1

Seminar and Workshop: An Intervention to Reduce Anxiety in Speaking the

English Language

Mina, Joan E.; Manalang, Emilie May D.; Magbanua, Joselle B.;
Guidote, Jennelyn A.; Gonzales, Doreen Kay M.; Frivaldo, Vincent John V.

Florinda G. Vigonte, MAEd

Dr. Mustafa Ali Khalaf Ali
Advisers

Abstract: Anxiety in speaking English language is the major factor why students are
reluctant to participate in oral activities. There are relatively few studies suggesting ways
how learners can cope with such phenomena. The aim of the present study is to identify
whether the intervention of seminar and workshop helps in reducing English language
anxiety among the forty-two (42) Grade 10 students enrolled in San Rafael National
Trade School. The study employed non-randomized designed wherein observation are
made before and after the intervention and it also includes descriptive and inferential
statistics. The modified Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Survey is the instrument
used for pre-measurement and post-measurement to determine the level of anxiety of the
participants. The findings of this study show that the intervention implemented has
significance difference, with a p. value of .002 in reducing the anxiety of speaking the
English language.

Keywords: anxiety, English, reduce, seminar, workshop

INTRODUCTION

Filipinos are among the eloquent native speakers of English. As a matter of fact,
Philippines is articulate among the Asian countries in speaking the second/foreign
language. Aside from our mother tongue, Filipino, English is also an official language of
our homeland and the medium of communication not only in the corporate world but also
in the four corners of the classroom. However, it is quite alarming that Filipinos have
failed to keep the status. As time passes by it seems like our use of second language
become enfeeble. In academic discourse, speaking the second language is crucial among
English mentor. It is common scenario in the classroom that students become a crowd of
silent lookers, timid, stuttered, and nervous whenever they need to engage in the class
activities. Students nowadays are having a hard time to interact in class discussion
because of the anxiety that they feel whenever they need to express their opinions
through second language.
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Anxiety is the tremendous factor why some students are reluctant to speak the
second language (Horwitz, 2010). It has been a significant interest in language setting for
teachers since it is the major hurdle why students don’t participate in classroom activities
especially in their English subject. This fear of speaking in English could hamper their
learning process and makes it difficult for them to learn the target language.

Speaking in English is considered as the most important skill to be mastered since

it is the medium of international communication (Crystal, 2008). Hence, it is perceived as
an anxiety provoking factor by most students in language learning process (Ozturk and
others, 2014). The lack of vocabulary words, inhibitions, shyness, and humiliation by
their classmates is some reasons why some students have anxiety to speak in English.
Anxiety has a debilitating effect on language learning process (Woodrow, 2014) and can
be a building block that may hurdle a student to participate in the class and impede
speaking skills in the second/foreign language.

Many researchers in Western and in some Asian countries like Japan, China,
Egypt and Saudi Arabia conducted studies to find out the major causes of anxiety in
speaking the English language. In the Philippines, only few Filipino researchers’ like
Barabas (2013), Mamhot and others (2013), Orbeta and San Jose (2013), and Villar
(2010), administer a study regarding the speaking anxiety in the second language.

Numerous studies have found out that anxiety etiolate the success in language
learning. The findings of Del Villar (2010) in her study entitled Beginning Filipino
students’ attributions about oral communication anxiety, 69.11% of the data she gathered
revealed that Filipino students who participated in the study have oral communication
anxiety. The results also negated to the results of Acuña and others (2017), in their
studies on speech anxiety among the student teachers of BEED in Bulacan State
University-Bustos Campus the respondents got a total mean of 4.24 and the standard
deviation (SD) of 0.35 which indicates that the participants are always experiencing
speech anxiety. In addition, Barabas (2013) study in dealing with language anxiety in an
aural-oral communication shows the total mean of 3.08 and a standard deviation (SD) of
0.35 indicated that the overall anxiety is neutral. It just means that a certain level of
anxiety still existing in the classroom but it cannot determine if the anxiety is low or high.
It collaborates to the findings of Mahmot and others (2013) in language anxiety in
ESL/EFL learners, respondents of the study do not acknowledged that they do not feel
anxious nor deny that they feel worry when using the target language. Therefore, even the
Philippines rank third as one of the Asian countries that speak English fluently; it just
implies in the previous studies that Filipinos also have an anxiety in speaking the second
language.

