Journal of Innovations in Teaching and Learning, 2021, Vol. 1, No.

1, 19-24
Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/jitl/1/1/4
Published by Science and Education Publishing
DOI:10.12691/jitl-1-1-4

A Training Design for Public Speaking Anxiety

Charito G. Ong*, K Marie D. Zambas

University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines,

CM Recto Avenue, Lapasan Highway, Cagayan De Oro City, Philippines
*Corresponding author:

Received February 09, 2021; Revised March 10, 2021; Accepted March 15, 2021
Abstract This study developed a training design for Senior High School students and teachers. The design was
composed of four learning packets which were revised and finalized after an on-line try out. The researcher used five
stages in the model to undertake the study. Seels and Glasgow’s (2018) ADDIE model was modified by the
researcher into Needs Analysis, Plan, Create, Try Out and Assess (NAPCTA) and was followed in the duration of
the entire research process. The results of the needs analysis served as basis for the topics in the learning packets.
Specifically, the study determined: (1) the anxiety level of the senior high school respondents, (2) the needs to be
addressed in speech anxiety and (3) the contents of the learning packets as the research product. The paper employed
the Research and Develop (R&D) design.
Keywords: training design, anxiety, public speaking
Cite This Article: Charito G. Ong, and K Marie D. Zambas, “A Training Design for Public Speaking
Anxiety.” Journal of Innovations in Teaching and Learning, vol. 1, no. 1 (2021): 19-24. doi: 10.12691/jitl-1-1-4.

students who apologize for their level of English feel like

they should speak better than they do. As pointed by
1. Introduction Russell [5], achieving fluency in any language is a process
that takes time. Students cannot be expected to become
Communication is a primary need of humanity. This fluent instantaneously. Within social contexts, language
dates back since the origin of man. People strive to satisfy anxiety may be experienced due to extrinsic motivators [6],
this need in various ways throughout the ages, yet the such as different social and cultural environments,
most effective way has constantly been speaking. The particularly the environments where L1 and L2/FL
primary goal of all languages is to aid humans to learning takes place. The researcher stresses that the
communicate with each other so they can convey their respondents of this study came from different social
thoughts. environment.
According to Arnold [1], speaking in a foreign To be able to understand the affective factors that may
language is an integral aspect of regarding language aggravate foreign language speaking anxiety, it is
learning in that, when individuals refer to speaking, important to understand the nature of speaking as a
sometimes they mean knowing a language. Hence, many separate skill in language learning. Carter and Nunan
researchers have pointed out that speaking is the greatest explain speech production in terms of steps such as
anxiety producing skill [2]. Communicative apprehension conceptualization, formulation, articulation and self-
(CA) was then found to have a connection with speaking monitoring [7]. First, the speaker plans the speech,
skills and is defined by Horwitz et al. [3] as a type of considering the speech situation, necessary ideas and
shyness characterized by fear or anxiety about patterns of discourse. Secondly, the speaker formulates
communicating with people. It is also regarded as an correct sentences and sound patterns. Next, the sentence is
individual’s level of fear or anxiety associated with either uttered with the help of articulatory organs, and finally,
oral or anticipated communication with another person or the speaker establishes an inner mind, a kind of
people. Self-confidence and self-esteem are also important self-monitoring to check and correct any mistakes while
parts of communication. Kitano argues that speaking speaking. These processes require automaticity on the part
skill is usually the first thing that learners compare of the speaker and each stage must be accomplished
with that of peers, teachers, and native speakers [4]. in a limited time. Since the ultimate aim of the speaker
Hence, learners’ low self-perception of speaking ability is to convey the meaning successfully, it can be said that
is a cause and source of anxiety in second language the demanding nature of speaking can be a source of
learning. anxiety. Young suggests that recognizing learner
What attracts attention in language classes or in any manifestations of anxieties related to speaking, negative
free conversation areas is that when students talk to evaluation, and foreign language learning-generated
someone in English, they apologize for how much English anxieties are important first steps in coping with language
they speak, thinking their level is poor. Most of these anxiety [8].
20 Journal of Innovations in Teaching and Learning

