ABSTRACT
This study examined the relationship between English language oral communication anxiety and language learning strategies of 300 engineering students in a private institution in Iloilo City during Academic Year 2024–2025 using a descriptive-quantitative design. Anxiety was analyzed in terms of trait, context, audience, and situation, while strategies included cognitive, affective, and social types. Differences were also determined according to place of origin, economic status, and academic status, as well as the relationship between anxiety and strategy use. Results showed that trait and situation anxiety were generally moderate, while audience anxiety was consistently high across classifications. Context anxiety was moderate overall but varied by academic status, with regular students showing higher anxiety. A significant difference was found only in audience anxiety. Language learning strategies were generally effective, with no significant differences across groups. Moreover, a significant relationship was found between oral communication anxiety and language learning strategies, thus, indicating that students’ strategy use is associated with their level of anxiety.
Keywords: English Language, Oral Communication Anxiety, Language Learning Strategies
INTRODUCTION
English serves a significant and vital part in worldwide oral communication. Through excellent communication, students can foster teamwork in the educational and professional setting (Kachru & Nelson, 2022). However, learning a second language is an emotionally charged endeavor for both students and educators, thus making English language teaching and communication a challenging profession requiring a lot of energy, creativity, and inventiveness (Mierzwa-Kamińska, 2021).
Nowadays, the majority of students experience anxiety when they have to respond to a question, speak in English, or give a quick speech. Some students think that they are impervious to criticism from their teachers or classmates Betty and Najiha (2021). According to Sinaga et al. (2020), some students are frightened and hesitant to speak in front of the class because they think other students will make fun of them if they attempt. This may cause some students to decide not to speak. There are numerous contributing factors to this condition, but anxiety is one of the primary reasons.
Anxiety stands in the way of learning English language and oral communication. Anxiety is a crucial factor that is closely linked to language acquisition success. When someone learns or uses a language that is not his mother tongue, he may experience worry and other negative, fear-related emotions. This is known as English language anxiety. Based on Adwas et al. (2019), English language anxiety is caused by a number of things. Some of the features that can cause students to struggle when speaking and increase their anxiety include their inadequate vocabulary, reduced confidence, poor grammar, and fear of committing mistakes.
Engineering culture is made up of the common knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors that engineers have developed, together with their skill in language and effective communication (Godfrey, 2024). This means that English language plays a crucial function in the field of engineering when it comes to dealing with clients, analyzing and creation of paper works, and presentation of reports. Given the aforementioned, the researcher was interested in finding out more about the elements that contribute to instructional anxiety related to English oral communication. In order to better comprehend the difficulties associated with anxiety in English as a second language, the researcher anticipated learning more about the factors that engineering students perceive as contributing to their concern.
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