
Withdrawn posture
Defensive arm positioning (folded arms, hands in pockets)
Flapping hands
Wandering eyes
Shoulders hunched
Head down
Distracting/unclear gestures
Stiff gestures
Cold/unexpressive facial expression
Centred
Open body posture
Upright
Shoulders back
Head up
Hand/arm gestures to emphasise point or convey meaning
Inclusive eye contact,
Relaxed stance
Expressive gestures
Smooth gesture
Warm facial expression
Voice Contrived
Too loud/soft
Monotone
Stammering
Unclear enunciation (e.g., heavy
accent, mumbling)
Too fast/slow
Natural
Appropriate volume/projection
Melodic variety/intonation
Clear enunciation
Appropriate pace
Words Inexpressive
Negative
Poorly organized/structured
Confusing meaning
Not inclusive
Inappropriate slang (e.g., kids,
dropping ‘g’, gunna, you know)
Too many pausing/filling words
(‘ums’ and ‘ahs’)
Poor use of humour
Colourful/expressive language
Positive
Structured/organised
Clear meaning
Inclusive
Register relevant to audience
Positive use of humour
Use of strategies (such as rhetorical questions) to engage
Alignment Disparity between message and
body/voice/words
(Messages mixed)
Congruence between body/voice/words
(Messages aligned)
Checklists 1: Characteristics of poor and excellent communication performance for the Modes of Communication (body language, voice, words, and alignment)
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Checklists 2: Characteristics of poor and excellent communication performance for the Constructed Impressions of Communication (confidence, clarity, engagement, visual aids and alignment)
Constructed
impressions Poor performance Excellent performance
Confidence Appears anxious or
apprehensive
Manner conveys nerves, lack of authority or connection
Inflexible – working from fixed script
Appears relaxed and stable
Speaker manner conveys their knowledge and authority, their relationship with audience
Flexible
Clarity Meaning difficult to
understand Meaning easily
understood Engagement Appears uninterested in
presentation/lacks enthusiasm
Impression that audience
would be bored,
unmotivated, easily distracted, even alienated
Lacks impact
No interaction/does not connect
Interested and enthusiastic
Anticipate that audience would likely be engaged, interested in presentation
Makes an impression
Interacts/connects
Visual Aids Unclear visual aids Clear visual aids Appropriateness Content and delivery
unsuitable
Talking to wrong level of audience (context)
Content and delivery (language register) both suitable for a particular audience
Talking to the level of the audience and situation (context)
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Validation Form 1 for OPAS from Dr. Noraini
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Validation Form 1 for OPAS from Dr Julinamary
298
Validation Form 2 for Open-Ended Questions from Dr. Noraini
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