In the Philippine context, Azagra posits that the utmost with the necessary skills and techniques, strengthen their
concern of schools and educational managers for many confidence for them to become engaging audience and
decades is the deteriorating performance of the students in contribute in ensuring to maintain the Filipino’s edge in
all subject areas particularly English, Mathematics, and the spoken English language.
Science where the English language is used [9]. The Generally, this research aimed to identify and
Philippine academe then innovated a milestone through investigate the causes of anxiety among Senior High
the implementation of the K to 12 curriculum. This School students in public speaking. Thereafter, it
responded to the demand of the 21st century education. recommended steps to overcome their anxiety level by
Moreover, it answered the problem of decreasing developing a training design. This is supported by Tanveer
performance of Filipinos academically. Generally, the as he posits that an apt utilization of strategies by language
ultimate goal was to produce holistically developed teachers can help reduce second/foreign language anxiety
students with 21st century skills equipped with operative and can potentially increase students’ confidence to learn
communication skills thus focusing on using English in and speak the target language [11]. Teachers really need to
the area of communication. structure classroom activities so that the amount of learner
It has been known that a skilled oral communicator is talk is increased at the expense of teacher talk. This will
demanded globally. The careers offered by the global motivate students to communicate since they will do
village such as banking, commerce, business, tourism, actual practice in the target language. By providing a rich
education, engineering and medicine among others use the classroom interaction, an avenue that this research
English language as a means of communication. This is designed, a communicative classroom mode was achieved
supported by Kachru, as he cites that English is the among the English classes.
international language of business and banking, aviation, This study developed a training design for students to
tourism, negotiation, scientific research, and intellectual manage public speaking anxiety. It determined: 1.) the
exchange [10]. Hence, Filipino learners should respond to individual anxiety level of Senior High School students in
this demand of the global world; that is to learn and use Kong Hua School, 2.) the needs addressed among the
the English language. Consequently, this paper placed respondents related to speech anxiety, and 3.) the contents
emphasis for learners to develop their speaking skills. of the training design for speech anxiety.
Among senior high school classes in this country, students
usually encounter varied speech problems. These
evidently hinder their ability to communicate and 2. The Theoretical Framework
eventually negatively affect their general proficiency and
academic performance. Therefore, resolving their This research utilized concepts from the theory of Johns
problems in communication and finding out the finest [12], which is the Eight Steps to Planning an Effective
solutions is deemed vital to help these learners in their oral Training Event and the Systematic Approach to Training
language development. (SAT) which is similar to Seels and Glasgow’s [13]
English proficiency, specifically in speaking is a major Instructional System Design Model (ISD). These models
concern not only in the academe but also in economics. begin with Analysis. As the first phase, it rationalizes the
With the ASEAN Integration there are two areas that necessity for the training. This phase can be likened to
should be dealt with; first is for Filipino graduates to keep steps 1 and 2 of John’s model. Next is the Design phase
their edge over their Asian counterparts in the English referred to as the decision-making phase. Also similar to
language. English used to be the Filipinos’ competitive steps 3 and 4 of John’s model, this phase will complete
advantage in the job market. Second, there is a rise in three important activities: (1) deciding what participants
business process outsourcing and influx of foreigners who will learn, (2) what will be taught and (3) the instructional
want to learn English as a second language, therefore there methods to be used and what competency will be required
is a greater demand of English Proficiency in speaking. from the participants. In the Development phase, the
However, the Filipinos’ mastery is fast being eroded by training concept is made into a material in the form of the
rising competition from other countries coupled with training design with different parts. This is step 5 of
declining mastery of the English language by most college John’s model, of developing instructional activities. Both
students. If Filipino graduates cannot regain this edge, it models refer the Implementation phase as the “actual
would mean lesser, rewarding job opportunities and lesser training”. This is where the developed training design will
income. be placed into a realistic context. Step 6 of John’s model
Nonetheless, it is the desire of the researcher to find out also refers to this as the training scheme preparation and
why speech anxiety still commonly occurs in the implementation. Evaluation is listed last in these models.
Philippine classrooms despite the early exposure to It ensures that processes work well and improvements are
English as a second language. The researcher intends to identified right away. Step 8 of Johns model, preparing
discover the perspectives of the English teachers regarding evaluation forms and determining follow-up activities
speaking anxiety in the classrooms and how they handle discusses this also. By combining the different concepts of
these situations, the students’ perspectives on the causes the three theorists cited above, the researcher came up
of these anxieties and address these needs by developing a with her theoretical framework. Although some concepts
speech module that can be implemented to create a low were modified, these were adopted from the key concepts
speech anxiety classroom especially to senior high school gleaned from the three models as subsequently shown in
students. The training design will equip these students Figure 1.
 Journal of Innovations in Teaching and Learning 21