According to Horwitz (2010), anxiety can be defined as a subjective sense of fear,

distress, or worry that may exhibit both physical sensation and emotional symptoms.
These subjective feelings can be a factor why some learners are resistant to engage in
English class. Thus, anxiety in language learning can produce many problems for learners
in acquisition, retention, and production of language (Awan and others, 2010) and it
creates low self-confidence which makes the learners remain timid and abhor speaking
activities and performance.
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Anxiety when associated in learning a second/foreign language is a termed as
second/foreign language anxiety (Hashemi, 2011). Foreign Language anxiety or
xenoglossophobia, according to Wikipedia is the feeling of unease, nervousness and
apprehension experienced in using or learning a foreign/second language. Second
language anxiety has been the limelight of research since 1980s and has been found to
excessively influence students’ oral skill (Fang-peng and others, 2010). Despite its
significant impact on language learning, English teachers have failed to identify students
suffering from anxiety in speaking classes, even worse, instead of taking steps, teachers
misconceive their students’ anxiety as low ability, reluctance to engage in speaking
activities or low motivation (Tsiplakides and others, 2009) and teachers can’t understand
why students have fear to participate during class discussion.

Psychologists and linguists study that communication apprehension, fear of

negative evaluation and test anxiety is the three major components that cause foreign
language anxiety. These factors can impede the learning of one’s person to the second
language acquisition. It is intuitive that anxiety would inhibit the learning and/or
production of foreign language (Horwitz and others, 2010).

The researchers noticed during their practice teaching that students trying to avoid
speaking activities and feel anxious whenever they need to speak in front of the class.
The teachers’ knowledge of the existence of the anxiety is not enough to solve the
problem of the English language (Mamhot and others, 2013). Therefore, it is in this light
that the researchers were motivated to conduct an action research entitled “Seminar and
Workshop: An Intervention to Reduce Anxiety in Speaking the English Language”.

This paper will provide practical as well as functional suggestions through

conducting a seminar and workshop that would help students to reduce their anxiety in
speaking using the second language.

Statement of the Problem

Speaking and communicating using the English language in class may be a
frightening experience causing apprehension, worry and anxiety. Anxiety found to be a
factor affecting students’ performance in oral production. It is an enormous hurdle for
learning acquisition of the students in the second/foreign language. Students’
unwillingness to engage in class activities is because of the vague fear they feel within
and not because of the laziness that the teachers perceive. It cannot be denied that anxiety
blocks learner to become active during oral presentation.
The aim of this present study is to reduce the speaking anxiety in the second
language of the participants by conducting seminar and workshop.
Specifically it aims to answer the following questions:

1. What is the level of speaking anxiety in English among the participants before the
intervention?
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2. What is the level of speaking anxiety in English among the participants after the
intervention?

3. Is there a significant difference in the level of speaking anxiety in English before and
after the intervention?

Hypothesis

This study is guided by the following hypothesis:

Ho – There is no significant difference in the level of anxiety in speaking the English

language before and after the intervention.

Significance of the Study

The outcomes of this research will attest beneficial to the administrator, teachers,
students, for researchers, and to future researchers.

ADMINISTRATOR. This research can support the administrator to develop the medium
of English teaching. It can give recommendation to the teacher to the use of appropriate
effective methods in learning speaking skill.

TEACHER. This research will be beneficial to facilitators, especially teachers of English

who endeavour to turn their English-speaking class from a stressful and anxious
environment to the one that boosts its students’ innate communication skills. It will also
provide the teachers with a starting point in understanding the causes of language anxiety
and how they can help students overcome it.

STUDENTS. This research can support the students to help them face their fear in
speaking English. Student will be aware of the factors that might impede their English-
speaking process so that they could find suitable ways to overcome their anxiety
problems.

RESEARCHERS. This paper will help the writers understand the students who are
reluctant to participate in English class. It will also give them knowledge how to handle
students who have a language anxiety. Furthermore, the results of this study may use by
the future researchers in further research similar to what the study is. The researchers
hope that this study will be a great contribution to our educational system.

