HANOI UNIVERSITY

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH
ASSIGNMENT
TOPIC: Glossophobia of among freshmen and sophomores in
English Department at Hanoi University: A case study

Supervisor: Hoang Quy M.A.

Students:
1. Đỗ Thị Hoàng Anh; Student’s ID:1907010007
2. Nguyễn Thị Mai Ảnh; Student’s ID: 1907010031
3. Dương Linh Chi; Student’s ID:1907010047
4. Phạm Thị Như Hòa; Student’s ID : 2007010101

Hà Nội, 2021
 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

This is to certify that to the best of our knowledge, the content of this paper is our own
work. This paper has not been submitted for any degree or other purposes. We certify that the
intellectual content of this paper is the product of our own work and that all the assistance
received in preparing this paper and sources have been acknowledged.

Date: 02/11/2021

Group leader’s name: Đỗ Thị Hoàng Anh

Leader’s signature: Đỗ Thị Hoàng Anh

 GLOSSOPHOBIA AMONG FRESHMEN AND SOPHOMORES IN ENGLISH
DEPARTMENT AT HANOI UNIVERSITY: A CASE STUDY

Abstract

In this day and age, debate and public speaking are getting more and more important as soft
skills. However, one of the most typical social anxiety disorders is glossophobia, which refers
to the strong fear of public speaking. This research will shed some light on the commonality
and reasons behind glossophobia among freshmen and sophomores in the English Department
of Hanoi University to improve the student’s speaking skills. This case study involves a
questionnaire and an interview with the participants. Then the results are analyzed to answer
our two main concerns: how common is glossophobia and what are the culprits of this problem.

1. Introduction

Most people are not born public speakers, 75% of the world’s population struggle with fear of
public speaking or glossophobia (Lake, 2020). Concern about public speaking is a common
problem with varying levels of severity. Many people find it difficult to stand in front of an
audience or talk to strangers. When they find themselves in situations where they become the
focus of attention, glossophobia is triggered. At Hanoi University, because of the emphasis on
public speaking and debate in the first- and second-year curriculum, the experience of freshmen
and sophomores with glossophobia may bring them such difficult times during their study and
affect their grades. The exact causes are not known, therefore our research aims to clarify the
reason behind their glossophobia. This case study investigates the prevalence of glossophobia
among first-year and second-year students at Hanoi University. The participants of this case
study are freshmen and sophomores who volunteer to participate. They are students of the
English Department at Hanoi University. All of them have the same units in their curriculum.
Some have better grades in speaking class or presentation tasks, some don’t. This case study
also takes into consideration the difference in gender and academic year in the participants.
To be specific, the study is aimed to find answers to two research questions: (1) What is the
reality of glossophobia among freshmen and sophomores in the English Department of Hanoi
University? and (2) What are the causes of this phenomenon?

2. Literature Review

2.1. Definition of glossophobia

Glossophobia (in Greek glossa means tongue and phobos means fear or dread) is the medical
term for the anxiety of public speaking (Hancock et al., 2010). With approximately 75% of
individuals worldwide struggling with glossophobia, it became one of the most pervasive
phobias (Black, 2019). As revealed in some surveys, people are more likely to be under
pressure of public speaking anxiety than death dread (Glossophobia, 2001). Analysis shows
fear of public speaking is more prevalent in younger patients than in older patients, and it may
be more widespread in females than in males (Black, 2019). Although glossophobia is not a
serious disease, it still brings about a strong fear of speaking in front of a crowd or even a small
group of people.

2.2. Symptoms of glossophobia

Those who suffer from glossophobia may blush, sweat, feel palpitations, and their body starts
trembling as their brains produce adrenaline and steroids, their blood sugar levels and heart
rates rise (Sang, 2017). Fright of public speaking affects the speaker physically, for instance,
some may undergo dryness of mouth, rise in blood pressure, reddening of the face, perspiration,
and uneven breathing, as well as emotionally, as they fear embarrassment and appearing dumb
and ridiculous (Kushner, 2004). Khan et al. (2015) divided the symptoms of glossophobia into
three categories: physical, verbal, and non-verbal. These symptoms can simultaneously happen
to prepare the body for situations that cause fear and chaos. The manifestations include acute
hearing, raised heartbeat, dilated pupils, enhanced sweating, increased oxygen intake, spasm of
upper back muscles, and neck rigidity (Khan et al., 2015). The symptoms of glossophobia are
not necessarily restricted during the time giving a speech, they can be noticed before the public
speaking event. People coping with glossophobia may even get nervous easily at every thought
of speaking in public.