Figure 1. The Theoretical Framework of the Study

3. Methodology design phase already done in the form of the training

design, it was further simplified in the form of the learning
The specific procedures in the preparation of the speech packets.
module and the try out stage to validate this research are The first learning packet brings the trainees to a self-
discussed as follows. The research locale and respondents journey bringing them back to past experiences that might
are likewise explained. have contributed to all the negative feelings you have
This research was conducted in Kong Hua School, a towards public speaking. Activities are provided for them
Filipino-Chinese Basic Education Institution located in to unlock the causes of public speaking fear, recognize the
Kauswagan Road, Barangay Kauswagan Cagayan de Oro need to overcome public speaking, clean off negative
City. It has a population of more than a thousand from experiences in public speaking, uncover one’s strengths
Early Childhood Education Department to Senior High and weakness in public speaking, and recognize
School Department. The respondents conducted the needs opportunities and threats in public speaking anxiety.
analysis among the Senior High Classes. This was done in The effectiveness and efficiency of the learning packets
the second semester of academic year 2019-2020. The try- were measured afterwards. The evaluation occurred
out and assessment phases were conducted in the throughout the entire instructional design process – within
respective homes of evaluators as an online evaluation phases, between phases, and after implementation. This
was undertaken due to community quarantine brought appeared in dual form, the formative and summative
about by the Corona virus pandemic. evaluation. The formative evaluation was done before and
The researcher began the analysis stage of her research during the implementation of the training design. These
by conducting the Personal Report on Public Speaking were made possible through the consolidated effort of the
Anxiety (PRPSA) questionnaire, Focus Group Discussion panel members, and the research adviser. The panel
(FGD), open-ended survey, and used the Philippine examined the needs analysis results during the thesis
Accrediting Association of Schools Colleges and proposal of the researcher. The research adviser corrected
Universities (PAASCU) self-survey instrument. and made the refinement of the packets. The
The Personal Report on Public Speaking Anxiety implementation, which was in the form of online
(PRPSA) questionnaire, Mc Croskey’s PRPSA assessment focused on content, training objectives,
questionnaires [14] were distributed to 78 Grade 11 organization, and methodologies. The summative
students. The researcher used the questionnaire developed evaluation occurred after the final version of the training
by McCroskey to collect information from students scheme was tried out. This assessed the overall
regarding their level of anxiety. This is a commonly used effectiveness of the learning segments. Both teachers and
method in both ethnographic and quantitative research. student evaluators did this. A training evaluation form
The grade 11 students rated statements numerically as to developed by Ong was modified by the researcher [15].
the level of how they feel in speaking situation. Moreover, This was used by the students and teacher evaluators in
the researcher distributed an 8-item open-ended evaluating the learning packets.
survey questionnaire to all 78 students. Questions were
modified from Dr. Nick Morgan, one of America’s top
communication theorist and coach. The questions included 4. Results and Discussion
public speaking related questions on past experiences,
physical effects, emotional effects, exposure, and need. The score range in the PRPSA was between 34 and 170.
The results of these needs analysis showed that the It is described as High = > 131, Low = < 98 and
respondents belong to the high anxiety level. This led the Moderate = 98-131. After getting the scores, the
researcher to the design of topics and activities addressing researcher categorized the anxiety results as Low,
the anxiety. After the design topics were identified, the Moderately Low, Moderately High, and High. The results
next step was taken, the development stage. With the of the aforesaid PRPSA showed that 54%, which is
22 Journal of Innovations in Teaching and Learning

