ENGLISH LANGUAGE SPEAKING ANXIETY (ELSA) AMONG PRE-SERVICE TESL TEACHERS IN IIUM

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ENGLISH LANGUAGE SPEAKING ANXIETY (ELSA) AMONG PRE-SERVICE TESL TEACHERS IN IIUM

BY

CHE NAZIRA CHE MOHD NASHIR

A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master in Education (Teaching English As a

Second Language)

Kulliyyah of Education

International Islamic University Malaysia

AUGUST 2018

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ABSTRACT

This research aimed to investigate the level of English Language Speaking Anxiety (ELSA) and the self-assessment of English proficiency of pre-service TESL teachers in IIUM. This research also sought to investigate the differences between English Language Speaking Anxiety (ELSA) scores among pre-service TESL teachers in IIUM at different levels of study, and the relationship between English Language Speaking Anxiety (ELSA) and pre-service teachers’ self-assessment of their English proficiency. This research involved 134 participants from TESL undergraduates of KOED IIUM. One instrument was developed by combining two instruments, Second Language Speaking Anxiety Scale (SLSAS) by Woodrow (2003) and Teachers’ Self- Reported Proficiency by Chacon (2005). The developed instrument developed for use in the study was called the English Language Speaking Anxiety (ELSA) Scale. The findings indicated that the pre-service TESL teachers showed a higher level of speaking anxiety in social settings than in academic settings of IIUM. Next, the pre- service TESL teachers perceived themselves to be most proficient in reading, followed by writing and listening and least proficient in speaking. There was also a significant finding related to pre-service TESL teachers’ levels of speaking anxiety and their year of study, with fourth year pre-service TESL teachers found to be the most anxious. There was a slightly stronger relationship between speaking anxiety and English productive skills (speaking and writing) than receptive skills (reading and listening). Both productive and receptive skills were negatively correlated to speaking anxiety. Finally, there was a relatively stronger negative relationship between English speaking proficiency and the social setting of IIUM than the academic setting of IIUM. These findings imply that speaking anxiety does affect pre-service teachers’

oral performance and their English proficiency in general. The implications for students, lecturers and university administration are closely related to the notion of self-efficacy and anxiety, and as such, suitable and appropriate recommendations have been proposed.

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مل صخ ثحبلا

رتوتلاب ساسحلإا دنع ةيزيلنجلإا ةغللاب قطنلا ىوتسم ةسارد لىإ ثحبلا اذه فدهي

( )ELSA

يملعلم ةيزيلنجلإا ةغللا ةداجلإ تياذلا مييقتلاو في ةمدلخا لبق

TESL

اذه ىعس .

IIUM

(رتوتلا دنع ةيزيلنجلإا ةغللاب ينقطانلا تاجرد ينب قرفلا ةسارد لىإ اًضيأ ثحبلا )

ELSA

يملعلم يميلعتلا ىوتسلما لىإ ةبسن في ةمدلخا لبق ام ةلحرم في

TESL

IIUM

ينب ةقلاعلاو

ينقطانلا (رتوتلا دنع ةيزيلنجلإا ةغللاب

)

ELSA

، يملعم ةيفلخو عم لمعلل ينمدقتلما

TESL

ثحبلا اذه في كراش .لمعلل ينمدقتلما بنملعملل ةيزيلنجلإا ةغللا ةداجلإ تياذلا مييقتلا

431

^KOED ^IIUM

في ينيعمالجا

^TESL

بلاط نم اًكراشم

للاخ نم ةدحاو ةادآ ريوطت َّتم .

ينتادآ ينب عملجا ،

( ةيناثلا ةغللاب قطانلل قلقلا سايقم

SLSAS

( مادختساب ) 3003

م )

Woodrow

مادختساب ينملعملل ةيتاذلا ةءافكلا و (

3002 م )

Chacon

زاهلجا ناك .

( ةيزيلنجلإا ةغللاب قطنلا دنع قلقلا سايقم ىمسي مدختسلما نأ لىإ جئاتنلا تراشأ .)

ELSA

ـلا يملعم ىوتسم اورهظأ ةمدلخا لبق ام

TESL

في ةيزيلنجلاا ةغللاب قطنلا دنع قلقلا نم ىلعأ

ـلل ييمداكلأا طيلمحا نم رثكأ يعامتجلاا طيلمحا كلذ دعب .

