NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

ENGLISH-MANAGEMENT OF QUALITY AND INNOVATION

An Analysis into
Causes and Effects of Public Speaking Anxiety,
E-MQI Freshmen, Department of Business Administration,
National Economics University

Supervisor: Le Thuy Linh, MA

Students: Vu Khanh Linh

Tran Huong Ly

Tran Quyet Thang

Nguyen Quynh Trang

Class: E-MQI 1

Hanoi, April
 Tran Huong Ly

026301002758

lyth.emqineu@gmail.com

Vu Khanh Linh

0326815147

linhvk.emqineu@gmail.com

Nguyen Quynh Trang

0832217783

trangqn.emqineu@gmail.com

Tran Quyet Thang

0337603599

thangtq.emqineu@gmail.com
 ABSTRACT
It is widely acknowledged that in spite of being confident in the realm of work,
professionals around the world still struggle in front of large crowds owing to lack
of crucial public speaking skills. This might prevent their performances from
precisely reflecting their great competences on specialized domains. It is, therefore,
crucial for students to address the problems of public speaking anxiety (PSA) prior
to their transiting from tertiary education to the professional life. For this reason,
an E-MQI group of National Economics University decided to carry out a research
to investigate the causes and effects of public speaking anxiety on 49 E-MQI
freshmen. With qualitative method of survey questionnaire, the opinions of 49 E-
QMI participants were gathered and then analyzed to seek for the answer to the
research questions. The research results indicated that most E-MQI members
sometimes spoke publicly. The majority of participants faced fear in public
speaking, which is a quite alarming status due to the requirement of high frequency
in presentation in EMQI program. Especially, the study investigated the
implications for the roots of public speaking anxiety and their impacts on E-MQI
students. Furthermore, there were some suggested solutions to this phobia.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ..............................................................................................................1

TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................2

LIST OF CHARTS ..................................................................................................4

Chapter 1: Introduction ..........................................................................................5

Chapter 2: Literature Review .................................................................................7

2.1. Public speaking skill.................................................................................................. 7

2.1.1. Definition ............................................................................................................ 7

2.1.2. Criteria for public speaking skill assessment ..................................................... 8

2.2. Public speaking anxiety ........................................................................................... 12

2.2.1. Definition .......................................................................................................... 12

2.2.2. Causes ............................................................................................................... 13

2.2.3. Effects ............................................................................................................... 15

Chapter 3: Research description ..........................................................................17

3.1. Research objectives ................................................................................................. 17

3.2. Research subject, scope and scale ........................................................................... 17

3.3. Research questions .................................................................................................. 17

3.4. Research method ..................................................................................................... 18

3.5. Data collection and analysis .................................................................................... 18

3.6. Research plan .......................................................................................................... 18

Chapter 4:Findings and Discussion .....................................................................20

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 4.1. Frequency of public speaking practice .................................................................... 20

4.2. Common public speaking contexts ......................................................................... 22

4.3. Anxiety level among E-MQI students..................................................................... 23

4.4. Type of preferred audience ..................................................................................... 25

4.5. Causes of PSA among E-MQI students .................................................................. 26

4.6. Effects of PSA on E-MQI participants.................................................................... 29

4.7. E-MQI respondents’ reactions to PSA .................................................................... 32

4.8. PSA treatment methods ........................................................................................... 33

Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations ...................................................35

5.1. Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 35

5.2. Recommendations ................................................................................................... 35

APPENDIX .............................................................................................................37

REFERENCES .......................................................................................................41

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 LIST OF CHARTS
1. Chart 4.1. Frequency of public speaking practice

2. Chart 4.2. Common public speaking contexts

3. Chart 4.3. Anxiety level among E-MQI students

4. Chart 4.4.Type of preferred audience

5. Chart 4.5. Causes of PSA among E-MQI students

6. Chart 4.6. Effects of PSA on E-MQI participants

7. Chart 4.7. E-MQI respondents’ reactions to PSA

8. Chart 4.8. PSA treatment methods

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 Chapter 1

Introduction
It cannot be denied that communication is the backbone of the whole society,
which gives human beings the ability to interact with each other. As a matter of
fact, public speaking seems to be regarded among the most common forms of
communication, which has significant impacts on people’s lives. Some speakers
are luckily born with admirable confidence capability. However, there are those
having to overcome the fear and anxiety of public speech delivery. In universities,
where public speaking is necessary to communicate and raise opinions, young
adults being inexperienced in public interaction might still confront numerous
troubles in presenting with large audience

Anxiety is defined as an uncomfortable feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease,

which can be found in several situations. Almost all public speakers experience
this kind of mental disorders when performing their speech in front of the crowd.
According to Rudolph F. Verderber et al (2012), approximately 76% of
skillful public speakers still felt fearful before making a speech. In higher
education, where public speaking becomes compulsory, practitioners might suffer
from intense fear and anxiety. This results in their failure to deliver a successful
speech and higher level of anxiety in other cases of public speech.

