American International Journal of Education and Linguistics Research; Vol. 2, No. 2; 2019 ISSN 2641-7987 E-ISSN 2641-7995 Published by American Center of Science and Education, USA 10 Investigating the Causes and Negative Effects of English Language Speaking Anxiety: A Case Study among EFL Learners at Kandahar University Ahmad Anwari Kandahar University Kandahar, Afghanistan E-mail: ahmad.anwari1198@gmail.com Abstract The present study has been conducted to investigate the causes of English language speaking anxiety among EFL learners at Kandahar University. Furthermore, the second goal of the study to investigate the negative effects of speaking anxiety. This study uses a quantitative research approach. Similarly, the questionnaire had two parts the first part had comprised 14 items and the second part 7 items and applied randomly. Besides, the data analyzing was performed in SPSS (version, 24) and bring out the mean and standard division. Finally, the findings revealed those factors which caused EFL learners to feel anxiety during English speaking and numbered as follow: (1) I feel fear of making pronunciation mistakes, (2) I am afraid that my classmates will laugh at me when I speak English. (3) I feel worried during Performing communication orally. In addition, the following factors are the negative effects of anxiety on learners: (1) Anxiety limits my speaking fluency, (2) Anxiety causes me to become under pressure during presentation and (3) Anxiety decreases my oral performance and self-confidence. Keywords: Anxiety, Causes, Negative Effects, EFL Learners, Speaking. 1. Introduction In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in English language, which is the international communication language, language of internet, and the language of science, activities, computer, technology, diplomacy and tourism, so learning English language in every branch of education is important for socialization. However, that is clear that English is an international language since it has been largely spoken among foreign language speakers. Equally, Dewi (2015) asserted that English was used in every corner of the world as a medium to interact among people from different cultural, ethnic, and social backgrounds. Moreover, farther researches indicate that the English language, at present isn’t being articulated by native speakers, but also non-native speakers. Aside from being the world language for international communication, English is used in foreign countries in major places, like the news station, factories and etc… (Erling, 2011). Therefore, in every language, there are four ways or abilities for learning of the literal of a language, which includes speaking, listening, writing and reading, which all of them are interconnected with each other and speaking play very important rule in learning a language (Ashari, 2015). However, speaking for special communication usually occurs in contexts where speaking performance is conducted for an audience in different qualities. The principles of public speaking are also intertwined with the development of speaking for special communication. Hence, when a speech involving an audience is taken into consideration, the act of speaking is considered to be more complicated than general everyday conversation and a number of other skills (Lucas, 2001). With the regardless, the point mentioned above, still those countries, which they speak or learn English as a foreign language, they have many challenges in their learning or speaking, and the anxiety is one the biggest challenge in this language. Unfortunately, Afghan’s EFL learners face with this problem, which may adversely affect the learning process in this country (Kamran, 2017). www.acseusa.org/journal/index.php/aijelr American International Journal of Education and Linguistics Research Vol. 2, No. 2; 2019 11 2. What is Anxiety? Anxiety is a psychological construct, commonly described by psychologists as a state of apprehension, fear, tension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system. Indeed, anxiety as perceived sensitively by many language learners negatively influences language learning and has been found one of the most highly examined variables in all of psychology and education (Horwitz, 2001). Furthermore, anxiety can be classified into three types: trait anxiety, state anxiety, and situation-specific anxiety (Scovel, 1978). Traditionally, speaking is one of the most significant parts of language learning. Due to the great influence on the process of language learning, Speaking anxiety, one of the affective variables that influences foreign language learning, often has a detrimental effect on the students oral performance of English (Melough, 2013). It negatively influences the adaptation to the learning atmosphere of students and their achievement (Mohammed & Wahid, 2009). It can be argued that many learners are afraid of using a foreign language orally. Aydın (2001) categorized the reasons of speaking anxiety into four groups: personal reasons, the teacher’s manner in the classroom, learner’s beliefs and testing and teaching procedures. In order to be successful in language learning, speaking anxiety must be overcome (Chaokongjakra, 2013). 