Scope and Delimitation

The participants of this action research involve the Grade 10 students in San
Rafael National Trade School Caingin San Rafael, Bulacan, enrolled in school year 2017-
2018. The delimitation of this study is the limited time for the seminar and workshop.
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Conceptual Framework
INPUT PROCESSS OUTPUT

General Plan Action Reflective/

Implemented Reflection
To reduce the
anxiety in
speaking the Seminar and Decreased level
English language Workshop of anxiety in
among Grade 10 speaking English
students of San
Rafael National
Trade School

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework

In the input phase, the general plan or the objectives of the research determined,
i.e. to reduce the anxiety in speaking the English language among the Grade 10 students
of San Rafael national Trade School. In the process phase, the researchers implemented
seminar and workshop as the intervention element to achieve the goal. In the output
phase, the cycle reflected a decreased level of anxiety in speaking the English language
wherein inferential statistics was evaluated to determine the effectiveness of the action
implemented before embarking to re-plan a new action.

METHODOLOGY

A. RESEARCH DESIGN

This action research employed non-randomized experimental design which

observations are made before and after the implementation of an intervention in a group
that receives the intervention. This research also utilize the quantitative method which
employs descriptive and inferential statistics, whereas descriptive statistics (mean and
standard deviation) used to show the level of anxiety in speaking English while
inferential statistics used to find out if any significant differences existed before and after
the intervention.

B. POPULATION AND SAMPLE OF THE STUDY

The participants of the study are the Grade 10 students of San Rafael National Trade
School S.Y. 2017-2018. Out of two hundred ninety-four (294) Grade 10 students, only
68% (199 out of 294) of the students attended the seminar while 14% (42 out of 294)
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joined the workshop facilitated by the researchers. They are highly motivated learners
hoping to reduce their anxiety in speaking English.
The sample of this study was selected through non-probability/non-random sampling
wherein the samples are selected on the basis of convenience. According to Etikan and
others (2016), convenience sampling (also known as availability sampling) is a type of
non-probability/non-random where members of the target population that meet certain
practical criteria, such as easy accessibility, availability at a given time, or the willingness
to participate are included for the purpose of the study. Convenience sampling is either a
collection of subjects that are accessible or a self-selection of individuals willing to
participate which is exemplified by the volunteers. The researchers used the convenience
sampling since they want the respondents to decide if they will participate the seminar
and joined the workshop.

Table 1
Summary of the Respondents in Seminar
Students TOTAL Percent
Titanium 33 79%
Magnesium 22 51%
Copper 33 83%
Silver 26 67%
Nickel 26 60%
Uranium 27 63%
Platinum 32 73%
Total 199 68%

Table 2
Summary of the Respondents in Workshop
Students TOTAL Percent
Titanium 9 21%
Magnesium 3 7%
Copper 0 0%
Silver 11 28%
Nickel 12 28%
Uranium 0 0%
Platinum 7 16%
Total 42 14%

C. RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS
Pre-test and post-test were administered before and after the intervention to
determine the effectiveness of intervention for reducing students’ anxiety in second
language. The respondents answered the FLCAS (Foreign Language Class Anxiety
Scale) designed by Elaine K. Horwitz and others (1983), it is developed to assess the
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level of anxiety in a foreign language classroom. FLCAS has been extensively used in
studies over the past twenty-seven (27) years and has facilitated a tremendous
development in the research into Foreign Language classroom anxiety (Ali, 2017). It is a
thirty-two (32) standardized survey that assesses level of anxiety to three areas: (a)
communication apprehension (1,4,9,14,15,18,24,27,29,30), (b) test anxiety
(3,5,6,8,10,11,12,16,17,20,21,22,25,26,28) and (c) fear of negative evaluation
(2,7,13,19,23,31,32). The statements 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 18, 22, and 28 were negatively keyed
for anxiety while the remaining twenty-eight (28) statements were prior to positive
anxiety wherein it is analyze through a Likert scale ranging from 5- strongly agree , 4-
agree, 3- neutral, 2-disagree, 1-strongly disagree. Thus, the strongly agree indicates –
high level of anxiety and the strongly disagree – indicates low level of anxiety (Horwitz,
2008). Some of the items of the FLCAS were modified by Barabas (2013) to suit the
context. In order to interpret the analyzed data, the following criteria were established:

