- Unfamiliar audience
mostly from the interviews with the participants. It should be noted that this Venn diagram is simply applied to show how the anxiety sources are related to the three factors (the presence of the authority, the presence of the peers, and the presenters’
self-expectation); it does not indicate the interrelationships or the strength of the sources or factors. Note also that such a diagram does not take presentation contexts and other environmental factors into consideration. In the following sections, I will deliberate each anxiety source.
Figure 2.
Sources of English Academic Oral Presentation Anxiety
Fear of negative evaluation from the authority. Presentation anxiety caused by the fear of negative evaluation from the authority was inferred from students’
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description of their anxiety caused by the presence of the course instructors. In university and graduate courses, professors typically represent the authority in class due to their expertise in the academic field. Students’ concern about how their performances were evaluated by the course instructors would normally cause certain degree of anxiety during presentations, especially when they are relatively less attentive to their peers or personal achievement. It was the fear of receiving negative evaluation from the professor that dominated their presentation anxiety in this case
－ regardless of how confident the students were of their presentation.
Some of the students were afraid of being directly criticized by the professor in front of the class, and felt very high levels of anxiety along with embarrassment once the professor did so. Although these students knew that the professor intended to provide them useful advice for further academic improvement, and seldom took it personal, they still felt depressed upon receiving the negative comments. However, it was also observed that their anxiety level was not as severe when the students had taken courses with the professor or had some understanding about the professor, such as his style of teaching or ways of communication.
This finding is consistent with previous studies that found fear of negative evaluation as a source of language anxiety (Chan & Wu, 2004; Ellis, 2008; Horwitz, et al., 1986; Horwitz & Young, 1991; Lin, 2011; Woodrow, 2006). Most of these studies attributed the fear to students’ worries about their course grades, and indicated that it was the direct influence over grades which teachers possessed that made
students anxious. However, the present study demonstrates that students’ concern was more about the approval from the professors of their professionalism, rather than the task scores. For these graduate students, receiving positive evaluation suggests affirmation from the professor of their academic abilities, while negative comments symbolize deficiency in their professionalism.
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Previous studies on speech anxiety had found that speakers show more anxiety when being exposed to audiences of expertise (Hilmert, Christenfeld, & Kulik, 2002;
Long, Lynch, Machiran, Thomas & Malinow, 1982). In consistent with them, the present research also discovered that students were much more concerned with negative comments from the course instructors than from the peer audience. Most of the participants claimed that their classmates were amicable and normally offered supporting statements or humble advice. In addition, they believed that their peers did not have sufficient expertise to make strict judgments on the presentation.
Worry of uncertainty. Different from the anxiety provoked by the professor, peer audience, referring to the other students in the class, tended to make EFL graduate students feel anxious during presentations in a different manner. More specifically, the participants felt uneasy and anxious during presentations only when their peer audience did not show any response. This result differed from the findings of previous studies, which suggested that speakers are more likely to experience
speech anxiety when they receive negative responses from the audience (Hilmert et al., 2002; MacIntyre & Thivierge, 1995; Pertaub et al., 2002; Tsai, 2013). Such difference could result from the differences in learning environment. As mentioned previously, the atmosphere among students in the current research setting was very harmonious.
Hence, negative responses from the peer audience did not occur to be a cause of presentation anxiety for the participants, probably because they knew that it was nearly impossible for their classmates to do so.
On the other hand, the present finding corresponds to the discovery of previous studies that speakers tend to be more anxious when the audience has no response at all (Behnke & Sawyer, 2004; MacIntyre, Thivierge, & MacDonald, 1997). These studies suggested that audience with little verbal or non-verbal response might signify their
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lack of interest in the presentation and would thus induce anxiety. However, for TESOL graduate students in the present research, unresponsive audience made them feel nervous because they felt uncertain of how their peer audience considered the presentation. As the presenters had no clues of what their peer audience was thinking about, they were unable to adjust their presentation to meet the audience’s needs. This feeling of uncertainty with the ongoing task made the presenters anxious on stage. In fact, most of the TESOL graduate students preferred their peer audience to have direct interaction with them, and considered it even better to receive negative evaluations so that they knew how to make immediate adjustments in the presentation.
