Learners’ foreign language speaking anxiety: a tertiary level scenario in EFL class

Abstract

This research is concerned with Bangladeshi learners’ anxiety of speaking English at tertiary level classrooms. In this paper, the researcher tried to find out the factors responsible for speaking anxiety of the learners, the effects of the anxiety and the ways to reduce anxiety. A survey has been conducted among language teachers and learners from a few selected private universities in Dhaka to find out about the various factors that are responsible for creating anxiety. The researcher followed quantitative questionnaire methods for data collection. The survey results showed that all of the factors presented in the questionnaire were responsible for creating learners’ English speaking anxiety and their personal, social and academic context have been badly affected due to this speaking anxiety. The study also found that both teachers and learners can play significant role in reducing learners’ English speaking anxiety.