Likert’s Scale Table

MEAN VERBAL DESCRIPTION (VD)
4.20-5.00 Strongly Agree
3.40-4.19 Agree
2.60-3.39 Neutral
1.80-2.59 Disagree
1.00-1.79 Strongly Disagree

D. DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE

To assess participants’ level of anxiety in speaking the second language, FLCAS
questionnaire was administered before the intervention. Each statement of the survey
shall be rated by the students based on their characteristics and perceptions. After
collecting the answered questionnaire, the researchers tabulate the data gathered to
measure the level of anxiety of the participants. Afterwards, the validated results were
interpreted through a Likert scale.

The researchers used the same survey questionnaire after the intervention to
determine and compare if seminar and workshop reduce the anxiety of speaking English
of the respondents.

E. DATA ANALYSIS

To analyze the result regarding the speaking anxiety in the second language of the
respondents, the researchers used Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to
tabulate the mean and standard deviation (SD).
To evaluate the hypothesis of the study, paired samples t-test was used to
determine if there’s a significant difference in the level of anxiety in speaking English
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language of the participants before and after the intervention. P values < 0.05 were
considered statistically significant.

INTERVENTION TO REDUCE ANXIETY IN SPEAKING ENGLISH

The following interventions were implemented to help the respondents to

overcome their speaking anxiety in English language:
Seminar. The researchers conducted a one (1) day seminar to provide the
respondents with ample information and knowledge related to anxiety and speaking
anxiety in the second language that will render consciousness of their personal
perspectives with such phenomena. It will also support the students to overcome the
anxiety by presenting objective ways on how to improve it.
Workshop. The researchers also conducted a two (2) days workshop wherein it
will boost the self-esteem of the students, encourage the participants to build trust to
other respondents and reduce their anxiety by engaging in various sessions like group
work (panel discussion and short skit/role playing), pair work (telephone conversation
and radio broadcasting/reporting) and individual work (introducing oneself and
advertising a product).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents the results relating to the research questions given in the
introduction chapter. The purpose of the result is to determine if the intervention that the
researchers implemented reduce the anxiety of the participants in speaking the English
language.

The table below presents the descriptive statistics result of the participant’s
anxiety level in speaking English before the intervention based on the Foreign Language
Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS).
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Table 3
Anxiety Level in Speaking English of the Respondents before the Intervention
No. STATEMENTS MEAN VD
1 I never feel quite sure of myself when I am speaking in my English class. 3.02 Neutral
2 I don’t worry about making pronunciation mistakes in my English class. 2.95 Neutral
3 I tremble when I know that I’m going to be asked to speak in my English class. 3.14 Neutral
4 It frightens me when I don’t understand what the teacher is saying in the English 2.86 Neutral
class.
5 It wouldn’t bother me at all to take more oral communication classes. 2.81 Neutral
6 During the English class, I find myself thinking about things that have nothing to 3 Neutral
do with the course.
7 I keep thinking that the other students are better at pronouncing than I am. 3.12 Neutral
8 I am usually at ease during oral tests in my English class. 3.12 Neutral
9 I start to panic when I have to speak without preparation in my English class. 3.17 Neutral
10 I worry about the consequences of failing my English class. 3.21 Neutral
11 I don’t understand why some people get so upset over English pronunciation classes. 3.07 Neutral
12 In my English class, I am so nervous that I forget what I know. 2.95 Neutral
13 It embarrasses me to volunteer answers in my English class. 2.62 Neutral
14 I will not be nervous when speaking with native English speakers. 3.10 Neutral
15 I get depressed when I don’t understand what the teacher is correcting. 2.57 Disagree
16 Even if I am well prepared for my English class, I feel anxious about it 2.79 Neutral
17 I often feel like not going to my English class. 2.26 Disagree
18 I feel confident when I speak in my English class. 3.27 Neutral
19 I am afraid that my English teacher will correct every mistake I make. 2.38 Disagree
20 I feel my heart pounding when it is my turn to do the oral test. 3.1 Neutral
21 The more I prepare for oral test in my English class, the more confused I get. 2.55 Disagree
22 I don’t feel any pressure to prepare very well for English class. 3.19 Neutral
23 I always feel that my classmates speak better English than I. 3.1 Neutral
24 I feel shy when speaking English in front of other students. 3.38 Neutral
25 English class moves so quickly that I worry about getting left behind. 2.88 Neutral
26 I feel tenser and have more pressure in English class than in other classes 2.74 Neutral
27 I get nervous when I speak in my English class. 3.19 Neutral
28 I feel confident and relaxed before I go to my English class 2.86 Neutral
29 I get nervous when I don’t understand every word my English teacher says. 2.88 Neutral
30 I feel overwhelmed by the number of rules I have to learn to speak English. 3.12 Neutral
31 I am afraid that my classmates will laugh at me when I mispronounce a word or 3.14 Neutral
words.
32 I get nervous when my English teacher asks questions which I haven’t prepared in 3.31 Neutral
advance.
MEAN AVERAGE 2.96 Neutral
STANDARD DEVIATION (SD) 0.2676