EMQI is regarded as an advanced learning program in National Economics

University. The key difference of this program lies on the courses’ characteristics
of training and equipping students with soft-skills including presentation
techniques. However, it is inevitable that EMQI freshmen might face the fear of
public speaking due to a variety of reasons. This leads to our group’s selection of
EMQI Intake 1 as research participants to explore the phenomena of public
5
speaking anxiety among students. This study aims at exposing reasons for
presentation anxiety and its effects on EMQI students. Hopefully, these findings
can help lecturers designing more appropriate lesson plans so that students can
gradually overcome this mental problem.

6
 Chapter 2

Literature review
Public speaking may be mistaken as a form of formal situations such as
presentation. In fact, it also appears in various daily forms of communication such
as talking with friends, orally exchanging information with colleagues or bosses,
voicing an opinion. In this day and age, the allure of good public speaking skills
may be in tandem with higher chances to succeed. However, speaking in front of a
group of audiences is considered as the number one fear ahead of death. The
National Institute of Mental Health (2017) reported that public speaking anxiety,
also known as “glossophobia” or social anxiety disorder, has a significant impact
on approximately 73% of the world population. Oral communication can be hard
for some people as to transfer speakers’ ideas to their listeners and to receive the
feedbacks require certain skills, but that can be obtained through great effort of
practicing. Many researchers have carried out several studies on the causes and
effects behind public speaking anxiety. To thoroughly understand this popular
phobia, it is essential to have a look into the skills required when speaking
publicly.

2.1. Public speaking skill

2.1.1. Definition
DeVito (1986) related public speaking to a form of communication, in which a
“speaker addresses a relatively large audience with a relatively continuous
discourse, usually in a face to face situation” (p.244). This means that presenting in
public simply refers to the case of directly talking in front of huge number of
listeners.Meanwhile, Ehninger, Gronbeck, McKerrow and Monroe demonstrated in
Principles and Types of speech communication (1986) that public speaking should
7
be regarded as the act in which the speaker’s purpose is “to present oral messages
of some length and complexity to groups of listeners.” It can be inferred that the
primary function of the speech aims at educating, providing information and
putting influence on the spectators, which are the basic differences between a
casual talk and public speaking. Whereas, McCroskey (1968, p.4) defined public
speaking as ”the process of stimulating a source-selected meaning in the mind of a
receiver by means of verbal and nonverbal messages”. According to this concept,
public speaking should be defined based on means of communication, which is
comprised of both articulated and non-oral approaches.
All in all, it is understandable that public speaking is the activity of speaking on a
subject to a group of people on informative purposes. It includes the speaker’s
speech, tone of voice and body language. The ability of communicating to close
people or even strangers with clarity and confidence is also known as public
speaking skills.

2.1.2. Criteria for public speaking skill assessment

A successful speech is not only judged by the information that is sent, but also by
what the listeners can acquire. To evaluate a good speaker, there are some basic
criteria as well as other means depending on different situations. Some people may
not know whether their performances meet the requirements of a standard speech;
therefore, it is useful for them to follow the criteria suggested and find out which
skills they lack for the better preparation in order to improve the quality of their
public speaking.

According to the study on “Criteria for Public Speech Planning – Characteristics of

Language Learning” of Tomaz Petek (2012) public speech criteria were divided
into the four main categories.

8
1. Construction of public speech

2. Integral mode of oral presentation

3. Verbal language

4. Non-verbal language

In another study, “Successful Public Speaking”, Arina Nikitina (2011) listed five
important components contributing to a successful speech beside spoken words,
including:

1. Story telling

2. Body language

3. Tone of voice

4. Pauses

5. Visual cues

Both of these studies drewup comprehensively a list of factors, which had great
effects on the public speech. These criteria are usually used to judge the level of
one speaker and the quality of a speech. If any speakers are capable of using these
skills well, they can grab the listeners’ attention and send them the speech
messages successfully.

Through exploringvitalcriteriain the public performance, our groupcome up with

four criteria that play an important role in public performances. These factors
below are just some of the criteria to define a good public speaker. However, it is
believed that if the speakers can improve their speaking skills based on these
criteria, they can build up a successful speech.

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1. Voice tone:

The tone of voice is not all about what people say, but the way they express. It is
the level of sound when someone speaks out loud the words. Voice tone plays an
important role in public speaking as it affects dramatically how listeners can
acquire the information (The Acrolinx Team, 2015). As Leslie Belknap (2015)
stated that “If your facial expression communicates one emotion, but the tone of
your voice conveys a different feeling, the listener often becomes confused as a
result of neural dissonance”. It is indispensible that the voice tone be audible for
listeners to avoid them missing any words. In long presentations, especially when
the speakers cannot attract people’s attention by their informative contents or sense
of humor, the listeners easily lose focus on the speech. Therefore, a good speaker
also has intonations in almost all important sentences to draw public interest and
evoke the messages. This explains why they need to focus on the variations and
control their intonations well in order to impress their audiences.

2. Public speech construction:

While planning and delivering a public speech, attention must be given to the usual
structure of the chosen form of text (Anderson, 2017). This type of text sometimes
turns out to be a description in which the sender does not identify an event /
procedure or features of an entity, plant or object, etc., but in which he / she
describes the content of the text in his / her own words. Another important aspect
in the construction of a public speech is the topic. Speakers can choose the topic or
someone else may choose it for them. Then they will have to decide what we're
going to say about the chosen topic, which sub-topics will help them develop the
topic and, thus, build the content. What is spoken of in the speech is the topic.
What listeners know about the topic is its content.