IIUM

، وملعم كردا

ـلا TESL

ةءارقلا في ةءافك رثكأ منهأ ةمدخلل ينمدقتلما ،

في ةءافك لقأو عامتسلااو ةباتكلا اهيلت

قطنلا ىوتسم ينب يربك فلاتخا كانه ناك امك .ثدحتلا يملعم ىدل قلقلاب روعشلا دنع

ـلا

مهتسارد ةنسو ةمدخلل ينمدقتلما

TESL

، ةمدلخا لبق نوسردي نيذلا نوملعلما ناك ثيح

ئشانلا قلقلا ينب ًلايلق ىوقأ ةقلاع كانه تناك امك .ًاقلق رثكأ جرختلا لبق عبارلا فصلا في تاراهلماب ةنراقم )ةباتكلاو ثدحتلا( يزيلنجلإا جاتنلإا تاراهمو ةءارقلا( ةلبقتسلما

دنع قلقلاب اًيبلس اًطابترا ةطبترم ةيقلتلماو ةيجاتنلإا تاراهلما نم لك تناك ثيح .)عامتسلااو اًيرخأو .ثدحتلا ةيزيلنجلإا ةغللاب ثدحتلا ةداجإ ينب اًيبسن ةيوق ةيبلس ةقلاع كانه تناك ،

يعامتجلاا طيلمحاو

ـلل

ـل ييمداكلأا طيلمحاب ةنراقم

IIUM

.

IIUM

نأ ىلع جئاتنلا هذه لدتو

ةغلل متهداجإ ىلعو ةمدلخا لبق ينسردملل يهفشلا ءادلأا ىلع رثؤي ملاكلا نع مجانلا قلقلا اًطابترا ةعمالجا ةرادإو نيرضالمحاو بلاطلا ىلع ةبتترلما راثلآا طبترت .ماع لكشب ةيزيلنجلإا قلقلاو ةيتاذلا ةءافكلا موهفبم اًقيثو ،

ايصوت حاترقا تم كلذلو

.ةمئلامو ةبسانم ت

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APPROVAL PAGE

I certify that I have supervised and read this study and that in my opinion, it conforms to acceptable standards of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a dissertation for the degree of Master of Education.

………..

Ainol Madziah Binti Zubairi Supervisor

I certify that I have read this study and that in my opinion it conforms to acceptable standards of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a dissertation for the degree of Master of Education.

………..

Zainurin Bin Abdul Rahman Examiner

This dissertation was submitted to the Department of Language and Literacy. and is accepted as a fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Education.

………..

Fouad Mahmoud Mohammed Rawash

Head,Department of Language and Literacy.

This dissertation was submitted to the Kulliyyah of Education and is accepted as a fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Education.

………..

Ismail Sheikh Ahmad

Acting Dean, Kulliyyah of Education

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DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this dissertation is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. I also declare that it has not been previously or concurrently submitted as a whole for any other degrees at IIUM or other institutions.

Che Nazira Binti Che Mohd Nashir

Signature ... Date ...

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COPYRIGHT

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

DECLARATION OF COPYRIGHT AND AFFIRMATION OF FAIR USE OF UNPUBLISHED RESEARCH

ENGLISH LANGUAGE SPEAKING ANXIETY (ELSA) AMONG TESL PRE-SERVICE TEACHER IN IIUM

I declare that the copyright holders of this dissertation are jointly owned by the student and IIUM.

No part of this unpublished research may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder except as provided below

1. Any material contained in or derived from this unpublished research may be used by others in their writing with due acknowledgement.

2. IIUM or its library will have the right to make and transmit copies (print or electronic) for institutional and academic purposes.

3. The IIUM library will have the right to make, store in a retrieved system and supply copies of this unpublished research if requested by other universities and research libraries.

By signing this form, I acknowledged that I have read and understand the IIUM Intellectual Property Right and Commercialization policy.

Affirmed by Che Nazira Binti Che Mohd Nashir

……..……….. ………..

Signature Date

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ainol Madziah Zubairi for your guidance, encouragement and feedback given to my work. Your wisdom, patience and guidance never cease to amaze me. It has been an incredible and humbling learning experience.

I would also like to thank to brother Fuad, brother Ian, sister Azlina and the rest of the team in Kulliyyah of Education who constantly advised me and gave me feedback on my work, may Allah repay you in this life and the afterlife. I would also like to extend my thanks to everyone who had directly or indirectly contributed to my work.