2.3. Causes of glossophobia

Public speaking serves numerous purposes. With it, information is conveyed to a large audience
and may change their emotions, actions, and attitudes. However, not everyone can confront the
fear of speaking in public. Getting to know the root is an effective way to deal with this phobia.
Many studies have been conducted to find out the reasons for glossophobia, yet, the exact cause
is still unclear. Nevertheless, a combination of genetic tendencies and other environmental,
biological, and psychological factors are seen to be the common explanation for the anxiety of
public speaking (Black, 2019). Meanwhile, genetic factors play a huge role since glossophobia
can happen to a person with a family history of this phobia or any similar fear. Although it is
true in some cases, more scientific evidence is urgently needed to evaluate whether social
phobias are hereditary. Besides genetic tendencies, physiological elements are blamed for
triggering glossophobia. Fear and anxiety are caused by the autonomic nervous system's
activation in reaction to potentially dangerous stimuli (Tsaousides, 2017). According to some
experts, certain people have higher anxiety levels in general and are hence more likely to be
nervous about speaking in public. People who are worried by nature will find it more difficult
to overcome their anxiety and overcome their glossophobia and will opt to avoid it. People's
attitudes on public speaking and their own abilities as speakers are also factors that contributed
to glossophobia. Fear emerges when people exaggerate the risks of sharing their views in front
of others, viewing the speaking event as a potential danger to their credibility, image, and
chance to reach an audience (Tsaousides, 2017). Anxiety over giving a public speech is a
learned behavior (Genard, 2019). That is, once one experienced failure in public speaking, the
seed of self-doubt was planted. Jeffrey R. Strawn, MD, FAACAP, (2019), believes that an
individual who has had a bad experience with public speaking may be afraid of repeating that
experience when attempting to speak again.
3. Research methodology
3.1. Participants
3.1.1. Participants for the questionnaire

Freshmen and sophomores from the English department of Hanoi University will participate in
the questionnaire at the first stage of our study. Convenience and accessibility are crucial
criteria that are used to decide the research population. Selecting the English Department
students from Hanoi University to do research is easy for us to contact during the survey. In
addition, this research aims to bring the reality of glossophobia to our schoolmates and help
them know more about the causes of this issue. The researcher randomly selects 234 students
out of over 600 students in the first and second-year students of Hanoi University. We choose to
use 95% confidence levels in our sample size, which is based on the “Table for Determining the
Needed Size of a Randomly Chosen Sample from a Given Finite Population” (Krejcie &
Morgan, 1970). Next, stratified random sampling will be employed. Two subgroups are gender
and year of study.

3.1.1. Participants for the interview

The researcher will conduct interviews with nine participants who are asked to participate in the
interviews based on their replies to the previous questionnaire to obtain a deeper understanding
of their experience with glossophobia. The interviews will be carried out with three students
from each group: low fear, medium fear, and high fear. Each group interviewed has at least one
female student, one male student, one freshman, and one sophomore.

3.2. Research produces

In this research, we use both qualitative and quantitative research methods to triangulate the
data. According to the University of Melbourne, a case study including a variety of research
methods will increase validity (2011). Moreover, there are several types of mixed methods
design (George, 2021). In this research, we use exploratory sequential design. George said that
in this design, quantitative data collection and analysis would happen first and followed by
qualitative data collection and analysis (2021). Starting with quantitative to determine overall
trends, then moving on to qualitative to learn more about the causes for the patterns
(Steekfkerk, 2019).
At the beginning of our study, a questionnaire related to the experience of glossophobia is sent
to the participants via emails. Based on the results of the questionnaire, the participants will be
divided into three groups: high, medium, low fear.
The study continues to select three participants from each group: low, medium, and high
glossophobia levels as mentioned above. Then, the researcher will contact the interviewees via
email and explain the purposes of the interviews. The participants will have an interview with
several different questions about their glossophobia. Each participant will be questioned in
person, and the researchers will record and take notes of all the responses.