10
3. Body language:

Richard (2018) reported that “Body language is a type of nonverbal

communication that relies on body movements (such as gestures, postures, and
facial expressions) to convey messages”. While verbal language is crucial to
express the strength of words, non-verbal language is considered a creation to
determine the speakers’ competence, capability and persuasiveness and transmit to
the listeners their speaking purpose and important data. Also, the allure of a good
speaker comes from non-verbal language, which appeals to a number of listeners.

4. Verbal language:

Verbal language is a simple means of communication. This term can be divided

into two categories including literary and non-literary language (David William,
2011). The selection and the use of words are therefore rigorously checked
regarding topics, text types, especially in formal situations. This is reasonable
because each word has its own meaning; thus, planning a transcription before a
speech is essential.

If someone desires to become a great speaker, they have to improve their speaking
skills from every small step to deliver a good speech. Novakovic, N. and
Teodosijevic, B. (2017) stated that only when speakers could be mastery in
applying techniques of public speaking, they can possess much better way to touch
the audience’s emotions, that way would help the listeners sympathize the
presenters better, and thus to obey their wishes. Some speakers may find it hard to
perform well, but everyone is able to become a good speaker since better public
speaking skills can be obtained through practicing as Tom Peters (2010) asserted
that “public speaking can be possibly learned, refined and perfectly improved”.

11
It is vital to remember that good speaking or communication is formed with a host
of skills. Each skill has its own importance, which cannot be underrated. This is
still; therefore, crucial and it is worth investing time and even money to upgrade
the level of any aforementioned skills.
People usually misunderstand that all the extroverts are good speakers right from
the start or master all the speaking skills very fast. In fact, there are still a variety of
confident and sociable people who feel extremely nervous when speaking publicly.
Everyone can suffer from public speaking anxiety, not just the introverts as some
people may mistake. As a result, these parts below will clarify the information,
particularly the effects and causes of PSA, which begins by the definition of it.

2.2. Public speaking anxiety

It is widely acknowledged that public speaking plays a crucial role in imparting

information. However, the fear that several people face when speaking in front of a
group of audiences is ranked as the top one phobia ahead of death. Several studies
have been conducted on a certain area of people to learn about not only its causes
but also its effects on them. Prior to looking into these categories, the definition of
PSA will be viewed below.

2.2.1. Definition

Public Speaking Anxiety (PSA) or “glossophobia” is known as a construct

belonging to communication apprehension. When it comes to this term,
McCroskey (1977) defined in his work named Communication Apprehension that
this mental disorder would reflect a person’s worry in relation to reality or
upcoming dialogue with other people PSA is defined as a social anxiety coming
from an oral presentation (Bodie, 2010, p. 72). According to Daly, McCroskey,
Ayres, Hopf, Sonandre, and Wongprasert (2009), PSA was stated as a specific

12
anxiety which public speakers experience prior to standing in front of people to
present. Especially, McCourt (2007) confessed that one of the common problems
in public speaking should be linked with the anxiety.
Then, Public Speaking Anxiety should be defined as a common disorder in public
that speakers experience with physiological arousal, negative cognitions before
delivering a highly anticipated presentation to the mass.

2.2.2. Causes
Most people experience certain level of public speaking anxiety when they have to
perform in front of a group of audiences. There are a wide range of factors that
contribute to this fear of public speech delivery.

According to Gary Genald (2019), these ten following reasons are the biggest
causes of PSA:

1. Self-consciousness in front of large groups: This is one of the main reasons for
public speaking anxiety. Speakers often state that they feel much better to speak in
front of small groups of people rather than a large scale of audiences.

2. Fear of appearing nervous: Various speakers tend to feel that they may look
anxious and believe the audiences can see the fear on their face and cannot perform
well.

3. Concern of being judged: It is normal that the listeners can leave both positive
and negative judgment for the speakers. However, some presenters only take notice
of the negative one and cannot stop thinking about the criticism.

4. Past failures: Public speaking is often considered as learned behaviors, which

result in what someone might experience in the future. If they failed something in

13
the past, a self-doubt seed was planted at that point. They do not have faith in
themselves that they can produce good results and succeed.

5. Poor or insufficient preparation: It is true that meticulous self-preparation brings

confidence. There is concerning question that “How can speakers perform a good
speech if they are not well-prepared?”. They might easily get nervous or depend
too much on note cards if they forget what to say next.

6. Narcissism: If speakers are too wrapped up in themselves, they are incapable of

understanding others, particularly their listeners. And when this happens, the
audiences may ignore their speech and leave the conference without receiving any
messages from your speech.

7. Dissatisfaction with their abilities: This is also one the most frequently named
concern when it comes to stage fright. Some speakers are not confident enough
with their own skills, so they easily feel the fear when showing off their abilities.

8. Discomfort with their own body: People sometimes feel comfortable to talk
about their body with friends, but usually feel awkward when standing in front of
strangers. They are afraid of becoming the victims of body shaming and receiving
criticism.