Though it was discovered in most of the cases that EFL speakers felt anxious about speaking in front of their peers, out of the fear of being laughed at and of making a fool of themselves in public (Behnke & Sawyer, 2004; Pertaub et al., 2002;
Price, 1991), my study suggests that this fear might not apply to learners of high proficiency, who are more concerned about the content of presentation, such as the participants of my study. For this group of students, they have rare chances of being ridiculed in front of the audience. Thus, they did not seem to be afraid of receiving criticisms from their classmates, but were concerned more about whether they could deliver an informative presentation to the peer audience.
Seeking impeccability. As EFL graduate students generally possess higher English language proficiency and have adequate knowledge in their academic field, they tend to have high self-expectation towards their presentation performances in class. Similar results was found in Tsai’s (2013) study, which showed that
performance expectancy was one of the major sources of anxiety during midterm presentations for EFL learners at university level. The students in Tsai’s (2013) study seemed to expect highly of themselves and experience test anxiety as discussed in
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Horwitz et al. (1986) because the presentation tasks were counted as a mid-term oral exam. However, in my study, the participants’ high self-expectation was not related to test anxiety because the presentation tasks were generally viewed as a part of the classroom activities rather than exams.
Such self-expectation reflected in my participants’ desire for approaching
impeccability in their presentations. Their intention for the presentation to be flawless was revealed in their frequent mentioning of “not wanting to make mistakes.” During the preparation stage, they worked hard to comprehend the details of the assigned articles, and felt fretful when there was something that they could not understand.
While presenting, these students attempted to present fluently and offer useful insights.
Such intention to carry out informative presentations often caused EFL graduate students to experience presentation anxiety. However, there is a difference between the anxiety caused by seeking impeccability and that by approaching perfection in Price (1991).The participants in my study admitted that they could not and did not insist on giving “perfect” presentations because they were not experts and still had room for improvement in the academic field.
Unfamiliar audience. Previous studies (Daly et al.,1988; Horwitz &Young, 1991) suggest that L2 speakers are likely to experience public-speaking anxiety when they feel unfamiliar with the environment or the audience (Chen , 2009; Horwitz &
Young, 1991). A similar finding was found in this study. That is, the participants felt anxiety when they presented in front of an audience with whom they were barely familiar. More interestingly, there seems to be a connection between audience and environmental unfamiliarity. Students who delivered their very first presentations in a new course or presented at an unfamiliar context such as conferences are more likely to take high notice of how the audience was responding to their presentations and
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would thus constantly feel tensed as they presented. This finding corresponds with the finding of previous research that speaking anxiety is related to how the audience react or interact with the speakers (Behnke & Sawyer, 2004; Pertaub et al., 2002). It is possible that little interaction between my participants and the unfamiliar audience, which kept them from knowing how the audience felt about their presentations, made my participants anxious on stage.
In addition, the participants’ anxiety caused by unfamiliar audience was also related to their uncertainty of the expectation and competence of such an audience.
More importantly, considering the environment of the graduate program, my
participants usually regarded an unfamiliar audience as professionals in the field, and thus seemed to be afraid of being negatively evaluated by them. This finding is consistent with the finding of previous studies that speakers experienced greater anxiety when being exposed to audience of expertise (Hilmert, Christenfeld, & Kulik, 2002; Long, Lynch, Machiran, Thomas & Malinow, 1982).
Pressure of comparison. No matter how well they prepare for their presentation, EFL graduate students may still feel anxious when seeing the excellent performance done by other presenters. In fact, participants in this study reported at least once of feeling anxious upon seeing their classmates’ engaging presentations. Such anxiety was especially intense when the participants had to present immediately after their outstanding classmates. Though it is possible that the anxiety caused by comparison had its root in the presenters’ fear of negative self-evaluations (Daly et al., 1988; Liu
& Jackson, 2008), or potential negative comments on their performances from the audience (Horwitz et al., 1986; Mak, 2011; Young, 1991), a more preferable explanation obtained from the students is being altruistic.