3. Significance of Study This project will provide an important opportunity to advance the understanding of all those learners and lecturers whom study or teach English speaking as an EFL learner or teacher at all over Afghanistan especially, those whom enter to the Kandahar University. In addition to that, it will help English departments to consider the factors and will change their plans accordingly. The findings will make an important contribution to the field of education. This study is an attempt to fill a gap in the foreign language speaking anxiety on EFL learners at Kandahar University. In regardless, all the researches that have conducted in this field of education, the researcher still see a need to conduct research at Kandahar University because other research has been conducting in other countries and their educational system is different from Afghan’s cultures. 4. Problem statement Indicating a problem, anxiety on the most cumbrous challenge in educational background, so in Afghanistan especially in Kandahar, province EFL learners when learning a foreign language have many challenges and they feel anxiety in their learning. Apart from general foreign language anxiety, many learners are highly anxious because of participating in speaking activities. In fact, it is often suggested that speaking is the most anxiety-provoking language skill in a foreign language learning situation (Keramida, 2009). The worldwide expansion of the English language has increased the demand to acquire good communication skills in English. Nevertheless, learners of English language often express a feeling of stress, nervousness or anxiety while learning to speak English language and claim to have (Tanveer, 2007). Farther more, the researcher has claimed the problem exists among EFL learners from beginning to more advanced levels. Even highly advanced EFL learners feel anxious while learning and particularly speaking English in some situations. Liu (2006) conducted a study with Chinese undergraduate non- English majors at three different proficiency levels. Based on the findings, Liu concluded that more than one-third of the students in each group appeared to be anxious in the oral English classroom. The more proficient students tended to be less anxious, the students felt the most anxious while talking to the teacher and speaking alone in front of the classroom, yet they felt the least anxious during pair work and even much less anxious in speech communication. 5. Purpose statement The major purpose of the research is to identify factors causing anxiety in speaking in EFL learners and the negative effects of speaking anxiety on learners’ learning. To be more specific, the major objectives of this study:  To investigate the major factors that cause anxiety for EFL students in learning English speaking.  To figure out the negative effects of speaking anxiety on learners. www.acseusa.org/journal/index.php/aijelr American International Journal of Education and Linguistics Research Vol. 2, No. 2; 2019 12 Similarly, this paper investigates the following research questions:  What are the major factors that cause anxiety for EFL students in learning English speaking?  What are the negative effects of speaking anxiety on learners? 6. Literature review In this part of the study the author has collected other scholars’ findings and results of their studies about English language speaking anxiety and negative effects of anxiety on EFL learners at all over the world. According to Pathan, Ahmed & Khan (2017) have conducted a study at Pakistan, University of Balochistan, on EFL learners accordingly to English language speaking anxiety. Finally, the findings of the research concluded that there are many factors that EFL learners feel anxiety in their speaking which numbered as follow; EFL learners feel anxiety when they become fail to use correct grammar in their speaking, they also reported that they suffer from anxiety when grammar hinders them from speaking in their language class. Secondly, the fear of communicating with foreign language instructors caused anxiety among learners since they were afraid of committing grammatical errors. Chan & Wu (2004) have figured out in their research the causes of communication anxiety among EFL Elementary School Students in Taipei County, which have numbered as follow: firstly, less competent than their classmates. Secondly, afraid to speak in English are the major factors that have limited students speaking ability. A series of a recent study which has conducted at preparatory school of a private university on EFL learners have indicated that students suffer from anxiety when they speak with the teacher and in front of the classroom (Tercan and Dikilitas, 2015). A quantitative study by Alrabai (2015), investigated the level and sources of speaking anxiety of Saudi EFL university students. Furthermore, the research findings showed that the main cause of speaking anxiety among participants was their communication apprehension due to lack of preparation before the English class. According to Awan, Azher, Anwar & Naz (2010) the results of their study claimed there are many causes that caused EFL learners anxiety in Universities of Pakistan, “Speaking in front of others is rated as the biggest cause