The Reasons for Anxiety of Speaking in English among Tertiary Level Students of Bangladesh

Abstract

The feeling of anxiety when it comes to speaking in English is the most prevalent issue which suppresses students studying at the tertiary level in Bangladesh. The motivation behind this study is to explore the anxiety experienced by tertiary-level students of Bangladesh as the ability to speak in English is inevitable, therefore it is crucial to identify and overcome the factors which are causing this anxiety. The purpose of this study is to investigate the reasons for English-speaking anxiety among tertiary-level students and to develop strategies for overcoming it. The study employed a quantitative method using a survey questionnaire for data collection from tertiary-level students of different programs at a private university in Bangladesh. 70 students have participated in this research voluntarily. The reliability test result of the questionnaire was 0.873 which shows that the set of questionnaires had reliability to test the level of speaking anxiety of the participants. The mean value from the descriptive statistics of the data showed that speaking anxiety was high for the reasons of lack of confidence, anxiousness, without prior preparation, temporary memory lapses, fear of speaking before others, disorientation, heart pounding and confusion. To reduce students’ speaking anxiety, policymakers need to work out strategies for overcoming these issues.