9. Poor breathing habits: Breathing habits are a good way to calm down and
control the feelings. However, almost all speakers are not aware of the right way to
take a breath before and during the speech.

10. Comparing themselves to others: Performers tend to point out the differences
between themselves and others. If they regard it as a way of fostering self-
improvement and self-motivation for better performances, they are more likely to

14
become a good speaker. But in case comparisons to others make them feel
unconfident about their abilities to improve better, they tend to get nervous about
the results.

Meanwhile, in the research on the anxiety level in students of public speaking:

causes and remedies, FarhaRaja (2013) stated that poor confidence sould be
blamed for of the fearfulness of public speaking because many students have
a“meek nature” and would be under pressure while speaking in front of large
crowd.

Since public speaking anxiety is among the most popular problems, several studies
have been carried out to find out the factors contributing to this issue. As a result,
there are various reasons causing the fear of public speech among a number of
people, which can be indicated through learning about this fear. Causes can be
either external or internal factors depending on every individual with different
backgrounds.

2.2.3. Effects
Anxiety produced by public speaking has a great influence on a person’s
performance especially a student’s. Moreover, it can also affect people’s health to
some extent.

Savitsky and Gilovich (2003) suggested that many people who deliver a public
speech, experience a phenomenon called “illusion of transparency”, in which they
believe that their nervousness is more apparent to their audience than it actually is.
This kind of illusion can aggravate their anxiety and lead to them failing the
performance. A research done by CucuSutarsyah (2017) showed that students with
lower level of anxiety gave a better result with their speaking test than those who
have higher level of anxiety. In that research, when the writer provides the test,
15
most students of the higher level of anxiety seemed restless. They changed their
sitting often more than those with lower level of anxiety and would sometimes
look around, “searching for inspiration” as they claimed to be. Actually, these are
the symptoms of anxiety; precisely behavioral and somatically symptoms.
Different condition was showed by the less anxious students. They seemed calm
and quiet when they speak. Most of the students with less anxiety also got higher
score than those with higher level of anxiety. PSA is also found to decrease later
memory to the speech and worsen negative effect and anxiety expression (Egloff,
Schnukle, Burns, and Schwedtfeger, 2006). This is why many people tend to forget
their lines and start to falter whenever they deliver a speech due to the level of
stress.

Not only does PSA affect speaking performances, it also puts impacts on people’s
health. Common symptoms of glossophobia involves form sweating, dizziness,
dilation of pupils, acute hearing loss, tension of muscles to raising in blood
pressure, increasing heart rate, intense trembling, hyperventilating and often, panic
attack. According to Dom Barnard (2017), Glossophobic psychological symptoms
may result in acute hearing loss or other physical symptoms. When the mind is
cluttered with thoughts, it develops extreme stress which affects the hearing of an
individual. Because of the extreme anxiety or distress, heart palpitations or
elevated heart rate may occur. This can lead to elevated blood pressure and the
physical reaction results in dilation of the pupils.

PSA can cause numerous problems to those who suffer from it. For students,
especially university students who give public speeches in almost every lesson,
PSA can affect negatively on their study performances. As effective
communication is crucial to have good relationships and occurs regularly in school
projects, a solution is needed to tackle this problem.

16
 Chapter 3

Research description

3.1. Research objectives

As public speaking cannot be avoidable in the long-term development of students
in the modern world, especially who transit from elementary education to
professional learning. This study aims to provide a comprehensive view of the
public speaking anxiety among EMQI freshmen, find out how many of them are
facing this fear and how this fear affects the performances, and then come up with
a resolution to this issue.

3.2. Research subject, scope and scale

The subject of this research was constructed with the causes and effects of public
speaking anxiety.

The research was carried out on 49 EMQI freshmen during three months from
February to April. This time was the second semester with advanced language
skills, including the subject so-called Project, which required students to prepare
for individual short presentations.

3.3. Research questions

As there is a need for a better understanding in the structure and approaching
method to the problem stated, the research questions need to be addressed:

- What are the reasons of public speaking anxiety among EMQI students in NEU?

- What are the effects of public performance anxiety on EMQI students in NEU?

17
 3.4. Research method
The survey questionnaire was applied to seek for the answers to the two research
questions. The contents of the survey focused on the discovery of causes and
effects of PSA. 49 students in EMQI received the e-form to fulfill their personal
backgrounds and answer the questions provided. This questionnaire was the final
form which had been verified many times by our group to serve the purpose of this
study.

3.5. Data collection and analysis

All the supplied responses were calculated to demonstrate the percentages relating
to each survey question. The data will be represented using charts.

3.6. Research plan

This table shows how this current study is planned from choosing the research
topic to the final conclusion.