Table 3 shows the majority of the items gathered “neutral” description as derived
from the descriptive statistics method used. Based on the respondent’s responses, their
overall anxiety level in mean is 2.24 and standard deviation of 0.27. Based on the given
scheme, the description of overall result is “neutral”. The results corroborated with the
findings of Barabas (2013) and Mahmot and others (2013) which implies that there’s a
probability that a certain level of anxiety exist in participants but it cannot determine if
the anxiety is high or low. According to Barabas (2013), it is safe to say that some
statements might be agreeable in the perception of the respondents that some of the
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statements given can give them anxiety while some items don’t bother them at all nor it
did not cause them an anxiety. Therefore, the participants are indecisive whether they
were experiencing speaking anxiety in English or not.

STATEMENT/S N MEAN VD
24 I feel shy when speaking English in front of other students. 42 3.38 Neutral

Statement 24 garnered a highest total mean of 3.38 and the students are neutral
with their feelings or perception in communicating with others. According to Mamhot
and others (2013), it could be implied that Filipino, in general, do not acknowledge that
they feel nervous nor deny that they are anxious when talking with their classmates or
teachers in English and that the respondents are very used to this situation that they could
be familiar with interactions using the second language. It could be that students are
exposed in English subject since they enter school, the respondents might think that they
should not feel worry communicating with other students and teachers using the English
language, thus experiencing neutrality with aforementioned statement.

STATEMENT/S N MEAN VD
17 I often feel like not going to my English class. 42 2.26 Disagree

As can be gleaned from Table 3, statement 17 gathered a lowest mean of 2.26 and
has a verbal description of disagree. The findings of Barabas (2013) attest to this result
that the students are not in any way anxious or manifested hesitations in attending
English class. It just means that even English gives anxiety for the students, they are still
motivated to enter the English class for them to be able to learn the second language.