of anxiety followed by worries about grammatical mistakes, pronunciation and being unable to talk spontaneously”. The research that has conducted by Yahya (2013) asserted in the result of the study that dislike of participation, participating in the English class and feeling afraid to express the opinion in front of the classmates, are the major factors of speaking anxiety. A recent study by Mukminin, et al (2015) concluded that English language speaking anxiety at one senior high school in Jambi, Indonesia have shown five major themes, which were related to students’ English language speaking anxiety, including “low speaking skill due to lack of vocabulary and grammar, fear of negative responses from others, low self-esteem to speak in English, fear of being evaluated by teachers, and cultural influences to speak English due to a more teacher-centered style”. A large and growing body of literature has investigated the causes of English language speaking anxiety at Japans’ Universities; the findings of research claimed that in Japanese classes they have the low proficiency of speaking, speaking activities and fear of negative evaluation by classmates which cause them anxiety during English speaking (Kondo & Yong, 2003). Similarly, the study of Mak (2011) asserted that fear of negative evaluation make many foreign language learners experience anxiety. Another research, which has conducted, by Ansari (2015) stated the similar result due to the causes of English speaking anxiety, which are the fear on negative evaluation from peers and perception of low ability in relation to their peers. In another research the causes of English speaking anxiety have been widely investigated by Jackson (2002), results have shown that the lack participation in the classes of Japans’ Universities EFL learners injured their speaking and they feel anxiety during the speaking. Regarding to Hamouda (2013) has conducted a research on Arabs’ EFL learner’s classroom anxiety and figured out that the following causes which caused EFL learners anxiety in their English speaking, the shy and reluctant of Saudi EFL learners with communication in foreign language and the lack of motivation from teachers and peers, have considered a major factor of speaking anxiety. Referring to the views of Qzurk, & Gurbuz (2014) that have conducted research at a state University of Turkish, about the causes of EFL learners speaking anxiety. In addition, they have figured out that the following factors have been caused the learners to feel anxiety in their speaking; difficult pronunciation of English, immediate questions, fear of making mistakes and negative evaluation and these factors have been identified as major causes of EFL speaking anxiety. Similarly, the research of Dörnyei (2001) has shown the causes such as fear of making mistakes and fear of test, assessment, social comparison and competition. www.acseusa.org/journal/index.php/aijelr American International Journal of Education and Linguistics Research Vol. 2, No. 2; 2019 13 According to Williams & Andrade (2008) have figured out many factors that make Japanese EFL learners fearful and they feel anxiety during the speaking of the English language. For instance, the researcher claimed the following factors; “Did not know how to say something in English, Speaking in front of others, worried about pronunciation, worried about grammatical mistakes and confused between English and Japanese” are the major factors that Japanese EFL learners feel anxiety and their speaking become in low level. With regard to the study of Alrabai (2014) which, has conducted a study on Saudi EFL learners speaking anxiety. As the result of the study, figured out that the follow causes such as; “in language class, I can get so nervous that I forget things I know, I start to panic when I have to speak without preparation in language class, I get nervous when the language teacher asks questions that I haven’t prepared for in advance and I feel overwhelmed by the number of rules you have to learn to speak the English language”. The above causes are the major factors that caused EFL learners anxiety in speaking.The findings of the study by Timina (2015) revealed that the majority of the Taiwanese university first-year students were unwilling to speak English loudly due to the fear of not getting or misunderstanding the teachers’ tasks. The findings reported that the students also complained that English language teachers speak too fast and use many difficult words. These factors are likely to cause anxiety among foreign language learners. Bozavli & Gulmez (2012) have conducted a study on Turkish native speakers and non-native speakers and asserted that in a language class, the activity of speaking by a learner in front of the class provokes anxiety, which means that less self- conscious in front of peers when they know that they are better. Furthermore, the study, which took place at Tennessee University, and claimed that majority of the learners become anxious when they are asked to perform in the foreign language in front of their class (Young, 1990). A study that has been conducted at our neighbor country Iran by Yamat & Bidabadi (2012) investigated the factors that caused EFL learners speaking