A special thank you to my pillars of strength, Imran, Papa and Mama. Thank you for your time, sacrifices, patience and understanding. I could never imagine beginning and ending this journey without the help from all of you. Thank you to my beautiful families for always reaching out to aid the journey.

Last but not least, I dedicate this to my darling Isa and Zahra, who constantly inspire me and remind me to become a better version of myself. This is my gift to all of you. May Allah bless all of you for always looking after me.

.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 62

APPENDIX A:^: TEACHERS’ SELF-REPORTED PROFICIENCY... 66

APPENDIX B: SECOND LANGUAGE SPEAKING ANXIETY SCALE ... 67

APPENDIX C: SURVEY OF LANGUAGE ANXIETY IN IIUM ... 68

APPENDIX D: OPEN-ENDED RESPONSES ... 70

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 TESL Student Semester 1 2017/2018 IIUM 23

Table 3.2 TESL Undergraduate Courses Semester 1 2017/2018 24

Table 3.3 Instrument Modification for SLSAS 26

Table 3.4 Instruments Modifications for Teachers’ Self- Reported

English Proficiency 28

Table 3.5 Instruments Modifications for SLSAS and Teachers’

Self-Reported English Proficiency 30

Table 3.6 Summary of Instrument ELSA (English Language

Speaking Anxiety) 31

Table 3.7 Year of study TESL in IIUM 33

Table 4.1 Gender 36

Table 4.2 Main Language Used to Communicate 36

Table 4.3 Level of Study in IIUM 37

Table 4.4 English Level (Self-Evaluation) 37

Table 4.5 Reliability Statistics for ELSA Scale 38

Table 4.6 Reliability Statistics Self-Assessment English Proficiency 38

Table 4.7 Items Distribution for ELSA Scale 39

Table 4.8 Mean and Standard deviation for English Language

Speaking Anxiety(ELSA)Items 40

Table 4.9 Paired Sample Statistics in ELSA Academic and Social

Settings I 41

Table 4.10 Paired Sample Statistics for ELSA in Academic and

Social Settings II 42

Table 4.11 Means and Standard deviation for Self-Assessment

English Language Proficiency 44

Table 4.12 Overall Mean Rank for English Skills 45

Table 4.13 Ranks for ELSA with Level of Study 47

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Table 4.14 Test Statistics^a,b for ELSA with Level of Study 47 Table 4.15 Correlations between ELSA and Productive and

Receptive Skills 49

Table 4.16 Correlations between Speaking Items and Two

Different Settings 50

Table 4.17 Summary of Findings 51

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

TESL : Teaching English as a Second Language IIUM : International Islamic University Malaysia INSTED : Institute of Education

KOED : Kulliyyah (Faculty) of Education FLA : Foreign Language Anxiety

FLSA : Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety

SLSAS : Second Language Speaking Anxiety Scale ELSA : English Language Speaking Anxiety

SPSS : Social Package for Social Sciences

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CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025, eleven shifts to transform the Malaysian education system were outlined by the Education Ministry after considering all the information gathered by different stakeholders, including the students themselves (PADU, 2015).

The second shift in the blueprint is “to ensure every child is proficient in Bahasa Malaysia and English language and is encouraged to learn an additional language” (PADU, 2015). This blueprint highlighted the deteriorating English level in the Malaysian education system. It further highlighted that only 28% of students in 2011 achieved the minimum credit in the national examination, Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) (PADU, 2015). Additionally, it also stated that the poor level of English proficiency among fresh graduates in Malaysia identified in 2006 has not been improved and has become one of the top five issues faced by Malaysian employers (PADU, 2015). Thus, mastering English is a requirement in order to be able to perform well in school and outside of school.

However, learning the language is not always an easy task especially for the non-native speakers. The evidence above clearly shows that Malaysian students and even their teachers are still struggling to attain the required standard of English. There are many factors that can help or hinder one’s performance when learning English.

From the literature, low proficiency in language learning could be studied from either cognitive or affective aspects. This research focuses on the affective aspect, specifically on anxiety. The research investigated the existence of English Language

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speaking anxiety (ELSA) in the Malaysian setting. Anxiety is one of the contributors that affect students’ performance in speaking English. Theories on language anxiety are not new. To begin with, the notion of Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) was classified as a unique type of anxiety specific to foreign language learning by Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986). They further defined it as ‘a distinct complex of self- perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviours related to classroom language learning process’ (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986).