In addition to a slight feeling of shame, the TESOL graduate students felt more
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worried about not being able to provide the audience a presentation as informative as the one given by their outstanding classmates. Based on previous studies, it is
undeniable that speaking anxiety is mostly associated with rather undesirable feelings such as the of negative evaluation (Chen, 2009; Horwitz et al., 1986; Leary, 1982; Liu
& Jackson, 2008; Mak, 2011; McCroskey, 1970; Phillips, 1999; Price, 1991; Tsai, 2013), low self-esteem (Daly et al., 1988; Liu & Jackson, 2008; Young, 1991), and worries over failure (Chen, 2009; Tsai, 2013). Nevertheless, the present study suggests that speaking anxiety experienced by TESOL graduates students during classroom presentations may also be triggered by such positive attitude as altruism.
Standard matching. Presenters who are more aware of the evaluation from the classroom authority and hope to maintain self-expectation tend to experience
presentation anxiety provoked by a desire for matching a high standard. Among the participants, presentation anxiety caused by such a source normally occurred during their preparation stage. In other words, when students were working for their
presentation assignments, they felt anxious with an expectation that they could prepare well and not disappoint the professor in any manner. Previous studies mostly investigated speaking anxiety that students experienced at the time of the speaking.
The present study adds to the literature the finding that specific sources can also trigger presentation anxiety prior to the actual task.
Note that presentation anxiety derived from this source was found in students who participated in one particular course, in which no clear grading criteria for presentation assignments were provided. That is, students tended to experience higher standard-matching anxiety when the course instructors, namely the authority in class, seldom explained explicitly what his expectations towards the presentations, and merely commented on students’ performance in presentations. Although the professor
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might intend to downgrade evaluation, students did not feel secure or relaxed. Instead, they felt more anxious, not knowing how they should meet up the professor’s
expectations, because most of them still believed in the existence of a certain standard even when the professor claimed otherwise. This finding reveals that not only do learners’ erroneous beliefs about language learning (Price, 1991; Young ,1991) but also their belief towards the professors’ authority of evaluating performances can cause anxiety in presentations.
Maintaining self-esteem. Students that attempted to maintain their self-esteem, a source related to the authority, the peers, and self-expectation, experienced more intense anxiety. When students had high self-expectation and are concerned about evaluation from the authority and responses from their peers, they showed a desire for maintaining self-esteem, which provoked great anxiety. A typical case is the
presentation anxiety experienced by Koala when she presented at the ICETL conference. During the presentation, Koala’s appellation as “a TESOL graduate student from NTNU” set a high self-expectation of herself and made her feel
extremely pressured. This result again supports previous discovery of anxiety caused by the speakers’ self-expectation (Price, 1991; Tsai, 2013). However, Koala’s
presentation anxiety was intensified by the unfamiliar audience mainly consisting of professionals, a well-recognized source of anxiety (Hilmert, Christenfeld, & Kulik, 2002; Long, Lynch, Machiran, Thomas & Malinow, 1982). In addition, her belief that the audience attending the conference and the presentation session by personal choice had certain expectation of the presenters made Koala feel even more stressed,
probably due to fear of negative evaluation (Chan & Wu, 2004; Ellis, 2008; Horwitz, et al., 1986; Horwitz & Young, 1991; Lin, 2011; Woodrow, 2006).
Anxiety caused by maintaining self-esteem was also found in students who
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considered a particular presentation assignment especially important. For example, for TESOL graduate students, presentation of their mid-term projects or term papers was so crucial that all of the three factors can work together to trigger their presentation anxiety. Furthermore, although it had not been further examined, most of the TESOL graduate students did indicate that they would experience an extreme level of
presentation anxiety at their thesis proposal hearing－due to their worries over evaluation from the authority (committee members) and peer audience (students who are present to help), as well as their desire to achieve their self-expectations. Such a finding not only supports previous research that found fear of negative evaluation as a source of language anxiety (Chan & Wu, 2004; Ellis, 2008; Horwitz, et al., 1986;
Horwitz & Young, 1991; Lin, 2011; Woodrow, 2006) but further indicates that the presenters cared about the evaluation even more when they considered the
presentation tasks very important.