anxiety are fear of negative evaluation, test anxiety and anxiety of English classes. A study that has conducted on ESL learners by Woodrow (2006) reported the causes of speaking anxiety, which were investigated through interviews. The results indicate that most ESL students feel anxiety whenever they are facing with native speakers. Furthermore, the result of the study among the first-year License, Master and Doctorate EFL students at the Saad Dahlab University of Blida, Algeria, appeared anxiety in their speaking, because of fear of interaction, error correction, language proficiency, and low self-confidence cause them to have anxiety in their speaking (Melouah, 2013). With regard to the study of Kitano (2001) have conducted a study on learners of Japanese college, and revealed that; fear of negative evaluation and self-perception of speaking ability in the target language are the two potential sources leading to a foreign language speaking anxiety. According to Çagatay (2015) has conducted a study on EFL learners at Turkish state university about speaking anxiety. Furthermore, the result of the study shows that anxiety increase in EFL learners when speaking with native speakers. Mohtasham and Farnia (2017) have claimed in their research that students feel anxiety when they speak in front of classmates and teacher and When they an important speech they feel uncomfortable. A study that has conducted by Aydin (2008) on language anxiety among EFL students and the finding of the study claimed many reasons that cause EFL learners anxiety in Balikesir University at Turkish. Thus, the factors numbered as follow: Fear of making verbal or spelling mistakes and negative thoughts of others during speaking are the major factors that cause EFL learners anxiety in their speaking. According to Rafada (2017) conducted a mixed method on Arabs EFL schools students and claimed that peer anxiety causes them to have anxiety in their speaking, which means during performing the presentations and discussion others classmates are laughing on them. Similarly, Tsui (1996) figured out the same cause on students of ESL feel anxiety when other classmates laugh on them during the speaking. 7. Negative effects of speaking anxiety In this part of the literature, the author has collected the literature about the negative effects of speaking anxiety on learners learning. According to Onwuegbuzie (1999) argue that the existence of foreign language anxiety can affect negatively the fluency of learners’ speech. Similarly, Chan and Wu (2004) claimed in their finding the same result of the negative effects of speaking anxiety cause students to become poor in speaking fluency. Research that has conducted by Mahmud (2017) about the effects and problems of English language speaking anxiety among EFL learners, the results, they cannot communicate in class, which means they become under pressure of teachers and students during spacing and them. Philips (1992) has conducted a study and stated the effects of anxiety on speaking, in the result of his study that learners feel anxiety when they are performing oral presentation and they cannot perform perfectly. The researcher has brought a solution, which is lack of practice of speaking. With regard www.acseusa.org/journal/index.php/aijelr American International Journal of Education and Linguistics Research Vol. 2, No. 2; 2019 14 to the study of Wilang and Singhasiri (2017) at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, argued that when anxiety increase in speaking, ineligibility, and comprehensibility will decrease. According to Na (2007) has conducted a study of speaking anxiety and negative effects of anxiety on learners’ learning, the results of his study show that anxiety may negatively affect learners’ performance and decrease their self-confidence. Similarly, Spielmann and Radnofsky (2001) have explored foreign language anxiety among different EFL learners and have maintained that foreign language anxiety can generally influence negatively on learners’ performance. A study that has been conducted at Spanish by Sellers (2000) the finding of the research include that the major cause of reading anxiety is to have anxiety in speaking and the students face with many challenges in their reading. On the other hand, a study that has been conducted by Elkhafaifi (2005) on Arabs EFL learners, have claimed that those students who have anxiety in their speaking and their anxiety caused them to be poor in listening skill. Melouah (2013) has conducted a study in first year EFL learners of License, Master and Doctorate at Saad Dahlab University of Blida, Algeria, and the result of his study claim that the anxiety affected their oral performance negatively. Liu (2006) have conducted a study on EFL classroom anxiety and have argued that the majority of China EFL students believed that anxiety negatively affected their performance in spoken English, which contributed as major effects of language anxiety. According to the findings of Zhang (2004) have conducted a research on the language anxiety and its effects on oral performance and claimed in the result of his study that, when the students have anxiety the oral performance would decrease. Similarly, Park and Lee (2004) have asserted that when students have anxiety their oral performance would decrease and when have self-confidence their oral performance would increase. 