3.3. Data collection instruments

As mentioned above, we use mixed methods which are both qualitative and quantitative in this
study. Two research instruments are a questionnaire and an interview session. In any research
project, questionnaires are undoubtedly one of the most important sources of data (Zohrabi,
2013). Moreover, to access a huge amount of information in a short period, this data collection
instrument is an extremely effective approach. In terms of the interview, the open-ended
question will be “more accurately reflect what the respondent wants to say” (Nunan as cited in
Zohrabi, 1999, p.143). Besides, interviewing is an important factor that helps researchers to
understand people's perceptions and how they “interpret the world around them” (Zohrabi,
2013, p. 255).

A questionnaire is designed to examine the level of public speaking anxiety and the causes of
anxiety in public speaking in freshmen and sophomores. All questions are designed in the form
of statements. In the first section, the participants are required to show their opinion by
checking the item in the questions given. “Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety”
(McCroskey, 1970) is used. The author claims that the test is trustworthy (alpha estimates
>.90), and it is great to use in studies about public speaking anxiety. The first section of the
questionnaire will classify the participants into three groups: low, medium, and high fear. Only
students with medium and high fear will move on to the next section. In the second section, the
participants have to rate on a scale from 1 to 5 about their causes of glossophobia. This section
will use the Likert scale which ranges from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. All the
statements are clear to understand and avoid ambiguous sentences for all students. The results
of the questionnaire will be stored for later analysis.

Interview session is another research method instrument. The interview will be used as a means
of double-checking the results of the questionnaire. It is also intended to gather personal
experiences with glossophobia. Three students from each of three groups of low, medium, and
high glossophobia will have an interview with researchers. All the answers will be recorded for
later analysis. The followings are the interview questions:

(1) How severe is your glossophobia? How does glossophobia affect your life?

(2) Do you think the year of the study affects the glossophobia level? Why do you think so?

(3) Do you think gender affects the glossophobia level? Why do you think so?

(4) Tell me about your glossophobia experience when performing oral tests at school. Do you
think it affects your performance much? Does the audience size affect your public speaking
performance?
(5) Could you notice things that trigger your anxiety? Is it a hereditary factor or an
environmental influence or something else?
4. Data analysis

The reality of glossophobia and its causes for freshmen and sophomores from the English
Department of Hanoi University will be discussed based on the collected data in the
questionnaire and interview session. We will get the necessary demographic factors of
participants in the questionnaire before beginning the public speaking anxiety test. They will
include their gender and year of study.

The quantitative data collected from two sections of the questionnaire will be processed into
numbers and analyzed using the SPSS program (version 28). Regarding the first section of the
questionnaire, the frequency distribution of three different levels of public speaking anxiety and
its association with demographic factors will be presented in a table. According to the table, we
will find out whether the frequency distribution of levels of public speaking anxiety is different
in first-year students and second-year students, in male students and female students. This will
show what year of study and what gender suffers more from glossophobia. The table is as
follow:

Low fear Medium fear High fear

Variable
(%) (%) (%)

Male
Gender
Female

First-year
Year of
study Second-
year

Table 1: The frequency distribution of students’ different levels of glossophobia and its
association with demographic factors.
 In terms of the second section of the questionnaire, we will understand the main causes behind
participants’ glossophobia and whether glossophobia results from multiple factors. The table is
as follow:

Mean Score Strongly Somewhat Neutral Somewhat Strongly

Items Agree Agree (%) Disagree Disagree
(%) (%) (%) (%)

My parents and/or
relatives also have
glossophobia.

My glossophobia
starts in childhood.

I have low
self-esteem.

I have a high level

of anxiety.

I have at least one

other type of
anxiety disorder.

I used to suffer
from negative
experiences in
public speaking.

I grew up in a
judgemental
environment.

Average mean =

Table 2: Students’ causes of glossophobia

Next, based on the recordings and notes made during the interviews, the researcher will use the
respondents' replies for the qualitative data to gain a thorough understanding of their thinking.
The researcher will call the respondents to seek clarification if there is a misunderstanding or
uncertainty. Lastly, using the patterns from the questionnaire results, the responses will be
quoted down and analyzed. We can prove that the score results from the questionnaire match
what is obtained in the interview in each participant case. Furthermore, we may acknowledge
additional information about the students’ personal experiences and causes of glossophobia.

