Abstract:
Learning a language is a key and system for communication, due to this it is evident that
communication skills a big part of learning a language. Every school today , to practice
speaking therefore a central part of English lessons .However , to make students speak the target
language is not always an easy way and there can be several different reasons why this is the
case . The current study investigates sources of speaking anxiety, its consequences up on
learners and coping strategies of the problem. The study used questionnaire, interview and
classroom observation to gather data. Speaking anxiety is considered as a key problem in every
school as it was tried to point out in the study .Speaking is seen as a problem concerning
language teaching since it can be considered as a common difficulty . As a result, speaking
anxious students have a harder time to achieve the goals of oral communication in the target
language than other students. In order to encourage speaking in a classroom, it is important to
strive a pleasant atmosphere in which every student can feel relaxed and motivated to
communicate orally in English. Simple random sampling technique was implemented to carry
out the work. The design used for the study was descriptive survey design. Mixed research
approach was implemented to conduct the work, that is the study was analyzed through
qualitative and quantitative methods. As it was found out from data, the major sources of
speaking anxiety are lack of motivation, interest and confidence, in general, fear of making
mistakes, fear of tests and assessments, fear of competition, fear of negative evaluation and
perceived low ability and the like were the major sources in learning English as the foreign
language. Regarding consequences, Learners with debilitating speaking anxiety tend to display
avoidance of involvement in tasks by remaining silent, sitting in the back, avoiding their teachers
and the like as pointed out in results. The following are problems commonly related to students‟
speaking. Lack of active listening, lack of exposure and practicing, fear of making mistakes, lack
of group skills, hesitation, lack of confidence, fear of expression ,limited vocabulary , wrong
grammar , fluency problems and the like were pointed out in the result as the most common
problems in language classes. From the study, as the major coping strategies the following were
discussed. language teachers should develop much of responsibilities by critically evaluating
their own manners, ways of teaching, identifying needy students and using suitable treatments to
avoid social comparisons, promote cooperation instead of competition, and help learners to
accept the fact that they will make mistakes as part of the learning process , make tests and
assessment completely in clear manner and involve students in the time of the final grading and
provision of marks .