8. Methodology Research Design As the present study tried to identify the causes and negative effects of speaking anxiety among EFL learners at Kandahar University. The study is descriptive in nature in which a quantitative questionnaire has been used to collect data. Descriptive quantitative approach examines the phenomenon by collecting the data numerically. Moreover, “Survey research designs are procedures in quantitative research in which investigators administer a survey to a sample or to the entire population of people to describe the attitudes, opinions, behaviors, or characteristics of the population” (Creswell, 2012). Population & Sampling The participants of the study were EFL learners of Kandahar University from which 103 EFL students from English language and literature department of education faculty and English language and literature department of Literature faculty has been selected based on (Morgan) through simple random sampling. According to Creswell (2012) in simple random sampling, the researcher selects participants for the sample so that any individual had an equal probability of being selected from the population. The intent of simple random sampling is to choose the individual to be sampled who will the representative of the population. Instrument This study adopted a questionnaire on Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale designed by AL-Saraj (2014). The questionnaire comprised of 33 items but only 14 items were included in the first part of the questionnaire and the second part of the questionnaire had 7 items which, made from the literature review and self-experience of the author. In addition, the first part of the questionnaire comprised of demographic information of the participants and the second part comprised of items based on five-point Likert-Scale, which were the causes of foreign language speaking anxiety and the last part were the negative effects of speaking anxiety on learners. Validity and reliability of the Questionnaire Before the dividing of the instrument (questionnaire) among learners, for the establishment of the questionnaire’s validity, the researcher consulted with supervisor and instructor lecturer for creative feedback and comments. The lecturer advised for the structure, statements and Likert scales of the questionnaire and the adjustments with objectives. After entering the data to SPSS, the consistency of the questionnaire items was 0.88 Cronbach’s alpha. It seems that the questionnaire was reliable. www.acseusa.org/journal/index.php/aijelr American International Journal of Education and Linguistics Research Vol. 2, No. 2; 2019 15 Data Collection Procedure Prior to data collection, the researcher sought consent from the head of the faculty. Students were also informed of the nature of the study and they were assured that their participation is voluntary and their names would not be revealed in the publication of this research. After seeking the consent of the research participants, the questionnaire was distributed among them and they were directed to fill up the questionnaire in the presence of the researcher. All the research participants were assured that they would be given access to this study once it is completed. All the participants responded to the questionnaire and handed over to the researcher. 9. Data Analysis procedure In order to answer the first and second research questions, data were performed in SPSS (version, 24) in which researcher calculated means, and the standard deviation to determine the causes of English speaking anxiety among the participants. To answer the second research question cited above, the negative effects of speaking anxiety on learners’ learning was also performed in the SPSS to determine the negative effects of speaking anxiety. Findings The below table 1 shows the demographic information of participant in the categories of gender, age, level of education and faculty. Table 1: Demographic Information. Characteristics No of Participations Percentage Gender Male 94 91.3% Female 9 8.7% Age of participants 18-20 21 20.4% 21-25 71 68.9% 26-30 10 9.7% upper30 1 1.0% Level of education Freshman 13 12.6% Sophomore 23 22.3% Junior 32 31.1% Senior 35 34.0% Faculty Education faculty 49 47.6% literature Faculty 54 52.4% The first research question aimed at determining the causes of English speaking anxiety among EFL learners at the University of Kandahar, Afghanistan. www.acseusa.org/journal/index.php/aijelr American International Journal of Education and Linguistics Research Vol. 2, No. 2; 2019 16 Table 2: The Causes of Speaking Anxiety. Statement Mean SD.DIV I feel fear of making pronunciation mistakes 3.60 1.38 I am afraid that my classmates will laugh at me when I speak English 3.54 1.33 I feel worried during Performing communication orally. 3.50 1.21 Even if I am well prepared for English class, I feel anxious about it. 3.33 1.30 I feel overwhelmed by the number of rules I have to learn to speak English 3.29 1.08 Lack of participation causes me anxiety during speaking. 3.24 1.29 I feel Fear of making verbal or spelling mistakes. 