Low Self-esteem as Students’ Obstacle in Oral Communication

Submitted by:
Nathalie Nicole Panaga
Charmele Asna
Lauren Mechelle Fortuin
Sofia Margaret Bibera
Mitzi Gayud

Grade 11 – St. Peter the Apostle

Presented to:
Mr. James Mark Francisco

December 2022

INTRODUCTION
 Self-esteem, by definition, refers to the confidence and belief in your own worth and abilities.
In the field of education, it is one of the influential factors which affect how students perform
academically. According to Woolfe (2018), students who suffer with low self-esteem often have certain
self-limiting views about themselves. Students with lack of confidence or low self-esteem begin to doubt
their potential for accomplishment in general and become hesitant to engage in learning and take chances
for academic advancement. In addition, having a low self-esteem may result from early experiences.
According to ReachOut (n.d.), the common causes of low self-esteem include trauma or abuse, anxiety,
bullying, loneliness, unsupportive family, stressful life events, etc,. Furthermore, most cases include not
having the opportunity to speak during their childhood years and not being able to express their thoughts
freely. As a consequence, this act can affect the development of their oral communication skills,
particularly in school.

Low self-esteem is related to shame, negative thinking, and refusal to accept responsibility
(Life Stance Health, n.d.). This could be the result of early experiences that led someone to lose sight of
their fundamental self-concepts. Nearly 20% of the students are reported to have low self-esteem with no
gender difference, thus, self-esteem significantly affects key life outcomes, such as health and social
outcomes during adolescence and adulthood (Nguyen et al., 2019). On the other hand, many Filipino
students are facing difficulties in oral communication. This includes feeling uneasy, lack of exposure to
English in communicating, and their own personal trait to avoid communication. In general, Filipino
speakers tend to encounter errors in pronouncing words and their overall accent (Pachina, 2019). Filipino
students are hesitant to communicate since they are incredibly insecure in their abilities to do so. This also
causes them to not develop their communication skills that affects their academic performance in oral
communication.

The oral communication has to be clear, pertinent, employ tactful language and tone, be
concise, and be instructive in order to be effective (Inc., 2020). Most of the students are also well aware
of these traits in order to achieve excellent communication skills. However, students are relatively
thinking of these characteristics as standards in order to somewhat fit in the community. In addition,
students find it hard to communicate in school because of fear of being in an awkward situation. Fear is
almost three times stronger when someone is in front of other students rather than to a teacher (Kozarenko
& Starostenko, 2020). In San Pedro College Basic Education Department, students have been silent every
time a teacher is asking something regarding the lesson despite knowing the accurate answer or response.
The majority of reasons include a fear of embarrassing themselves in front of the class with the response
or answers that their minds came up with. Students also struggle to reach out their thoughts because they
constantly worry that others' opinions might differ from their own and create an uncomfortable and
awkward situation. Students may react quickly and put pressure on their heads to come up with the
correct response out of fear of being called on by the teacher in front. Thus, students tend to put more
pressure on themselves and even doubt their overall abilities if their response would not satisfy them or
would come out incorrect. With these traits, students are more likely to remain hidden as they find it
difficult to communicate due to the impact of fear and other psychological components. These factors
highly affect their self-esteem, making them not explore and interact that causes their oral communication
skills to not improve.