Pashto-Speaking Students' Perceptions Of Second Language Speaking Anxiety At Bs Level

Abstract

The current study's objective was to determine how Pashto-speaking undergraduate students at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University in Sheringal, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan's Dir Upper district. district. The study's primary goals were to specifically look into the causes, signs, and coping mechanisms of second language speaking anxiety in the targeted area. The study's sample consisted of 200 Pashto-speaking (150 men and 50 women) BS level students from SBBU Sheringal, Dir Upper, KPK, Pakistan.  A questionnaire using a five-point Likert scale was used to collect the data. The questionnaire was adapted and modified from five globally accepted foreign language anxiety questionnaires (Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) by Horwitz et al. (1986), Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety (PRPSA) by McCroskey (2015), Speaker Anxiety Scale (SAS) by Clevenger and Halvorson (1992), Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety Coping Strategies (FLSACS) by Deyuan (2017),Tactics for Coping with Language Anxiety Organized by a Five-Cluster Solution by Kondo and Ying Ling (2004).   The study's findings revealed that the significant sources of second language speaking anxiety in the targeted area were fear of making mistakes, self-consciousness in front of a large group or fear of public speaking, and fear of negative evaluation, among other things. The study's findings also revealed that the most common symptoms of second language speaking anxiety in the targeted area were palpitation or rapid heartbeat, disorganized or mixed-up speaking, and stridulated or vibrating voice, among others. Furthermore, the study's findings revealed that the feasible anxiety coping strategies in the targeted area included friendly correction of mistakes, teacher encouragement or praising, and familiarity with speaking activity, among others. It has been determined that BS level Pashto speaking students at SBBU Sheringal, District Dir Upper, KPK, Pakistan suffer from severe second language speaking anxiety.