5. Conclusion

This case study will clarify the commonality of glossophobia among freshmen and sophomores
of the English Department at Hanoi University and state the reason behind this phenomenon.
Glossophobia is proved to be common worldwide, and since the curriculum of these students
places great emphasis on oral production and presentation skills, our findings will create a
foundation for further studies to help permanently resolve glossophobia among them. The use
of a questionnaire and an interview in this study is effective because it offers a base for further
studies to resolve this issue. It helps freshmen and sophomores get to know what's causing their
fear of public speaking. The knowledge about glossophobia that this research presents will not
only greatly contribute to aiding the students of Hanoi University in their school work, but also
be an example for other institutions to further investigate and eventually put a stop to this
debilitating disorder.

2468 words
 References

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 Appendix
Section 1
Directions: Below are 34 statements that people sometimes make about themselves. Please
indicate whether or not you believe each statement applies to you by marking whether you:

Strongly Disagree = 1; Disagree = 2; Neutral = 3; Agree = 4; Strongly Agree = 5.

_____1. While preparing to give a speech, I feel tense and nervous.

_____2. I feel tense when I see the words “speech” and “public speech” on a course outline
when studying.
_____3. My thoughts become confused and jumbled when I am giving a speech.
_____4. Right after giving a speech, I feel that I have had a pleasant experience.
_____5. I get anxious when I think about a speech coming up.
_____6. I have no fear of giving a speech.
_____7. Although I am nervous just before starting a speech, I soon settle down after starting
and feel calm and comfortable.
_____8. I look forward to giving a speech.
_____9. When the instructor announces a speaking assignment in class, I can feel myself
getting tense.
_____10. My hands tremble when I am giving a speech.
_____11. I feel relaxed while giving a speech.
_____12. I enjoy preparing for a speech.
_____13. I am in constant fear of forgetting what I am prepared to say.
_____14. I get anxious if someone asks me something about my topic that I don’t know.
_____15. I face the prospect of giving a speech with confidence.
_____16. I feel that I am in complete possession of myself while giving a speech.
_____17. My mind is clear when giving a speech.
_____18. I do not dread giving a speech.
_____19. I perspire just before starting a speech.
_____20. My heart beats very fast just as I start a speech.
_____21. I experience considerable anxiety while sitting in the room just before my speech
starts.
_____22. Certain parts of my body feel very tense and rigid while giving a speech.
_____23. Realizing that only a little time remains in a speech makes me very tense and anxious.
_____24. While giving a speech, I know I can control my feelings of tension and stress.
_____25. I breathe faster just before starting a speech.
_____26. I feel comfortable and relaxed in the hour or so just before giving a speech.
_____27. I do poorly on speeches because I am anxious.
_____28. I feel anxious when the teacher announces the date of a speaking assignment.
_____29. When I make a mistake while giving a speech, I find it hard to concentrate on the
parts that follow.
_____30. During an important speech, I experience a feeling of helplessness building up inside
me.
_____31. I have trouble falling asleep the night before a speech.
_____32. My heart beats very fast while I present a speech.
_____33. I feel anxious while waiting to give my speech.
_____34. While giving a speech, I get so nervous I forget facts I really know.

Scoring: To determine your score on the PRPSA, complete the following steps:
Step 1. Add scores for items 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31,
32, 33, and 34
Step 2. Add the scores for items 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 24, and 26
Step 3. Complete the following formula: PRPSA = 72 - Total from Step 2 + Total from Step 1.
Your score should be between 34 and 170.
If your score is below 34 or above 170, you have made a mistake in computing the score.
High = > 131
Low = < 98
Moderate = 98-131
Mean = 114.6; SD = 17.2
 Section 2

Please indicate whether or not you believe each statement applies to you by marking whether
you:

Strongly Disagree = 1; Disagree = 2; Neutral = 3; Agree = 4; Strongly Agree = 5.

_____1. My parents and/or relatives also have glossophobia.

_____2. My glossophobia starts in childhood.
_____3. I have low self-esteem.
_____4. I have a high level of anxiety.
_____5. I have at least one other type of anxiety disorder.
_____6. I used to suffer from negative experiences in public speaking.
_____7. I grew up in a judgemental environment.