FLA could occur in any aspect of language learning: speaking, listening, writing and even reading. FLA is known to affect students’ accomplishment and performance. FLA has been shown to have harmful effects on students’ grades (Aida, 1994; Coulombe, 2000; Elkhafaifi, 2005, Yann & Hortwitz, 2008), students’ listening grades (Elkhafaifi, 2005; Bekleyen, 2009), reading scores (Zhao, 2009), verbal grades (Sellers, 2000) and writing success (Chen & Lin, 2009). These are just some of the examples from the vast body of evidence available to support the association between FLA and students’ performance in learning and using the English language.

International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) was the setting for this research. IIUM was established in 1983 and is a prominent public university in Malaysia. IIUM takes pride in its high quality of education and also has a lot of international students enrolled along with Malaysians. TESL or Teaching English as a Second Language is a degree offered by IIUM under the Kulliyyah (Faculty) of Education (KOED). IIUM language requirements for students who are studying in its Bachelor of English language and literature courses are slightly higher than those for other courses. Students studying English courses must achieve Band 6.5 in the International English Language Testing Service (IELTS) test (Academic) with a minimum Band of 6.0 for each of the component skills: Writing, Reading, Listening

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and Speaking (WRLS). Alternatively, they may sit for the IIUM-administered English Placement Test (EPT) and obtain a minimum of 6.0 points with a minimum Band of 5.5 for each skill (Writing, Reading, Listening and Speaking) to fulfil the English language requirements. Language proficiency courses are provided for applicants with unsatisfactory results to enable them to meet the admission requirements. Thus, it is safe to say that pre-service teachers in IIUM meet the required standard to qualify them to enrol as TESL students in IIUM. The duration of study for a TESL degree is estimated to be four years, including school practicums. Successful graduates will be placed all over Malaysia by the Education Ministry to teach English in schools. As such, this group of students is the most suitable participants to investigate regarding the phenomenon of speaking anxiety in the IIUM context.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This research was conducted to address three major problems that were raised based from the current context and the gap in the literature. First, there was the issue of English teachers’ competency in Malaysia. Focusing on the English teachers in the Malaysian education field, one of the solutions suggested in the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025 was to upskill the 61,000 English teachers by having them to take on Cambridge Placement Test (CPT). By doing so, their proficiency in English could be determined as to whether or not it was on par with international standards.

Intensive upskilling would be provided for any teachers who did not meet the standard (PADU, 2015). Interestingly, the Education Ministry English Language Teaching Centre (ELTC) director Mohamed Abu Bakar said about 52% of Malaysia's 40,000 English teachers were considered proficient, graded as C1, under the Common European Framework Reference (CEFR) (L.C. Fai, 2016). The remaining 48% were

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at B2 grade, which means they could only read, write, and understand English well enough to function and communicate (ibid).

These statistics provide useful insights into the reality of the standard of English proficiency in Malaysia. Notably, the ability to communicate in English is crucial for students, especially those who aim to teach the language, to be able to participate globally. Furthermore, it is a requirement to be an efficient English speaker in order to attain employment in most professions.

Understanding this information in the context of pre-service teachers in IIUM, KOED needed to maintain good quality students especially when these students will be assigned to teach in schools all over Malaysia. Taking into consideration the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025, along with the existing literature on second language acquisition, there is an urgent need to address this deterioration in the speaking of English in the Malaysian education setting. The need for KOED to produce good quality teachers is aligned with Young et al.’s finding (2014), that it is critical for students, at the elementary and secondary school levels, to have access to teachers who are well-equipped with professional knowledge and functional English language skills and who can teach English effectively. Consequently, in the case of pre-service ESL teachers who lack sufficient formal classroom teaching experience and English language proficiency, the level of anxiety that these pre-service teachers feel is even higher as opposed to experienced ESL teachers. Moreover, assuming that these pre-service ESL teachers are non-native speakers of English, it would be expected that they would appear to suffer even more serious anxiety when faced with the task of teaching a lesson in English (Yoon, 2012). Thus, this indirectly highlights the importance of producing effective language teachers, whom Dörnyei (1994, 2001) and Krashen (1987) suggest are able to develop students’ self-efficacy and reduce

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their anxiety, as well as other criteria. In contrast, failure to develop these qualities of effective teachers can lead to problems related to affective factors such as confidence, motivation, self-esteem, and risk-taking, resulting in teachers losing interest and confidence in their language teaching (Gebhard, 1990; Young, 1991). Second, a gap was found in the foreign language anxiety literature itself. Hence, this current research will also focus on language anxiety which will be narrowed down to focus on speaking anxiety. In the recent literature, there are a limited number of studies done which specifically look at pre-service teachers’ interactions inside and outside of classes, especially in Malaysia. Examining speaking anxiety in different settings is a growing interest area of research and the idea is to see if anxiety levels differ in academic and social settings. The IIUM atmosphere is relevant for this research as English language is commonly used and there are a lot of daily interactions between local and international students in the IIUM environment.