Research phase Objectives Deadline

1. Choosing a topic - Find an interesting, feasible and February 18
important topic to write about

2. Background research - Read references related to the topic February 21

3. Writing a tentative - Choose what will be presented in February 19-
outline the research February 26
- Write a well laid out table of
contents
4. Writing literature - Choose the most relevant pieces of April 2
review literature
- Evaluate sources

18
 - Write
5. Research design - Design questionnaires April 3
planning - Identify participants
- Finalize sampling methods and data
analysis methods
6. Data collection - Send out questionnaires April 3
7. Data analysis - Statistically analyze survey data April 9
- Discuss the results
8. Revise - Checking for errors April 10-April
- Rewrite needed parts 14
9. Complete the paper - Write incomplete parts: abstract, April 17- April
introduction, conclusion 18

19
 Chapter 4

Findings and Discussion

This section of the current study presents the results and analysis into the data
collected through the online questionnaire survey with the cooperation of 49 E-
MQI students. Through eight questions covering some basic parts of public
speaking anxiety, it is expected that this popular concerning phobia among the total
participants can be clarified with specific causes and effects.

4.1. Frequency of public speaking practice

The percentage of frequency of public speaking

among E-MQI students

Never
0%
2%
26.5% Rarely
28.6%
Sometimes

Usually

42.9%
Always

Chart 1: The frequency of E-MQI students speaking publicly

Evident as it is, a large number of respondents stated that they sometimes delivered
public speech (42.9%). There was a similarity in the proportion of people usually
and rarely speaking in public with 28.6% and 26.5% respectively. Only 2% of

20
them admitted that they had never practiced speaking in front of large crowd.
Especially, the response of “never” accounted for 0%.

Most answers of E-MQI students were ‘usually’ and ‘sometimes’ and none of them
never spoke publicly, showing that they face public speaking on a regular basis.
This could result from their environment at high school, where they usually have to
speak publicly, namely answering teacher’s questions, or presenting… It means
that they should have the skills to perform well. However, when entering
university, some of them lack speaking skills and tend to be less confident when
speaking in front of people. According to Maurice Decastro (2020), it is hard for
those who have inability to speak with confidence to connect with others. By
contrast, a minority of E-MQI students said that their frequency of speaking
publicly was high, which means these pupils might be less anxious than the
following ones. This academic also once said if the adolescences were equipped
with skills to speak publicly, it would be easier for them to succeed in connecting
with others.

21
 4.2. Common public speaking contexts

The percentage of situations when E-MQI

students speak publicly

During presentation

2%
18.4% During discussion with friends
30.6%

During class when giving

opinions
49% During public speaking

Chart 2: The situations in which the participants often speak in public

It is clear that the majority of E-MQI pupils delivered a public speech when
discussing with their friends while the minority answers belonged to public
speaking. To be more specific, 30.6% of the total students gave a public speech
during presentation, while the most of them with 49% of the total options chose
“during presentation” and 18.4% was the percentage of the pupils usually giving
their opinions in front of class. The students who often spoke publicly during a
competition or a debate accounted for only 2%, which was the smallest amount
among four sectors.

The chart shows that most E-MQI students usually gave a speech during discussion
with friends and presentation while only 30.6% of the total often spoke during
presentation, a surprising fact as students in E-MQI had to present in almost all
classes. This also means that students often do normal activities in a usual day like
discussing with friends and follow teachers’ orders like presenting in order to get
22
score in the class. According to David S.Rose (2017), someone could be forced to
do presentation by their teacher; otherwise, she could give them a falling grade to
make them fail. Thus, they might be passive and that personality could give rise to
their anxiety. By contrast, the other students were more active as they often raise
their hands in class to discuss and give opinions while some chose to stand out in
public debate. Therefore, the discrepancy among personality can be the one of
main reasons causing anxiety among E-MQI students. McCroskey(1968) said that
the contribution of personality also leaded to anxiety, yet, it was far less than
situations like those mentioned above.

4.3. Anxiety level among E-MQI students

The percenatge of the frequency of anxiety

among E-MQI students
2%

6%
Sometimes
14%
Usually
53% Always
25% Rarely
Never

Chart 3: The frequency of anxiety level among E-MQI students

There was more than half of the total number of students choosing “sometimes” as
the answer, which accounted for 53.1%. Besides, 24.5% of them usually
feltanxious when speaking publicly and the number of students always meeting
anxiety made up 14.3%. At the same time, three participants presenting
23
approximately 6% chose the category “rarely” and only one student never felt
anxious when delivering a public speech.

These figures prove that the extensive fear of public speaking was a common
disorder in EMQI students despite a variety of presentations each student had to
daily face. That is understandable because Knappe, et. al.(2011) explored that 25%
of the young people meet the problem of public speaking anxiety. In another
research, Conbeck (2011) cited the idea by James McCroskey (1984) that the
number of Americans who suffer from Communication Apprehension grows up by
30% to 40% (Kausar Perveen and Yamna Hasan, 2018), which affects their ability
and willingness to speak publically. It may cause more serious problems not only
for study results at school but also the quality of life after graduating if this
disorder is not treated effectively. Furmark (2002) proved that people were unable
to perform important social roles in society with public speaking anxiety.

24
 4.4. Type of preferred audience

The percentage of types of people students

prefer in public speaking

10%
People that they both know
and do not know
50%
40%
People that they know

People that they do not

know

Chart 4: Type of audiences the participants prefer in public speaking

With this question, it can be predictable that the majority of the students preferring
the listeners that they both know and do not know comprise around a half of the
total participants while only 10.2% of them confidently vote for the strangers as
the audiences. Twenty students choosing people that they know take up the
remaining.