3.23 1.25 I get tense and confused when the teacher does not understand what I mean in English 3.22 1.23 In my language class, it bothers me when I cannot speak English very much because of my grammar 3.13 1.34 I think that my classmates’ English is better than me. 3.11 1.23 I feel fear of negative evaluation in the class from students and teachers. 3.07 1.33 Error correction style of the teacher causes me anxiety. 2.88 1.32 I start to panic when I have to speak without preparation in English class. 2.82 1.44 I feel shy when speaking English in front of other students. 2.8137 1.41932 Likert scales: 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=somehow agree, 4=agree and 5=strongly agree The results of Table 2 illustrate that EFL learners feel anxiety because of making pronunciation mistakes (M=3.60, SD=1.38). Furthermore, they also reported that they suffer from anxiety when other classmates laughing on them during speaking (M=3.54, SD=1.33), the third major cause of speaking anxiety is that students feel anxiety during the oral communication in class or presentations (M=3.50. SD=1.21). Therefore, the teachers of EFL learners in Kandahar University don’t paying attention to the learners’ participation in class and the lack of motivation of classmates cause them to have anxiety. Furthermore, the items with the lowest mean and standard division are scored: I feel shy when speaking English in front of other students (M=2.81, SD=1.41), I start to panic when I have to speak without preparation in English class (M=2.82, SD=1.44), Error correction style of the teacher cause me anxiety (M=2.88, SD=1.32). The second research question of research aimed to determine the negative effects of speaking anxiety on learners’ learning. Table 3: The Negative Effects of Speaking Anxiety. Statement Mean SD.DIV Anxiety limits my speaking fluency. 3.65 1.16 Anxiety causes me to become under pressure during the presentation. 3.60 1.44 Anxiety decreases my oral performance and self-confidence. 3.56 1.31 www.acseusa.org/journal/index.php/aijelr American International Journal of Education and Linguistics Research Vol. 2, No. 2; 2019 17 Anxiety stops me to remember vocabulary. 3.30 1.27 Anxiety stops me to learn grammar practically. 3.24 1.33 With have speaking anxiety I feel anxiety in reading and listening. 2.79 1.38 Anxiety causes me to leave the class. 2.42 1.31 Likert scales: 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=somehow agree, 4=agree and 5=strongly agree The above Table 3 shows the negative effects of anxiety on EFL learners’ learning, which have noted that the learners’ anxiety causes them to be poor in their speaking fluency(M=3.65, SD=1.160) the second effect of anxiety that learners become under pressure during presentations and participating in the class (M=3.60, SD=1.44). Furthermore, Anxiety decreases my oral performance and self-confidence. (M=3.56, SD=1.31). Even though, those items with the lowest mean and standard division are scored: Anxiety causes me to leave the class (M=2.42, SD=1.31) and with have speaking anxiety, I feel anxiety in reading and listening (M=2.79, SD=1.38). 10. Discussion The present study confirmed the findings of the research questions. From the short review above, key findings emerged: the major factors, which caused EFL learners’ anxiety in speaking, numbered as follow: first Kandahar University EFL learners feel anxiety in speaking because they are not familiar with the hard pronunciation of English language. The pronunciation of the English language is a little hard for those who learn English as ESL and EFL; in this research, this is the major cause that students feel anxiety during speaking. Similarly, this finding is in line with the findings by Ozturk and Gurbuz (2014). Contrary to the findings of Pathan, Ahmed & Khan (2017) we did not find and they have demonstrated that students feel anxiety when they become fail to use grammar practically. Secondly, the laughing of other classmates cause them to feel anxiety, which refers to the lack of motivation and peer anxiety from other classmates and friends, it means that other students do not know how to behave with other classmates and motivate them. The finding is in line with the finding of Rafada (2017) and Tsui (1996). Furthermore, the third highest cause of anxiety is the being of oral performance, which students feel anxiety during oral communication. It means that the lack of confidence for getting oral presentation and speaking is one of those factors which cause them to have anxiety in speaking. This finding is in accordance with findings reported by Hamouda (2013). In addition, the answers of the second research question show the following results: the highest negative effect of anxiety on learners’ learning is the limitation of speaking fluency, which means with having anxiety the students will become poor in the speaking fluency and they couldn’t speak as well as possible. This is consistent with what has been found by Onwuegbuzie’s (1999) study. In contrast to the finding of Alemi, Daftarifard and Pashmforooshs’ (2011) study. Hence, the second highest effect of speaking anxiety is that learners become under pressure, which itself need to conduct research on. It means that anxiety is one of the big challenge for learners, with having speaking anxiety learners become under pressure of teacher and students and couldn’t to present their presentation perfectly and the same couldn’t understand their audiences. Similarly, the finding is directly in line with the finding of Mahmud (2017). Thirdly, with having anxiety EFL learners loss their self-confidence and oral performance. It means that when students feel anxiety they couldn’t say, read and presents their speeches confidently. Similarly, this basic finding is consistent with the findings. 