Anxiety coping strategies for oral presentations
The anxiety coping strategies discovered in the present research can be classified into two categories: (1) coping strategies applied during the preparation stage; and (2) coping strategies applied while presenting. Huang (2013) specified that there was a negative correlation between learner’s anxiety levels in L2 language learning and the efficacy of their application of anxiety coping strategies. The results of this study lent further support to Huang’s (2013) findings of the effect of coping strategies on reducing anxiety. Most of the participants, regardless of their anxiety level,
consciously took actions in the face of presentation anxiety and succeeded in reducing their anxiety. In the following sections, I will discuss each type of the coping
strategies.
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Coping strategies applied during the preparation stage. The EFL graduate students in this study often felt anxious when they encountered difficulties during the preparation stage, such as having trouble comprehending the content in articles which they were assigned to present or organizing the flow of their presentation. In this case, solving the problem seems to be the only way to eliminate their anxiety. Thus, the most common coping strategy applied by EFL graduate students during the
preparation stage was to seek help from their professors or classmates. In addition to asking for advice, the presenters even rehearsed with their classmates in order to make sure their presentation was “acceptable.” This finding corresponds with Huang’s (2011) findings of that EFL graduate students coped with language anxiety by asking assistance from their professors or practicing with peers in advance.
The participants also applied other tactics to reduce anxiety resulting from the burdened preparation. Some of them divided the working hours and constantly took a break, while others tried to finish the preparation work as soon as possible. These strategies were successful in lowering their anxiety while preparing for their presentation. Other strategies such as seeking comfort from friends and developing special presentation techniques (personalized speech notes) were also effective in reducing presentation anxiety. However, as presentation anxiety varies with
individuals (Ellis, 2008; Horwitz, 2001; Price, 1991), variation also existed among the participants in their choice of anxiety coping strategies.
Coping strategies applied while presenting. It was found that when the participants felt anxious at presentations, they usually sought support from the audience in order to cope with their presentation anxiety. In fact, it is the only coping strategy discovered in the present study, which was applied by all of the participants except for Eliza, who claimed that her anxiety during presentations was almost
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impossible to cope with. According to the participants, their anxiety significantly decreased once they detected positive responses from the audience. As a result, presenters tended to have more eye contact with and pay more attention to those who smiled, nodded, or showed concentration on the presentation. Furthermore, presenters also actively interacted with the audience in order to persuade themselves that their peers were enjoying the presentation.
While previous studies indicated that it was more of the teachers’ responsibility to create a relaxed learning environment and reduce leaners’ anxiety in learning (Burgoon, 1976; Horwitz &Young, 1991), it does not seem to be always the case for classroom presentations. In this study, when students presented in class, they tended to avoid negative responses but rely on the encouraging responses of the audience, the professor and their peers as well, to reduce their anxiety. This finding is similar to that of Leki’s (1999) study, which showed that anxious students tended to subconsciously avoid factors or situations that may trigger anxiety. This finding can also account for Bodie’s (2010) discovery that speaking anxiety could be reduced when the speakers are exposed to the same group of audience over a longer period of time. When speakers are more acquainted with the audience, they can better recognize those who are supportive or encouraging.
Conclusions
The present research investigated how Taiwanese EFL students with high English proficiency developed, experienced, and coped with anxiety about English academic oral presentations. Based on long-term observations, three anxiety patterns among Taiwanese EFL graduate students were identified: (1) occurrence of anxiety climax at the beginning of the presentation; (2) occurrence of anxiety climax during the presentation; and (3) occurrence of anxiety climax before the presentation. It was
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also found that how the participants’ anxiety fluctuated within each presentation task was closely related to the anxiety sources they experienced.
Besides, the present research discovered seven observable sources of English academic oral presentation anxiety among Taiwanese EFL graduate students. These sources have their root in three factors － the presence of the classroom authority
Besides, the present research discovered seven observable sources of English academic oral presentation anxiety among Taiwanese EFL graduate students. These sources have their root in three factors － the presence of the classroom authority