According to the chart, EMQI students had a tendency to speak to more familiar
and more pleasant audiences. This result was consistent with both theoretical
arguments (Buss, 1980) and empirical studies (Beatty, 1988; Daly & Stafford,
1984). It is said that it provides more confidence to some EMQI students in terms
of anticipated anxiety and they would feel less shame in cases they failed their
presentation. Froming et al. (1990) also pointed that friends were generally more
tolerant, understanding and less likely to make negative attributions to the speaker.
However, when an individual is performing an embarrassing activity, an audience
25
speaker know well is like to make anxiety become more serious than a less familiar
audience (Brown & Garland, 1977; Froming et al., 1990). The reason is that
friends may tease the speaker due a stupid speech. The PSA is getting worse when
they associate the present with the past which has full of failures or remind the
speaker of an embarrassing action the future.

4.5. Causes of PSA among E-MQI students

Causes of public speaking anxiety among E-MQI

students
2% Fear of standing in front of
the public
9% Fear of appearing anxious
22.9%
7.1% Fear of being judged

Past failure

11.8% Poor or insufficient

6.2%
preparation
Dissatisfaction with your
abilities
11.1% Discomfort with your body
16% movement
Comparisons to others
13.9%
Others

Chart 5: The causes of anxiety among E-MQI students

The chart illustrates the percentage of grounds for E-MQI students’ public
speaking anxiety.

Looking at the graph, it is immediately obvious that the fear of standing in front of
the audiences accounted for the highest proportion. By contrast, the lowest

26
percentage of the reason why EMQI students feared speaking publicly was
recorded for other reasons beside the choices given above.

Among E-MQI students, “fear of standing in front of the public” registered the
majority of factors with 22.9%. Meanwhile, “others” only made up a meager
proportion with 2%, which indicated that the responses given are among the most
popular ones. Another allocation could be seen in other causes that “fear of being
judged” and “past failures” accounted for 16% and 13.9% correspondingly. The
figure for being unconfident about their competences was at 11.8%, which ranked
in the fourth place.

Such discrepancies across categories were seen in other grounds for anxiety. In
particular, the total choices of fear of appearing nervous and discomfort with body
movement constituted roughly the same at 6.2% and 7.1% respectively. The figure
for the cause of “comparisons to others” was slightly higher with 9%. Meanwhile,
ranked in the fifth place was the response “poor or insufficient preparation” with
11.1%.

The highest percentage of the fear of standing in front of the public showed that
large groups of people easily caused them anxiety and that they feel more
comfortable to talk in front of a smaller scale. They were also usually afraid of
others’ judgment which prevented them from expressing themselves. The choice
“past failures” ranking at the third place demonstrated that there were plenty of
students being affected by the past experiences.

The pie chart illustrates the top three main causes among E-MQI students
comprising more than a half are “fear of standing in front of the public”, “fear of
being judged” and “past failure”. Meanwhile, in the study by NUR, F. (2012), the
investigation into causes in PSA among CFSIIUM students (Centre for foundation

27
studies-International Islamic University Malaysia) showed that three main causes
are concern of appearing nervous, fear of standing in front of large groups of
people and feeling of being judged with 20% for each. This result bears a
resemblance to our study in which the category “fear of standing in front of the
public” and “fear of being judged” lead the top of all choices. This shows that
almost all students are afraid of being outstanding in a large group, which is an
alarming issue as students cannot avoid presenting in class and before colleagues
in their future job. As Swathi, T.V.S.S. (2015) stated that presentation skills would
be essential in almost every area. So, it would be undeniable that presentation skills
and public speaking skills should be appreciated in both work and life aspects
including business, selling, training, teaching and lecturing that develops
confidence and other social situations (IUP Journal of Soft Skills). Another
statement of Lucas (2011) indicated that “Many people who converse easily in all
kinds of everyday situations become frightened at the idea of standing up before a
group to make a speech” (p.9).Besides, the most significant difference is that the
total number of choices “fear of appearing anxious” in E-MQI students account for
only 6.2%, which is the second least amount while this response in CFSIIUM
students makes up 20%, the largest percentage along with two other categories.
The reason might be that nearly a half of students in E-MQI often speak publicly
during discussion with friends and they tend to feel much comfortable when
talking to the people they know for certain period of time instead of the strangers.
They do not feel the anxiety so they do not fear appearing nervous in front of their
friends.
In addition to the following justification for tension through public speech, this
phobia also plays a pivotal role in causing some direct repercussions to E-QMI
students, which can be referred from the chart below.

28
 4.6. Effects of PSA on E-MQI participants

Effects of public speaking anxiety among E-MQI

students
2.8%
Lack communication with
8% audiences
Forget what to say
8.8% 26.5%
Remain dependent on note
cards
Increase heart beats
20.3%
Sweat before or during a
speech
22.1% Suffer from distress
11.5%
Others

Chart 6: The effects of PSA among E-MQI students:

Based on the research analysis data, we have identified the effects of public
speaking anxiety on students of E-MQI intake 1.

