DefinePK

Abstract

Anxiety in speaking a foreign language greatly interferes with students in their learning accessibility, confidence, and language knowledge, especially in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom in Pakistan. This trend is particularly because of the use in oral assignments like presentations and impromptu discussions in SBBU Sanghar Campus. Although a lot of studies have been conducted on FLA in Pakistan, none of the studies investigate FLA among English-major undergraduates in SBBU Sanghar Campus. This environment has not investigated the existence of contextual effects of gender, prior education, teacher conduct, and classroom process. The concern of the research will be to find the reasons behind communication anxiety among undergraduate English students at SBBU Sanghar Campus, will also be identify what can be done to make classroom speaking tasks less anxiety-provoking for undergraduates. A qualitative research about descriptive study was used. Semi-structured interviews and the use of open-ended questionnaires with the participation of 40 English-major students were used in the collection of data. Data coding and interpretation were done through thematic analysis. Five most significant themes were found to cause communication anxiety, namely: fear of being negatively judged, linguistic insecurity, cultural inhibitions regarding gender, classrooms (e.g., peer power), and prior education. Particularly, female students referred to co-ed environments and social pressure as factors causing arousal of anxiety. Inclusive instructions and being over-corrective were also shown to predispose a person to anxiety. The research suggests pedagogical approaches that are context sensitive and involve bilingual scaffolds, positive teacher-student communication, peer-led clubs, and faculty preparation on teaching-anxiety management, among others. Future intervention activities to enhance social and emotional well-being and oral participation in rural university EFL settings can be based on these findings.