CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

This chapter presents the problem and the background of the study as well as

the introduction.

PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

As students,we face different struggles and challenges studying especially in

times where we need to participate in class, during recitations and presentations. We

have this intense and overwhelming feeling which tends to block or hinder us from

taking part in any activities during class. So first, we conducted a brainstorming

regarding our performance in class or how do we feel before we go to school and finally,

we came up with this topic which we think is very helpful for us students in this modern

era on how to overcome it.

According to Wikipedia, Glossophobia is the fear of public speaking and comes

from the Greek glōssa, meaning tongue, and phobos, fear or dread. It is one of the most

prevalent world fears, affecting approximately 75% of the population. Statistically, more

people claim a fear of public speaking than a fear of death. According to Kushner, fear

of public speaking affects the speaker physiologically, for instance, dry mouth,

increased blood pressure, blushing, sweating, irregular breathing, and emotionally, as

they fear humiliation and looking foolish.

 The speaker can be either a male or female. According to Furmark (2002) and

Pollard & Henderson (1998), women reported higher rates of public speaking anxiety

than men.

Anxiety is defined as a state of uneasiness and apprehension or fear caused by

the anticipation of something threatening. Public speaking anxiety is very common

among both students and the general population. Persons with public speaking anxiety

often avoid anxiety producing social or performance situations, but when unavoidable,

these situations are tolerated with feeling of profound anxiety and distress. Also,

anticipatory anxiety frequently occurs as an individual imagines the situation in advance

of the actual experience such as worrying each day about a presentation to be given in

a class several weeks in the future. Although individuals with these types of anxious

responses often recognize that their fear is excessive and/or unreasonable, they are

unable, without any help, to change their responses in these situations.

Many people who speak for a living, including actors, business people, and

politicians, experience public speaking anxiety. In fact, these experienced public

speakers feel a little nervous before a performance. However, for some people, the

anxiety becomes so intense that it interferes with the ability to perform at all. In the case

of students, this may lead to avoid attending certain courses where oral presentations

are conducted in front of a group. Students who are very anxious about public speaking

in class may also avoid social events they would like to attend or may not talk to

classmates they would like to get to know. Language anxiety has been claimed by many

researchers to influence language learning whereas facilitating anxiety produces

positive effects on learners' performance, too much anxiety may cause a poor

performance.

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In the past two decades, there has been a great deal of research in language

anxiety. It is defined as a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and

behaviors related to using a language for communication beyond the classroom. Most

people have experienced language anxiety even if anxiety might not be the most

important reason for failure or success in learning; we cannot ignore its affection.

Undeniably learning a foreign language, especially English, is vital since it is the most

widespread and important language in the world today, according to the International

Journal of Asian Social Science. It is also a major language for international business,

diplomacy, science, and the professions; an official language of many international and

professional organizations and is used not only for communication between native

speakers of English but also between non-native speakers.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter includes the review of the related literature and studies which the

researchers have perused for clearer understanding of this study.

Local Literature.

This paper examines how hesitations, through oral language, reveal

various levels of public speaking anxiety among the students of a public speaking class
at the University of the Philippines in Los Banos. Based on the Maclay and Osgood

(1959) schema, the following types of hesitations were examined: (1) Repeats (R) – all

repetitions of any length that are judged to be non-significant semantically. (2) False

Starts (FS) – all incomplete or self-interrupted utterances, (3) Filled Pauses (FP) – all

vocalized pauses or verbalized non-fluencies, and (4) Unfilled Pauses (UP) – silence of

unusual length and non-phonemic lengthening of phonemes. Hesitation phenomena

fundamentally refer to the issues involving language fluency. The word fluency, from the

Latin fluere, means “to flow”- refers to the smooth, easy and ready flow of language

(White, 1960). One hundred students enrolled in Speech Communication 1 class

participated in the study. They were assigned to speak in both Impromptu and

Extemporaneous public speaking modes using the Filipino and English languages. A

total of 200 speeches were recorded. Three speech instructors were asked to observe,

judge, and rate each speaker’s anxiety level using the Behavioral Assessment of

Speech Anxiety (BASA). The recorded speeches were transcribed as literally

as possible to make an accurate observation and analysis of the frequencies of

hesitations. The Wilcoxon Rank-Sum test for hesitation phenomena and language and

the Spearman’s Rank Correlation for anxiety variables prove that there is a significant

correlation between hesitation phenomena and oral language. (Rosario Mahusay-Baria,

University of the Philippines Los Banos, Philippines, 2016)

Foreign Literature.

The fear may happen in the classroom where the student prays that the teacher

doesn’t call on him to answer a question. The thought of speaking in public can leave us
frozen with fear. It can also cause us to miss out on many academic, social, and career

opportunities. (Barbara Fish, M. Ed., 2001)

Local Study.

This study identified beginning student's attributions about their oral

communication anxieties. Results revealed an eight-factor model explaining 69.11% of

the total variance in the data. The factors are expectation, training and experience,

audience, self-worth, rejection, verbal fluency, preparation and previous unpleasant

experience. These factors were the reasons given by beginning Filipino students to

explain the fears they foresee themselves experiencing when they engage in oral

communication. (Carmencita del Villar, 2014)

Foreign Study.

Speech anxiety can affect your personal and professional career. Many people

suffer a physical response to public speaking fear. A heart that races, a shaking voice,

excessive sweat, a mouth that’s dry, and the belief that you’ll forget what you want to

say, are manifestations of what happens when speaking anxiety has established its grip

on us. (Gary Genard, 2011)

 CHAPTER III

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

This chapter includes the summary and conclusion of the whole research study.

SUMMARY

The objective of this research is to inform our fellow students as well as our

professors and other people who suffers glossophobia or fear of public speaking its

effects to people as well as how to overcome it.

It is very essential and necessary that such fear should be defeated in

order for students and other people to perform well in class and/or at work. Some

students, even though smart and intelligent waste their years in school not showing their

capabilities because of fear of public speaking.

Different research and studies were already conducted and being used

today with regard to overcoming glossophobia. However, we chose to pursue this

because we know that there are new and relevant ways in overcoming this fear.

CONCLUSION

As a generalization, that this research study should be examined and

studied furthermore to be successful. This is more than a research for us because this

would be a wake-up call not only to students but as well as to everyone be aware of the
effects of public speaking anxiety and the measures, means, or ways on how to

overcome it.