42 out of the 78 respondents from grade 11 experienced the committee’s self-survey ratings. This result was also
moderately high and high anxiety level. agreed by the body during the plenary session.
Twenty-five (25) out of forty-six (46) female The areas examined comprised of feelings towards
respondents commented during the written survey that public speaking, manifestations of their anxiety, past
they felt conscious and scared to make mistakes. These experiences, and the needs they have. The highly repeated
reasons made them avoid speaking in front. If forced, for answers in the open-ended survey when asked about their
grades purposes, they tend not to give their all, for feelings towards public speaking is on nervousness and
apprehensions that they may be laughed at. This result is anxiety. This matched the results in the Personal Report on
affirmed in a study by stating that female students get Public Speaking Anxiety (PRPSA). Thirty percent (30%)
more anxious than males while giving speech publicly of the students further shared, their anxiety and
[16]. The same responses are mentioned in the study of nervousness would depend on the audience and topic.
Wicks-Nelson and Israel, who postulate that female When asked about their past experiences in public
students feel more anxious when it comes to oral activities speaking, negative experiences such as mental block,
in class [17]. Accordingly, this is due to the fact that being laughed at, being conscious on how people perceive
female students need to feel secure in class, thus trying to him/her and were repeatedly mentioned. Based on their
avoid any kind of activities that might expose their classroom exposure, they claimed they need help in public
mistakes. Also, some of them are more concerned about speaking which were categorized into encouragement
‘maintaining their faces’ in front of others especially from before, during and after delivery; provision of more
the male students. In addition, five female respondents speaking opportunities and mentoring. These were the
wrote that they feel conscious when all eyes are on them common answers.
on stage. Kankam postulates that the anxiety that usually comes
Female students naturally do not like to appear less with a speaking performance is said to be both personal
proficient and less confident [18], therefore escalating and situational [22]. Researchers have over the years
their anxiety whenever they are asked to get involved with sought to understand how the combined effects of
activities like speaking and listening. This is perceived as personal traits of an individual and situational conditions
a demonstration of weakness in front of others especially such as the nature of the speaking environment, the size of
while presenting in front of the opposite gender [18]. the audience and negative perception over the outcome of
Some male students on the other hand, do have more self- a speech, affects a person’s ability to effectively
control and the ability to detach themselves from communicate. While studies on speech-related anxiety in
unpleasant feeling. In short, some of them might adopt the the academic environment is not new [23-24], the
‘shutting down’ technique where they appear to be more attention of many of these studies has focused on students
laid back and careless exteriorly. Additionally, according rather than lectures/instructors. This study found that out
to the results of the quantitative research of Öztürk and of fear of being negatively evaluated, students became
Gürbüz, female students demonstrate a higher level of highly apprehensive when asked to perform a speech-
foreign language learning motivation than male students related task in the classroom. This, the study found, can
[19]. The results also showed that the female students get potentially have adverse effects on the academic and
more anxious than the male students while speaking in professional performance of students. Most importantly,
English in the classroom. The results of the qualitative the study established the significant role of teachers in
data showed parallelism with the quantitative results managing a friendly and pleasant environment that
which occurred in this study. This is found in the needs facilitate speaking and positive learning outcomes. As
assessment stage when 21% among males or 8 out of 32 Varron asserts, the teacher is the one that facilitates the
experience low anxiety compared to 13% among the whole process of learning and creates a favorable
females or 6 out of 46 only. Apart from this, struggling in environment, where there is a smooth flow of
understanding instruction is too major a problem for communication [25]. The study of Varron proves to be in
female students compared to the male ones. Agitation consistency with this research because the needs raised by
and apprehension are projected when they could the students can be addressed through motivation for
not execute the task according to the instructions, thus encouragement, guidance and feed backing for mentoring,
making them more vulnerable in front of the class. and integration of communicative approach in the
This is consistent with Mclean and Anderson’s paper [21] Language classroom to provide more exposure [25]. The
which found out that females develop greater risk teachers also, can avoid situations that could cause
of anxiety according to their social factor and surrounding. embarrassment to the student speaking by proper
This lowers down their confidence level thus making orientation on the responsibility and decorum of the
them feel more insecure in class. In this paper, it showed audience.
that 10 out of 32 female respondents mentioned “scared” A study conducted by Wu [26] entitled The Relationship
to make mistakes as one of their feelings towards public between Language Learners' Anxiety and Learning
speaking. Strategy in the CLT Classrooms indicated in the results
The open-ended survey conducted among the Senior that most of the participants express a favorable attitude
High School respondents on December 10, 2019 generated toward the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
similar results. The students manifested public speaking approach; however, they also reveal their high level of
anxiety through stuttering and stammering, often leading anxiety in the language classroom. Accordingly, language
to mental block. These manifestations directly affect anxiety is usually reported to have adverse effects on the
spontaneity and clear expression of ideas. The students’ learning of a second language. It is the language
reported experience in public speaking is coherent with instructors' mission to accelerate the language learning of
 Journal of Innovations in Teaching and Learning 23

their students. One way is to teach students how to learn For teachers, who are curriculum designers and mentors,
more effectively and efficiently. Language learning it is further recommended that they will undergo more
strategies (LLS) are procedures that learners can use to trainings across levels with the integration of
facilitate learning. Wu’s research results have some Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Approach
bearing to this study as revealed in the needs assessment through professional learning communities. Further
[26]. The Senior High School respondents experience researches on addressing public speaking anxiety starting
anxiety in public speaking but they also identified in their in the primary grades is also recommended.
needs to have more exposure. This shows they want to be
helped and they have a favorable attitude towards
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