Aside from statement 17, statement 15 (I get depressed when I don’t understand
what the teacher is correcting, M = 2.57) and statement 19 (I am afraid that my English
teacher will correct every mistake I make, M= 2.38) also has an interpretation of
disagree. This result corroborated to the findings of Barabas (2013), that students never
feel depressed or afraid when teachers are correcting their mistakes, in this context, their
pronunciation. It just means that students aware that they are committing mistakes and
that it is normal for them to be corrected by their teachers since English language have an
intricate words and grammar.
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Table 4
Anxiety Level in Speaking English of the Respondents after the Intervention
No. STATEMENTS MEAN VD
1 I never feel quite sure of myself when I am speaking in my English class. 2.57 Disagree
2 I don’t worry about making pronunciation mistakes in my English class. 3.3 Neutral
3 I tremble when I know that I’m going to be asked to speak in my English class. 2.33 Disagree
4 It frightens me when I don’t understand what the teacher is saying in the English 2.45 Disagree
class.
5 It wouldn’t bother me at all to take more oral communication classes. 3.36 Neutral
6 During the English class, I find myself thinking about things that have nothing to 2.55 Disagree
do with the course.
7 I keep thinking that the other students are better at pronouncing than I am. 2.9 Neutral
8 I am usually at ease during oral tests in my English class. 3 Neutral
9 I start to panic when I have to speak without preparation in my English class. 2.67 Neutral
10 I worry about the consequences of failing my English class. 3.43 Neutral
11 I don’t understand why some people get so upset over English pronunciation classes. 3.05 Neutral
12 In my English class, I am so nervous that I forget what I know. 2.48 Disagree
13 It embarrasses me to volunteer answers in my English class. 2.62 Neutral
14 I will not be nervous when speaking with native English speakers. 3 Neutral
15 I get depressed when I don’t understand what the teacher is correcting. 2.38 Disagree
16 Even if I am well prepared for my English class, I feel anxious about it 2.6 Neutral
17 I often feel like not going to my English class. 2.14 Disagree
18 I feel confident when I speak in my English class. 3.3 Neutral
19 I am afraid that my English teacher will correct every mistake I make. 2.48 Disagree
20 I feel my heart pounding when it is my turn to do the oral test. 2.64 Neutral
21 The more I prepare for oral test in my English class, the more confused I get. 2.26 Disagree
22 I don’t feel any pressure to prepare very well for English class. 3 Neutral
23 I always feel that my classmates speak better English than I. 2.48 Disagree
24 I feel shy when speaking English in front of other students. 2.38 Disagree
25 English class moves so quickly that I worry about getting left behind. 2.43 Disagree
26 I feel tenser and have more pressure in English class than in other classes 2.62 Neutral
27 I get nervous when I speak in my English class. 2.38 Disagree
28 I feel confident and relaxed before I go to my English class 4 Agree
29 I get nervous when I don’t understand every word my English teacher says. 2.48 Disagree
30 I feel overwhelmed by the number of rules I have to learn to speak English. 2.86 Neutral
31 I am afraid that my classmates will laugh at me when I mispronounce a word or 2.5 Disagree
words.
32 I get nervous when my English teacher asks questions which I haven’t prepared in 2.67 Neutral
advance.

AVERAGE 2.73 Neutral

STANDARD DEVIATION (SD) 0.4095

Table 4 shows the results of data in post-measurement after the researchers

conducted the intervention, verbal description “disagree” and “neutral” are the majority
result of the items based on the descriptive method. The verbal interpretation results in
pre- and post -measurement were both “neutral”. However, the findings of the post-test
clearly show that the level of anxiety in speaking English of the respondents reduces by
.23 in the overall mean. The pre-test gained an overall mean of 2.96 and standard
deviation of 0.27 while the result in post-test decrease in overall mean of 2.73 and
standard deviation of 0.41. As seen in the table above, seven (7) out of eight (8) negative
keyed for anxiety increase while twenty-two (22) out of twenty-eight (28) positive keyed
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for anxiety decrease. It just implies that some answers of the respondents in the
statements change their perceptions in some ways.

The results were similar to Nagahashi (2008), who found out that the result give
some insight into the changes in levels of anxiety that students experienced during the
intervention. It means that majority of the students seemed to enjoy and benefit from the
experience in seminar and/or workshop.

Table 5
Paired Sample T-test significance result on the level of anxiety in speaking English
before and after the intervention

Paired Differences
Standard Std. Error
Mean Deviation Mean t df Sig. Decison

Pre-test Post-test .23086 .45072 .06955 3.32 41 .002 Reject Ho

Note: p value = 0.05 significance

A paired samples t-test was evaluated to test the hypothesis if the pre-test and
post-test conditions means are statistically of no significant difference. As seen on Table
5, the mean score difference of (M = .23, SD = .45) conditions: t (41) = 3.32, p = .002,
the p value .002 is less than to the critical value of 0.05 which signifies that the
intervention implemented has a significant difference in reducing anxiety of speaking
the English language. Therefore, the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference
in the level of anxiety in speaking English before and after the intervention was rejected.
Specifically, the finding suggests that seminar and/or workshops have an effect on
reducing the level of anxiety among Grade 10 students. Hence, it is safe to conclude that
the intervention of the seminar and workshop was an effective tool in reducing speaking
anxiety in English language.

