Reducing speaking anxiety through short movie assignment

Mohammad Taufiq Abdul Ghani

Abstract

Understanding a language and being able to speak one confidently are two entirely different aspects in second language acquisition. Most students struggle with the latter due to lack of good speaking skills. There are many possible reasons that could hinder students from acquiring this particular skill, and one of it is speaking anxiety. It is common for second language learners to feel anxious when speaking especially when they are the focus of attention and also in front of large crowds. First semester foundation students of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS are required to take the Proficiency English course whereby one of the assignments is a short movie presentation. This assignment focuses largely on speaking and teamwork. The purpose of this study is to investigate possible reasons behind students’ speaking anxiety and the effectiveness of the short movie assignment in reducing it. This study involves 150 students of Centre for Foundation Studies (CFS) Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS. The students were divided into groups of 10- 12 and were given 10 weeks to prepare the short movie. After the submission, students were given a questionnaire to identify speaking anxiety among them, its causes and how the assignment has helped them. The study found most of the students have speaking anxiety and that the main reasons are related to their affective filters and their grasp of the language. It is also found that the assignment helped in managing their speaking anxiety through continuous practice with their teammates during rehearsals.

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