11. Conclusion In summary, this academic study aimed to investigate all those factors that caused EFL learners anxiety in their speaking and the negative effects of speaking anxiety on their leaning. However, all the participants showed their satisfaction toward the study. Anxiety is a psychological emotion, which the people show the apprehension toward it. Furthermore, the literature review showed different findings and results such as; fear of negative evaluation, pronunciation mistakes, grammar mistakes, lack of participation, lack of motivation and etc… In spite, the method of the study included a quantitative research approach and the data have been collected by questionnaire from participants. In order, the findings of the study show the major factors of anxiety, which are the fear of learners from English pronunciation, fear from the presentation and the lack of motivation. Furthermore, the second part shows the www.acseusa.org/journal/index.php/aijelr American International Journal of Education and Linguistics Research Vol. 2, No. 2; 2019 18 major effects of speaking anxiety among students, which are the limitation of speaking fluency, the pressure among students and the decreasing of self-confidence. 12. Limitation The limitations of the present studies naturally include that the author had many challenges during conducting the study; the biggest challenge was the lack of time for investigating the study. It means that there was not enough time to conduct the study perfectly. Another limitation of this was the weaknesses of internet during downloading the articles and using for other function of the study. 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Retrieved on, 14, 2018. www.acseusa.org/journal/index.php/aijelr American International Journal of Education and Linguistics Research Vol. 2, No. 2; 2019 20 Appendix Dear participants, This academic research is conducted by a senior student of English department of education faculty for the purpose of identifying all those factors that cause anxiety in speaking of EFL learners at Kandahar University and the negative effects of anxiety. This study will help students, lecturers and other responsible circles to understand the present situation your anxiety of speaking. All the given information is for the research purpose. We will be grateful for your volunteer participation. Part one: Demographic Information Gender: Male □ Female □ Age: 18-20 □ 21-25 □ 25-30 □ upper 30 □ Class: Freshman □ Sophomore □ Junior □ Senior □ Faculty: Education Faculty □ Literature Faculty □ Part two: Statements (1) through (14) describe how you feel about speaking English. Please read the statements carefully and give your first reaction by choosing an answer for each statement: (1) Strongly Disagree, (2) Disagree, (3) Neither Agree nor Disagree (4) Agree, (5) Strongly Agree. No Statements Strongly disagree Disagree Somehow agree Agree Strongly agree 1 I think that my classmates’ English is better than me. 2 I am afraid that my classmates will laugh at me when I speak English 3 I feel overwhelmed by the number of rules I have to learn to speak English 4 I feel shy when speaking English in front of other students. 5 I get tense and confused when the teacher does not understand what I mean in English 6 I feel Fear of making verbal or spelling mistakes. 7 I feel fear of making pronunciation mistakes 8 Lack of participation causes me www.acseusa.org/journal/index.php/aijelr American International Journal of Education and Linguistics Research Vol. 2, No. 2; 2019 21 anxiety during speaking. 9 In my language class, it bothers me when I cannot speak English very much because of my grammar 10 Error correction style of the teacher causes me anxiety. 11 I feel worried during Performing communication orally. 12 I feel fear of negative evaluation in the class from students and teachers. 13 I start to panic when I have to speak without preparation in English class. 14 Even if I am well prepared for English class, I feel anxious about it. Part three: in this part of the questionnaire there are many negative effects of speaking anxiety that adversely affect learners’ speaking ability. No Statements Strongly disagree Disagree Somehow Agree Strongly agree 1 Anxiety limits my speaking fluency. 2 Anxiety stops me to remember vocabulary. 3 Anxiety stops me to learn grammar practically. 4 Anxiety decreases my oral performance and self-confidence. 5 Anxiety causes me to become under pressure during presentation. 6 Anxiety causes me to leave the class. 7 With have speaking anxiety I feel anxiety in reading and listening. Copyrights Copyright for this article is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).