The result of the study is corroborated with the findings of Khusnia (2016) who
found out that presentation about anxiety before the class starts would help the students to
deal with their anxiety. It is important to discuss the anxiety, the anxiety in speaking
second language, the causes and effects of anxiety, tips, practices and exercises for the
students to have an idea regarding on the nervousness they feel whenever they have to do
an oral presentation in the classroom and find ways on how to overcome their anxiety on
their own phase.
Furthermore, Occhipinti (2009) stated that through workshops or adaptation of
certain teaching methodologies aimed to create a relaxed atmosphere in the classroom
especially during speaking practices. Moreover, Nagahashi (2008) stated in his findings
that speaking anxiety in English may be diminished by providing opportunities for
students to develop speaking skills in pair or supportive group of their peers and
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encouraged students to be confidence in speaking the English language. In addition, pair
work provides a relatively stable environment in which to nurture skills without the
absolute necessity for accuracy (Nimat, 2013). Working in small groups allows the
students to feel at ease at one another and help each other to practice their speaking skills
in foreign language.

SUMMARY
The study aimed to reduce the anxiety in speaking the English language through
intervention of the Grade 10 students at San Rafael National Trade School S.Y. 2017-
2018. Based on the data presented, the researchers came up with the following:

1. What is the level of speaking anxiety in English language among the

participants before the intervention?

The level of anxiety in speaking the English language of the respondents before
implementing the intervention has a total mean of 2.96 and standard deviation of .27 and
majority of the statements scored neutral in descriptive statistics.

2. What is the level of speaking anxiety the English language among the
participants after the intervention?

The level of anxiety in speaking the English language of the respondents after
implementing the intervention garnered total mean scores of 2.73 and standard deviation
of 0.41.

3. Is there a significant difference in the level of speaking anxiety the English

language before and after the intervention?

Meanwhile, the null hypothesis is rejected based on the result of inferential statistics
using the paired samples t-test wherein the tabulated level of significance in t-test (p =
.002) is less than the critical value of 0.05 which indicates that there is a significant
difference in the level of anxiety in speaking English before and after the intervention.

CONCLUSIONS
In the light of the findings, the following conclusions were drawn:

 The level of anxiety in speaking English of the respondents before implementing

the intervention cannot be determine as to low or high. The research findings also
presented that the feelings of anxiety become more threatening when students
need to converse in English in front of other students. It indicated that the
respondents have apprehension when communicating with other people. On the
other hand, though speaking English gives worry for students still it did not come
to their mind to skip class in their English subject.
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 The decrease in the level of anxiety for the overall mean of post-measurement
indicates that the perception of some students in the statements changed in some
ways. The perception of neutral is not very close to the respective mean implying
the possibility of having a “disagree” as the consensus of students.

 The pre-measurement and post-measurement have a significant difference on the

result before and after the intervention. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that the
intervention conducted by the researchers is effective and do have a significant
impact on reducing the anxiety of the students in speaking English.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Language may not need particular treatment but it does demand the careful attitude of
language teacher in order to understand and to effectively identify this phenomenon in
the student’s English language speaking skills (Bejtullahu, 2016). Based on the
conclusions of the study, the following recommendations were made:

 The English teachers should not only recognize anxiety as a voluminous cause of
students’ lack of success in communication inside the classroom but also reinforce
them to overcome their vague fear and nervousness to engage in oral discussion.
Additionally, teachers should create a good classroom atmosphere that will make
students feel relaxed and comfortable while learning.

 The English teachers may organize seminar that will arise awareness on the anxiety
and will arouse students initiative to deal with such phenomena whenever they need
to present orally especially in English class. Aside from seminar, they may also
conduct a workshop for the students to develop their confidence and enhance their
speaking skills ability as well. It will be a valuable contribution in developing a
friendly relationship with other students and develop a positive attitude towards
learning English.

 Teachers need to render strategies/methodologies that will appeal to the interest of the
students. The activities conducted in cooperation with peers (group work/pair work)
may lessen tension, nervousness, worries and increase participation to tasks since
collaborating rather than competing with others makes anxious learners feels less
threatened.

 Students should motivate themselves to be engage in oral presentation and must have
a positive mindset in order to improve their speaking skills and to be successful
speaker of English language. Likewise, learners should not focus on their accuracy or
being worry about making grammatical mistakes while speaking in order to boost
their confidence and fluency. They should know that they are not the only one who
are experiencing anxiety in speaking the English language.
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