The pie chart gives information about the percentage of the effects of PSA on E-
MQI students.

Looking at the chart, it can be seen that the lack of communications with the
audience took up the largest proportion. By contrast, the lowest percentage of the
effects on EMQI students was recorded for the category “others” beside the
choices given above it.

It is noticeable that “lack communication with the audience” and “forget what to
say” are the top effects of PSA on the total attendants with 26.5% and 22.1%

29
respectively. As a result of failing to recall what to say, several students had to use
note cards to continue the speech. Therefore, the item “remain dependent on note
cards” ranked in the fourth place with 11.5%.

The third most chosen answer was “increase heart beats” which comprised up
20.3% of all choices. As raising heart rates might lead to distress and sweating,
their percentage took up nearly the same with 8% and 8.8% correspondingly.
Aside from these answers, “others” accounted for only 2.8%, which indicated that
all the choices given were among the most popular ones.

Confident people when giving a public speech will interact with their audience by
asking question or making eye contact and making the speech more exciting.
However, people who suffer from PSA will only want to get the speech over with.
They will give a plain and simple speech, which most of the time will make the
audience feel bored. For students of E-MQI, who had to do presentations in almost
every lesson, 26.5% thought they lacked communication in a public speech is
alarming. As what was said earlier, “PSA is found to decrease later memory” so
this is a common case for everyone and this problem can be solved by preparing
and practicing before a speech. And since many tend to forget what to say, they
will remain dependent on note cards. Heartbeats rise is a dangerous symptom that
can not be ignored, especially among the young students; therefore, they need to
handle well to relieve the issue.

It is clear that public speaking often evokes fear in many individuals. A great
number of people feel the lack of confidence when they speak publicly, which
negatively affects their performance. The proof of this situation is 26.5% of the
total answers to the effects of PSA on E-QMI students. Some indications of the
interplay between emotion and attention in public speaking can be gleaned from

30
psychological studies of public speaking. For example, even those without
particularly strong fear of public speaking tend to experience an “illusion of
transparency,” in which they overestimate the extent to which anxiety is apparent
to an audience (Savitsky & Gilovich, 2003). Thus, this illusion of transparency can
exacerbate anxiety and impair performance.

Numerous speakers want to hide anxiety and refuse practice as well as others’
help, which makes speaking publicly more difficult. They have a tendency to
attempt to suppress these feelings. One study found that even though suppression
tended to reduce nervousness as perceived by an audience, it had the consequences
of increasing actual physiological arousal and decreasing later memory for the
speech (Egloff, Schnukle, Burns, & Schwedtfeger, 2006). As our survey has
pointed, 22.1% students of EMQI almost forgot what to say when they feel
nervous. Finally, Rapee and Abbott (2004) found that a retrospective measure of
inappropriate attention during a speech (e.g. focusing on one's heartbeat or
recalling prior anxiety-provoking experiences) mediated the effect of general social
anxiety on experienced anxiety following a speech.

Our analysis suggests that public speaking is a combination between emotional and
intentional control and individuals are likely to ruin their performance if they do
not control them well.

31
 4.7. E-MQI respondents’ reactions to PSA

Students' reactions to PSA

Continue the speech until
9.3%
the end
4.7%
4.7% Ask people around for help

4.7% Run away

50.7%
Cry during the speech
26.2%
Suddenly fainted

Others

Chart 7: EMQI’s reactions to PSA

When being asked about the reactions to PSA, the students hadgiven the statistics,
which made a deep impression by their positive thinking. It is noticeable that
50.7% and 26.2% over the total answers were “continue the speech until the end”
and “ask people around for help” respectively. This showed that most of the
students have a healthy way to deal with anxiety and did not let the problem stop
them from finishing their speeches. According to a research done by Sahidee
Harayamae (2016), many of the participants agree that when they were giving a
public speech, they felt nervous but they continue because they soon calmed down
and became comfortable with the stage. It might be a similar case to EMQI
students. The responses “run away”, “cry during the speech” or “suddenly fainted”
made up only 4.7% for each. This means that there were still a small number of

32
students who did not know how to overcome PSA and had a hard time dealing it. It
also meant that these students could not control their feelings of tension or stress
like many in MrHarayamae’s research (2017). There were 6 cases of students
ticking the choice “others”, which accounts for 9.3%.

4.8. PSA treatment methods

Solutions to overcome PSA

Don't start to panic and
6% take a deep breath
7% Ask relatives for help
3%
33%
Take up breathing habits

Look into the mirror

22%

Enroll in a medical
treatment

15%
Take a proper dose of
tranquillizers
14%
Others

Chart 8: The ways that E-MQI students choose to overcome PSA

The environment with many soft-skill courses seemed to affect EMQI students’
solution to public speaking anxiety in a good way. In Farhan Raja’s research
(2017), 95% out of 50 participants agreed with the statement PSA could be
overcame by some strategies and seeking for help so it was not surprising that E-
MQI students all had their own ways to tackle this problem. It could be seen that
more than 33% of the total answers was “do not start to panic and take a deep
breath”. This option would work well if a student’s anxiety was not that severe and