Last, there is a need to investigate speaking anxiety and its relationship to pre- service TESL teachers’ background especially in terms of their level of study and their English proficiency. The issue of self-efficacy in relation to speaking anxiety can be examined thoroughly when such an investigation is conducted. This could provide some insights into worrisome numbers of fresh graduates in Malaysia who are unable to communicate well in English.

These points will be the central idea when carrying out this research among the pre-service English teachers in the IIUM setting.

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6 1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The study objectives are as follows:

i. To investigate English Language Speaking Anxiety (ELSA) levels among pre-service TESL teachers in KOED.

ii. To examine pre-service TESL teachers’ self-assessment of their English proficiency.

iii. To investigate the differences between English Language Speaking Anxiety (ELSA) scores of pre-service TESL teachers in IIUM at different levels of study.

iv. To examine the relationship between English Language Speaking Anxiety (ELSA), pre-service TESL teachers’ background and pre-service teachers’

self- assessment of their English proficiency.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research questions to facilitate the study are as follows:

i. What is the level of English Language Speaking Anxiety (ELSA) of pre- service TESL teachers in a) an IIUM academic setting and b) an IIUM social setting?

ii. What are the perceptions of the pre-service TESL teachers of their level of English language proficiency?

iii. Are there significant differences in English Language Speaking Anxiety (ELSA) scores of pre-service TESL teachers at different levels of study in IIUM?

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iv. What is the relationship between Self-Assessment of English Language Proficiency and English Language Speaking Anxiety (ELSA) scores of pre-service TESL teachers in IIUM?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will benefit pre-service TESL teachers in IIUM as they will be more aware of their strengths and limitations when it comes to addressing their speaking anxieties.

It will also provide invaluable information to these second language learners on how they are influenced by anxiety in academic or in social settings.

Additionally, by knowing that speaking anxiety is a supported concept and how it can differ inside and outside of the class will hopefully provide the awareness that speaking anxiety is a challenge that can be overcome and is not permanent. This will enable students to become more confident in practising the English inside and outside the classroom.

As part of professional development, it is also crucial for these aspiring English teachers to address any anxiety that may hinder them from becoming fluent speakers, and as such, to be more motivated to find ways to overcome it. This is important, as they need to have excellent proficiency in English in order for them to teach their young students to excel in English-related subjects.

As for their lecturers, they should be able to facilitate these pre-service teachers to become more fluent speakers by highlighting the possible factors that hinder the students using the language. Lecturers can also try to put forward suitable solutions that can minimize speaking anxiety and be more encouraging to promote student involvement in class.

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Lastly, KOED administration can also provide assistance to reduce language anxiety among the students by producing a more welcoming and conducive learning environment. The information from this research can also be used to acknowledge the difficulties that these learners are facing and provide insightful information to better facilitate the administrative body to cater for these learners.

1.6 DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY This research presents a number of delimitations:

1. This study does not include the whole population of TESL students under KOED due to time and practical limitations. Thus, this research may not be generalizable to the whole population.

2. A convenient sampling method is used due to practical purposes. Again, the outcomes of the research cannot be generalized across all pre-service teachers.

1.7 DEFINITIONS OF TERMS

Foreign Language anxiety: Horwitz et al. (1986) defined foreign language anxiety (FLA) as “a distinct complex construct of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviours related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of language learning process”. In this research, the foreign language refers specifically to the English language. English is officially the second language in Malaysia. Thus, integrating the framework of FLA is apt but there is a need to rephrase the term

‘foreign language’ to ‘second language’ or ‘English language’ to avoid confusion.

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Speaking Anxiety: In this study, foreign language speaking anxiety is limited to speaking anxiety among the TESL pre-service teachers in IIUM. The English language speaking anxiety (ELSA) scale will be used to measure speaking anxiety in this research.

