The Influence of Communication Apprehension on Students’ Spoken Performance

Abstract— Communication apprehension has a great impact on students’ academic achievements. In English as a foreign language classroom setting we often see students who become very insecure whenever they are asked to engage in activities which require applying public speaking or doing any communication activities in a foreign language. The fear of public speaking is present in almost every language classroom in a university environment. Communication between students and the teacher becomes more problematic when students have to use a foreign language in the classroom. Even though the role of communication skills is very important, the impact that communication apprehension has, has not received the required attention from the teachers or researchers. The number of students’ who struggle when communicating in a foreign language (English in this case) is very high and unfortunately these students suffer in silence without getting any help from their instructors, parents, phycologists etc. There were seventy-five participants who took part in this study. All students at South East European University in, Tetovo. The main instrument for the data collection was a standardized questionnaire created by McCroskey who has given a tremendous contribution in the field of communication. This reliable questionnaire is widely used by many other authors, teachers and researchers. From the results of this study it was concluded the students who failed to deliver good presentations and scored lower grades, were at some level; from average to severe, all affected by communication apprehension.