33
he/she can overcome it by himself/herself. There were 13 students ticking “ask
relatives for help” and “take up breathing habits”, which consituted14.4% for each.
If one could not deal with the problem on their own, asking for help was also a
good way and one should not feel ashamed to do so. At the same time, 20
participants contributing 22.2% believed that looking into the mirror to encourage
themselves was one of the greatest ways to treat their anxiety. The answers “enroll
in a medical treatment”, “take a proper dose of tranquillizers” comprised 3.3%,
6.7% correspondingly. These 2 options involved medical treatment and showed
that students with PSA had proactively gone to the doctor to treat their anxiety.
The answer “others” accounted for nearly 6%. There are still more ways to
overcome PSA, in Harayamae’s research (2017), he has many strategies involved
preparation before speeches to deal with this anxiety. Although the fear of
speaking publicly can significantly affected our lives, but with patience and
persistence, we can definitely overcome it.

In conclusion, this questionnaire is designed to identify the reasons behind public

speaking anxiety and its effects on E-MQI students. The analysis results show that
there are a variety of people feeling nervous when speaking publicly no matter how
many times they have practiced. The causes responsible for PSA and also the
effects of this popular phobia on E-MQI students vary greatly due to different
backgrounds of each participant. According to Farhan Raja (2017), “If they
become victims of public speaking anxiety, they face a backlash and this anxiety
can have a severe influence on their career”. Public speaking is considered a
learned behavior, which can be improved through practicing. Therefore, it is
suggested that all the students indicate the factors contributing to their anxiety to
find their own ways to foster the speaking skills and reduce the negative effects of
PSA on them

34
 Chapter 5

Conclusion and Recommendations

5.1. Conclusion
The primary goal of this study is to investigate the causes and impacts of public
speaking anxiety in E-MQI student. The literature was reviewed to shed light on
researches that have been conducted earlier in the same area to validate the study
and to build upon what has already been done. Overall, almost EMQI freshmen
have been facing up with public speaking anxiety at moderate level. It is not
regarded as terrible experiences with E-MQI students but the fear of speaking in
front of large people is still an obstacle to perform well.

To summarize, the research proves that psychological factors mainly lead to public
speaking anxiety which frequently appeared while undergraduate students need to
deliver the public speech. Sometimes, this phobia originates from people’s
imaginary fear. The current study also determines that PSA can cause negative
implications on the quality of student’s presentation. According to the findings,
when getting nervous, a great number of participants have a tendency to lack
communication with audiences and forget what to say while this is a very
important issue to consider a speech delivery effective.

5.2. Recommendations
The study has been investigating both causes and effects of public speaking
anxiety and it is realizable that there are some strategies to overcome this phobia.
For suggestive recommendations in this study, we have pointed out some solutions
which can be used in order to reduce the level of public speaking anxiety:

35
1. Speakers can practice their speech with smaller number of people they are at
ease with.

2. It is advisable to recording the talk and watching it several times is a great idea
to facilitate the learning and improvement process. Speakers are expected to seek
feedback of the audience during practice sessions or ask someone experienced to
judge their performance

3. Better preparation also helps speakers reduce the percentage of failure. It is

recommended that speakers should list what to say and read repeatedly before
public speaking. Move to the next idea to keep presentation continuous in cases the
fear makes them forget what has been prepared

4. The speakers should anticipate audience responses and queries that may be
generated during practice so that they could have confident answers.

36
 APPENDIX
This survey is being conducted with a view of exploring the causes and effects of
public speaking anxiety among EMQI freshmen in the Department of Business
Administration of National Economics University. Please remember that your
answer will be kept in secret, so answer these questions as honestly as you can.

Thank you for your cooperation!

Please indicate your answers by ticking the boxes which best describe you.

1. How often do you speak in public?

Never

Rarely

Sometimes

Usually

Always

2. When do you usually speaking publicly?

During presentation

During discussion with friends

During class when giving opinions

During public speaking/ debate competition

3. Did you feel anxious when speaking in public?

37
 Never

Rarely

Sometimes

Usually

Always

4. Which audiences do you prefer?

People that you know

People that you do not know

Both people that you know and you do not know

5. Based on your knowledge or experiences, what are the main causes of public
speaking anxiety?

Fear of standing in front of large groups of people

Fear of appearing anxious

Fear of being judged

Past failure

Poor or insufficient preparation

Dissatisfaction with your abilities

Discomfort with your body movement

38
 Comparisons to others

Others

6. Based on your knowledge or experiences, what are the effects of public

speaking anxiety

Lack communication with audiences

Forget what to say

Remain dependent on note cards

Increase heart beats

Sweat before or during a speech

Suffer from distress

Others

7. What did you do when you met public speaking anxiety?

Ran away

Continued the speech until the end

Cried during the speech

Asked for help from people around

Suddenly fainted

Others

39
8. If you know you have public speaking anxiety, what can you do to alleviate
this?

Do not start to panic and take a deep breath

Ask relatives to be helped

Take a proper dose of tranquillizers

Look into the mirror and encourage yourself

Enroll in a medical treatment

Take up breathing habits

Others

Adopted from NUR, F. (2013, May). Research Project: Public Speaking Anxiety

40
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