Academic and Social Settings: These terms refer to the academic and social settings of IIUM. Academic settings are also described as inside class, while the social setting of IIUM refers to outside of class settings. In this research, the researcher looks at the verbal interaction in English of the pre-service teachers of IIUM with other students or IIUM staff in both settings.

Attitude: This is one of the affective factors that affect learners’ ability to learn a foreign language. In this study, it refers to the pre-service teachers’ attitude towards using English in both academic and social settings within IIUM.

Self-Efficacy: Bandura (1986) defined self-efficacy as a one’s belief in his/her abilities to achieve a goal. In other words, self-efficacy is about self-perception in executing designated tasks. In this study, self-efficacy will be discussed in relation to respondents’ self-assessment of their English language proficiency and its association with speaking anxiety.

English Self-Assessment Proficiency Scale: Adapted from Chacón's (2005) research, this instrument is a self-reported inventory of respondents’ perceptions of their English proficiency. The scale includes all four skills; reading, writing, listening and speaking.

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10 1.8 ORGANIZATION OF DISSERTATION

This dissertation is organized by following a specific order from Chapter 1 to Chapter 5. Chapter 1 is the introduction of the dissertation, and consists of the background of the study, problem statement, the research objectives, the research questions and the significance of the research. Chapter 2 covers the literature review for this research, in which all the information associated to the study is gathered. Additionally, the operational definitions of speaking anxiety, the measurement instruments and related issues to speaking anxiety are discussed here.

Chapter 3 presents the methodology of the research which covers the population, sampling procedures, participants and how the research was carried out.

Chapter 4 deals with data analysis and the results of the research. The last chapter, Chapter 5, presents the conclusion of the study along with recommendations and limitations of the study.

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CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY

Language anxiety is an important affective domain which plays a key role in determining the success or failure of language learning (Oxford, 1990). The notion of Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) was classified as a unique type of anxiety specific to foreign language learning by Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986). They further defined it as ‘a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviours related to classroom language learning processes (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986).

Another definition of Foreign language anxiety (FLA) is “the feeling of tension and apprehension specifically associated with second language contexts including speaking, listening and learning” (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994, p.284). Language anxiety includes emotions of self-esteem, empathy, anxiety, attitude and motivation (Shumin, 2002, as cited in Richards & Renandya, 2011).

FLA could occur in any aspects of language learning: speaking, listening, writing and even reading. FLA is known to affect students’ achievements and performances. FLA has shown to have harmful effects on students’ grades (Aida, 1994; Coulombe, 2000; Elkhafaifi, 2005, Yann & Hortwitz, 2008), students’ listening grades (Elkhafaifi, 2005; Bekleyen, 2009), reading scores (Zhao, 2009), speaking grades (Sellers, 2000) and writing accomplishments (Chen & Lin, 2009). Researchers had also investigated the relationship between anxiety and English language learning which revealed the presence of foreign language anxiety among learners (Horwitz, &

Cope, 1986; P. D. MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994; Young, 1991). These are just some

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examples from the vast evidence available to support the association between FLA and students’ performances in learning and using the English language.

Research also shows that language anxiety is a consistent phenomenon in second language learning and that it is a barrier that hinders learners successful acquisition of a foreign language (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986). In general, FLA has been shown to affect students’ performances in using the English language. For this research, language anxiety has been limited to how it effects speaking skills as this is relevant to the Malaysian context and aligns with the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025.

2.2 FOREIGN LANGUAGE SPEAKING ANXIETY

Speaking involves accuracy and fluency. While accuracy focuses on the correct use of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation through some activities, fluency is more concerned with “the ability to keep going when speaking spontaneously” (Gower, Philips, & Walter, 1995, as cited in Derakhshan, Khalili, & Beheshti, 2016). Thus, speaking has been generally recognized as the most anxiety-provoking skill associated with foreign language learning. For example, Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) identified communication apprehension to be conceptually relevant to foreign language anxiety. Some of the evidence is such as reported by Palacios (1998) who found that speaking caused the most anxiety among the learners. Price (1991) concurs with this as she also found that the most anxiety-provoking thing in learning a foreign language, according to her students, was speaking the target language in front of their peers. Additionally, in speaking situations, foreign language learners are often anxious about their ability in a foreign language (Karatas, Alci, Bademcioglu, & Ergin, 2016).

Kulliyyah of

ENGLISH LANGUAGE SPEAKING ANXIETY (ELSA) AMONG PRE-SERVICE TESL TEACHERS IN IIUM