Speaking Anxiety in Foreign Language Context: Perspectives of Arabic-Speaking Learners of Chinese

Abstract

Speaking is an essential aspect of foreign language classes as it plays a significant role in achieving language proficiency. The speaking anxiety of learners negatively affects the learning process. Considering the growing significance of Chinese language education worldwide and the rising number of Saudi students learning Chinese, it is crucial to comprehend the elements that contribute to their speaking anxiety. This research explores speaking anxiety among Saudi learners of Chinese and attempts. to identify the causes, manifestations, and coping mechanisms of speaking anxiety in this specific context.In light of this, the current study looks into the variables influencing learners' anxiety when speaking a foreign language from the learners’ persepctives. A snowballing sampling was employed including 10 adults Arabic-speaking learners of Chinese from language centres, Saudi Arabia. A semi-structured interview was conducted in order to explore the learners’ perspectives on speaking anxiety in Chinese classroom togather with the reasons that trigger and lower their speaking anxiety. The findings suggested that while the learners acknowledge the value of oral tasks in the language classroom, but their unwillingness to speak comes from a lack of vocabulary and practice, concern of making mistakes and negative evaluation, and fear of assessments. Engaging learners in sufficient activities before testing and offering adequate language input for each task can help address these concerns.