Introduction

English is that the language of international communication and it's wide utilized in Malaysia. It

is anticipated that with the trend of globalization, this country can face additional stiff

competition from other foreign countries. Thus, Malaysian students ought to be equipped with a

solid education foundation and in coaching to stay competitive; together with the capability to

speak in English. As a second most vital language in Malaysia, English is extensively utilized in

education system from the first up to tertiary level. It’s conjointly wide utilized in numerous

professions like the medical, engineering, legal and business. Therefore, it’s very important for

Malaysian students to be skilful in English so they will use the language with efficiency for

academic functions and later in job setting.

Those who are skillful in English can have higher possibilities to be employed by international

companies once they graduate. It’s as a result of the employers don't merely scrutinize their

excellent tutorial results however conjointly their proficiency within the second language.

Companies nowadays don't solely choose the most effective graduates who will deliver technical

skills however conjointly those that possess soft skills. These soft skills embody the flexibility to

speak in English effectively. In fact, even job interviews are currently conducted in English.

Thus, confidence in speaking is incredibly necessary to graduates as a result of it will prove that

they're the acceptable candidate for the task.

Therefore, English becomes the second most vital language to the learners. They need to master

the language to perform well or excel in their study and to be one step ahead in the competitive

job market.

Speaking Anxiety

UTM students need to use English extensively for his or her tutorial functions. Most of the

academic books are in English and a few of the topics are educated in English. Despite having

learned English for eleven years in colleges, students still have problem to use the language

effectively.

Most of learners have problem in speaking the second language particularly English. It can be

more trying when they are expected to communicate using the second language before the

fluency is achieved. Krashen, who was interviewed by Young (1992) explain that speaking will

cause high anxiety level.

Factors of speaking anxiety

Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) expressed that anxious students usually cite speaking within

the foreign language to be their most anxiety-producing expertise. this is often partially because

of the actual fact that it\'s exhausting to be one’s self within the target language (i.e., feelings of

uncertainty and threats to the ego because of the unknown part of the second language; cf.

Guiora et al., 1972), which may therefore trigger anxiety. The foreign language learner is place

within the position of communication one thing that is meaningful to him/her while not having

adequate command of the language to try to thus.

Self aware language learners are confronted with the likelihood that folks can understand them

differently from the method they understand themselves. Thus, learners will expertise anxiety as

a result of worry or expertise of “losing oneself” within the target culture. As Oxford (1992)

points out, this is often closely associated with the concept of “culture shock.”

Gregersen and Horwitz (2002) checked out the link between foreign language anxiety and

temperament. They found that anxious language learners and perfectionists could have variety of

characteristics in common (e.g., higher standards for his or her English performance, a bigger

tendency toward procrastination, a lot of worry over the opinions of others, and a better level of

concern over their errors) which these characteristics have the potential for making acquisition

unpleasant additionally as less victorious for them than for alternative students.

Most studies on foreign language anxiety ar quantitative in nature. From a qualitative

perspective, Price (1991) interviewed highly-anxious students to achieve insight into the

subjective experience of language anxiety. One in all the interviewees stated: “I’d otherwise be

in jail camp than speak an foreign language.” generally, the interviews were per the foreign

language anxiety construct known by Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986). The participants spoke

concerning their take a look at anxiety, communication apprehension, and worry of negative

analysis. All of them known speaking the target language to be the best supply of apprehension.

Rather like Young (1990), the interviews conducted by worth stressed the importance of low

shallowness. Several of her subjects compared themselves to alternative language learners and

believed their language skills to be weaker. Additionally, the participants’ responses instructed

that perfectionism is another temperament attribute that may get play (cf. Gregersen and

Horwitz, 2002). Consistent with Price (1991), anxious learners usually interact in self-

comparison with classmates and peers – a observe which may cause anxiety.

Student beliefs concerning acquisition may also be related to anxiety (Horwitz, Horwitz and

Cope, 1986; Horwitz, 1988, 1989; worth, 1991; Young, 1991). Students will have unrealistic

expectations on however an individual ought to perform in a very foreign language classroom;

when those expectations don't seem to be met it will cause negative feelings concerning one’s

intelligence and abilities. Young (1994) listed the subsequent role-related beliefs that are shown

to evoke feelings of anxiety: it's necessary for the teacher to be discouraging at times; the teacher

is supposed to correct each single mistake created by the students; cluster or partner work isn't

appropriate as a result of it will get out of control; the teacher ought to do most of the talking;

and also the instructor’s role is that of a drill sergeant.

In a study of starting university language learners, Horwitz (1988) found that over a third of the

scholars thought that an overseas language might be learned in 2 years or less of typical

university study (i.e. one hour a day). Additionally, several students additionally believed that

learning a second language primarily concerned memorizing vocabulary words and grammatical

rules. Such inaccurate beliefs could cause disappointment and frustration on the part of the

students. Horwitz (1989) found a relationship between many acquisition beliefs and levels of

foreign language anxiety in university Spanish students. Specifically, as compared with less

anxious students, a lot of anxious learners during this study judged acquisition to be relatively

tough and themselves to possess comparatively low levels of foreign language ability.

Palacios (1998) found that the subsequent student beliefs are related to anxiety: the feeling that

mastering a language is an amazing task; the sensation that one has to go through a translation

method so as to speak within the target language; the problem of keeping everything in one’s

head; and also the belief that learning a language is less complicated at associate earlier age.

These are all faulty beliefs which will cause the scholars to own surreal expectations about the

acquisition method, and therefore cause some anxiety.

As way as teacher factors, a faultfinding teaching angle (Samimy, 1994) and a harsh manner of

teaching (Aida, 1994) are joined to student worry within the room. Palacios (1998) found the

subsequent characteristics of the teacher to be related to anxiety: absence of teacher support,

unsympathetic personalities, lack of your time for private attention, favoritism, a sense that the

category doesn't give students with the tools necessary to match up with the teacher’s

expectations, and also the sense of being judged by the teacher or desirous to impress the teacher.

Young (1999) noted that teaching an excessive amount of synchronic linguistics or avoiding

synchronic linguistics altogether as well as victimization speaking activities that place the learner

“on the spot” before of peers while not allowing previous preparation also are sources of hysteria

for several students. Ando (1999) found that having a verbaliser for an instructor will cause

anxiety, because the teacher could lack the sensitivity of the learning method or the teacher is

also exhausting to grasp in English.

A third supply of foreign language anxiety is room procedures. Young (1990) compiled a listing

of room activities that ar perceived by students as manufacturing anxiety: (1) spontaneous role

play before of the class; (2) speaking before of the class; (3) oral presentations or skits before of

the class; (4) presenting a ready dialogue before of the class; and (5) writing work on the board.

Error correction additionally clothed to play a crucial role: being negatively evaluated by either

the teacher or peers is commonly related to anxiety. Palacios (1998) found the subsequent room

characteristics to be anxiety-producing: demands of oral production, feelings of being placed on

the spot, the pace of the category, and also the part of being evaluated (i.e., worry of negative

evaluation).