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Anxiety and enjoyment in oral presentations: a mixed-method study into Chinese EFL learners’ oral presentation performance

  • Xixin Ding

    Xixin Ding and Min Chen are postgraduate students in Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS). Xixin Ding is interested in second language writing and the xu-based language teaching. Min Chen has participated in a project of Scientific and Technological Innovation Program in Guangdong Province. She also managed to co-edit a textbook for Business English reading. Min Chen shows interests in second language acquisition and xu-based approaches to language learning. Qi Xu is a professor in School of English for International Business, GDUFS. She holds a PhD in applied linguistics from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include second language acquisition, xu-based approaches to language learning, and corpus linguistics. Her works has appeared in TESOL Quarterly, System, Computer Assisted Language Learning, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, etc.

     ORCID logo     , Min Chen

    Xixin Ding and Min Chen are postgraduate students in Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS). Xixin Ding is interested in second language writing and the xu-based language teaching. Min Chen has participated in a project of Scientific and Technological Innovation Program in Guangdong Province. She also managed to co-edit a textbook for Business English reading. Min Chen shows interests in second language acquisition and xu-based approaches to language learning. Qi Xu is a professor in School of English for International Business, GDUFS. She holds a PhD in applied linguistics from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include second language acquisition, xu-based approaches to language learning, and corpus linguistics. Her works has appeared in TESOL Quarterly, System, Computer Assisted Language Learning, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, etc.

     ORCID logo     and Qi Xu ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: January 19, 2024
International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching
From the journal International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching Volume 63 Issue 3

Abstract

Despite the prevalence of emotion-centered studies in foreign language classrooms, there are scant studies focusing on one specific task, the oral presentation task. This research utilized questionnaires to measure 25 Chinese Business-English major sophomores’ Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA) and Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) in a group oral presentation task. It aimed to unveil the relationships between FLCA/FLE and oral presentation performance, and to dig out factors affecting FLCA and FLE in oral presentations through self-reflective journals. It was reported that most participants generally enjoyed delivering oral presentations rather than felt anxious. Participants exhibited better performance in the content of their presentations as opposed to the delivery manner. Unlike the limited influence of FLE on oral presentations, FLCA showed significant negative correlations with overall presentation performance, particularly in participants’ vocal delivery, enthusiasm, and eye contact. Qualitative data revealed that participants’ FLCA and FLE in oral presentations were predominantly influenced by personal and peer-related factors. Based on the major findings, pedagogical suggestions were put forward to enhance learners’ oral presentation skills and promote academic oracy in higher education.

Keywords: foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA); foreign language enjoyment (FLE); oral presentation performance; academic speaking skills
Corresponding author: Qi Xu, Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, 2 Baiyun Avenue, Baiyun District, Guangzhou 510420, China, E-mail:

Funding source: National Social Science Fund of China

Award Identifier / Grant number: 21CYY015

About the authors

Xixin Ding

Xixin Ding and Min Chen are postgraduate students in Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS). Xixin Ding is interested in second language writing and the xu-based language teaching. Min Chen has participated in a project of Scientific and Technological Innovation Program in Guangdong Province. She also managed to co-edit a textbook for Business English reading. Min Chen shows interests in second language acquisition and xu-based approaches to language learning. Qi Xu is a professor in School of English for International Business, GDUFS. She holds a PhD in applied linguistics from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include second language acquisition, xu-based approaches to language learning, and corpus linguistics. Her works has appeared in TESOL Quarterly, System, Computer Assisted Language Learning, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, etc.

Min Chen

Xixin Ding and Min Chen are postgraduate students in Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS). Xixin Ding is interested in second language writing and the xu-based language teaching. Min Chen has participated in a project of Scientific and Technological Innovation Program in Guangdong Province. She also managed to co-edit a textbook for Business English reading. Min Chen shows interests in second language acquisition and xu-based approaches to language learning. Qi Xu is a professor in School of English for International Business, GDUFS. She holds a PhD in applied linguistics from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include second language acquisition, xu-based approaches to language learning, and corpus linguistics. Her works has appeared in TESOL Quarterly, System, Computer Assisted Language Learning, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, etc.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions that helped improve this manuscript. They also extend their thanks to the students who took part in the study. This research was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (21CYY015) and the Xu Lab at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.

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Supplementary Material

This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2023-0161).

Received: 2023-07-12
Accepted: 2023-12-31
Published Online: 2024-01-19
Published in Print: 2025-09-25

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Young L2 learners in diverse instructional contexts
  4. Research Articles
  5. Impact of post-task explicit instruction on the interaction among child EFL learners in online task-based reading lessons
  6. Can we train young EFL learners to ‘notice the gap’? Exploring the relationship between metalinguistic awareness, grammar learning and the use of metalinguistic explanations in a dictogloss task
  7. Exploring self-regulated learning behaviours of young second language learners during group work
  8. Developmental trajectories of discourse features by age and learning environment
  9. Implementing an oral task in an EFL classroom with low proficient learners: a micro-evaluation
  10. Exploring teacher-student interaction in task and non-task sequences
  11. Children learning Mongolian as an additional language through the implementation of a task-based approach
  12. “Black children are gifted at learning languages – that’s why I could do TBLT”: inclusive Blackness as a pathway for TBLT innovation
  13. Regular Articles
  14. Defining competencies for training non-native Korean speaking teachers: a Q methodology approach
  15. A cross-modal analysis of lexical sophistication: EFL and ESL learners in written and spoken production
  16. Using sentence processing speed and automaticity to predict L2 performance in the productive and receptive tasks
  17. Distance-invoked difficulty as a trigger for errors in Chinese and Japanese EFL learners’ English writings
  18. Exploring Chinese university English writing teachers’ emotions in providing feedback on student writing
  19. General auditory processing, Mandarin L1 prosodic and phonological awareness, and English L2 word learning
  20. Why is L2 pragmatics still a neglected area in EFL teaching? Uncovered stories from Vietnamese EFL teachers
  21. Validation of metacognitive knowledge in vocabulary learning and its predictive effects on incidental vocabulary learning from reading
  22. Anxiety and enjoyment in oral presentations: a mixed-method study into Chinese EFL learners’ oral presentation performance
  23. The influence of language contact and ethnic identification on Chinese as a second language learners’ oral proficiency
  24. An idiodynamic study of the interconnectedness between cognitive and affective components underlying L2 willingness to communicate
  25. “I usually just rely on my intuition and go from there.” pedagogical rules and metalinguistic awareness of pre-service EFL teachers
  26. Development and validation of Questionnaire for Self-regulated Learning Writing Strategies (QSRLWS) for EFL learners
  27. Language transfer in tense acquisition: new evidence from English learning Chinese adolescents
  28. A systematic review of English-as-a-foreign-language vocabulary learning activities for primary school students
  29. Using automated indices of cohesion to explore the growth of cohesive features in L2 writing
  30. The impact of text-audio synchronized enhancement on collocation learning from reading-while-listening: an extended replication of Jung and Lee (2023)
https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2023-0161
Keywords for this article
foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA); foreign language enjoyment (FLE); oral presentation performance; academic speaking skills

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Young L2 learners in diverse instructional contexts
  4. Research Articles
  5. Impact of post-task explicit instruction on the interaction among child EFL learners in online task-based reading lessons
  6. Can we train young EFL learners to ‘notice the gap’? Exploring the relationship between metalinguistic awareness, grammar learning and the use of metalinguistic explanations in a dictogloss task
  7. Exploring self-regulated learning behaviours of young second language learners during group work
  8. Developmental trajectories of discourse features by age and learning environment
  9. Implementing an oral task in an EFL classroom with low proficient learners: a micro-evaluation
  10. Exploring teacher-student interaction in task and non-task sequences
  11. Children learning Mongolian as an additional language through the implementation of a task-based approach
  12. “Black children are gifted at learning languages – that’s why I could do TBLT”: inclusive Blackness as a pathway for TBLT innovation
  13. Regular Articles
  14. Defining competencies for training non-native Korean speaking teachers: a Q methodology approach
  15. A cross-modal analysis of lexical sophistication: EFL and ESL learners in written and spoken production
  16. Using sentence processing speed and automaticity to predict L2 performance in the productive and receptive tasks
  17. Distance-invoked difficulty as a trigger for errors in Chinese and Japanese EFL learners’ English writings
  18. Exploring Chinese university English writing teachers’ emotions in providing feedback on student writing
  19. General auditory processing, Mandarin L1 prosodic and phonological awareness, and English L2 word learning
  20. Why is L2 pragmatics still a neglected area in EFL teaching? Uncovered stories from Vietnamese EFL teachers
  21. Validation of metacognitive knowledge in vocabulary learning and its predictive effects on incidental vocabulary learning from reading
  22. Anxiety and enjoyment in oral presentations: a mixed-method study into Chinese EFL learners’ oral presentation performance
  23. The influence of language contact and ethnic identification on Chinese as a second language learners’ oral proficiency
  24. An idiodynamic study of the interconnectedness between cognitive and affective components underlying L2 willingness to communicate
  25. “I usually just rely on my intuition and go from there.” pedagogical rules and metalinguistic awareness of pre-service EFL teachers
  26. Development and validation of Questionnaire for Self-regulated Learning Writing Strategies (QSRLWS) for EFL learners
  27. Language transfer in tense acquisition: new evidence from English learning Chinese adolescents
  28. A systematic review of English-as-a-foreign-language vocabulary learning activities for primary school students
  29. Using automated indices of cohesion to explore the growth of cohesive features in L2 writing
  30. The impact of text-audio synchronized enhancement on collocation learning from reading-while-listening: an extended replication of Jung and Lee (2023)
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