Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM

Background of the Study

Communication Apprehension is a term coined by James McCroskey in 2001 is

often referred to as “an individual’s level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or

anticipated communication with other person or persons”. Conversely, communication

anxiety can be situational rather than pervasive a student’s behavior. “A tendency to be

anxious in communicating may be specific to only few settings or may exist in most

everyday communication situation, or may even be part of general anxiety traits that

arises in many facets of an individual’s life” (Friedman, 1980).

In addition, a direct correlation has been found between academic achievement

and communication apprehension (Kim, 2008). Communication Apprehension has a

direct relation with cognitive performance and various academic achievement such as

overall grade point average, standardized achievement scores and grades earned in

senior high school (Richmond and Robertson, 1977).

Furthermore, an advanced theory also states that children who grew up in a rural

environment are prone to develop higher levels of communication apprehension than

those who live in urban areas simply because they are usually exposed to fewer adults

and therefore, less likely to encounter situations where communication is must. Less

exposure to communication situations for children have lead researchers to estimate that

these individuals heard about 600 words an hour while a child in a professional home

heard about 2,100. “Children in professional families are talked to three times as much
as the average child in an average family” as stated by Hart and Risley in 1995. It was

also estimated that by the age of four, children with professional parents had heard an

average 48 million words addressed to them while children in poor families had heard

only 13 million.

A variety of physical sensations can be felt by communication apprehensive

individuals such as sweaty palms, butterfly in stomach and rapid breathings. Our voices

may also shake, and we may have a “dry mouth” feeling that makes it difficult to even

mutter simple words. If we understand more about the nature of the body’s responses to

stress we can better develop mechanisms in managing the body’s misguided attempts to

helps us cope with our fear of social judgment.

The researcher’s goal is to apparently show how the communication apprehension

of Grade 11 HUMSS students affect their ability to succeed. Specifically, this study deals

with the communication apprehension of Selected Grade 11 HUMSS students in

Urdaneta City National High School.

Moreover, speaking in class is most frequently difficult for anxious students even

though they are pretty good at responding to a drill or giving prepared speeches. Difficulty

in speaking in dyads or groups (oral communication anxiety) or in public ("stage fright"),

or in listening to or learning a spoken message (receiver anxiety) are all manifestations

of communication apprehension. Communication apprehension is a pervasive,

multifaceted phenomenon that has been studied at multiple levels by multiple

researchers. Communication apprehension, which generally refers to a type of anxiety

experienced in interpersonal communicative settings (McCroskey, 1987), is obviously

quite relevant to second or foreign language learning contexts. Communication

apprehension, referred to synonymously as communication anxiety is “an individual’s

level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with

another person or persons” (McCroskey, 1997, p. 82).

Additionally, this anxiety is significant, because it adds to our understanding of the

cognitive processes behind communication, which is not a mindless behavior: People

have the ability to choose to communicate or choose not to communicate. Whether a

person is willing or not to communicate, either in a given instance or more generally, is a

volitional choice which is cognitively processed. The personality of the individual may be

a determining factor in the manner in which that choice is made and what that choice will

be (McCroskey and Richmond, 1990, pp. 20-21). According to Maclntyre & Gardner

(1989), communication apprehension seems to be augmented in relation to the learners’

negative self-perceptions caused by the inability to understand others and make

themselves understood. Communication apprehension is not the only factor that affects

an individual’s decision whether or not to communicate. It does, however, play a

significant role. Communication apprehension theory posits that high-apprehension

individuals are less likely to engage in communication than low-apprehension individuals

(Scott and Timmerman, 2005, McCroskey and Richmond, 1990).

Consequently, there are other factors other than communication apprehension that

affects an individual’s decision in terms of socializing. There are students that suffer from

Xenoglossophobia or Foreign Language Anxiety that fears the negative evaluation of

others that causes them to avoid any situations that requires them to face criticisms due

to their fear of being called weak-minded.

 Furthermore, difficulty in speaking in class is probably the most frequently

mentioned concern of the foreign language students seeking help at the Learning Skill

Center (LSC). Learning Skill Center (LSC) is a defined area of the classroom organized

around a topic, theme, or activity in which students learn, practice, or build on a concept

or skill. LSC helps many students to improve their skills in communication. Many students

are reported to be comfortable during practices or drills but tend to get nervous during the

actual speech performances in front of many people.

Social language is considered conversational and contextualized language. A

study conducted by Woodrow (1921) found that English language learners from

Confucian Heritage Cultures (CHCs), China, Korea and Japan were more anxious

language learners than other ethnic groups. Foreign language anxiety is a complex

phenomenon that possibly relates to many factors existing in learning processes. The

interpersonal network of language contacts, Including, academic, family, and social-

institutional environments have a seemingly positive effect upon developing language

competence and bilingualism. Foreign language anxiety seems to be the common

experiences among learners. The relationship between anxiety and listening

comprehension, he suggests that anxious students had difficulty ability to make a proper

impression. The inability either to express oneself or to comprehend another person leads

to frustration and apprehension because of the fear on stage.

Communication apprehension (CA) exists as a phenomenon among all

individuals (Blume, Baldwin, & Ryan, 2013; Byrne, Flood, & Shanahan, 2012). The fear

of speaking publically or interpersonally is an experience all individuals encounter to some

degree and with this fear comes the accompanying feelings of reticence, nervousness,
and anxiety (Bodie, 2010). People who suffers from communication apprehension are

reluctant to talk over ideas or problems and he talks infrequently, does not socialize

decently for he is a fainthearted in as much as he fear public speaking.

Shyness is another term used as a communication apprehension theory.

This theory was first advanced by Philip Zimbardo in 1977, but his definition on this matter

was described to be vague. A clearer form of this was presented by Paul Pilkonis, Carol

Heape, and Robert Klein in 1980 in the following:

Shyness was defined as a tendency to avoid other people. It could also be the

nervousness and anxiety one may feel during social interactions. Failing to respond

appropriately to someone during interaction could also be shyness. In behavioral terms,

shy people are characterized by avoidance of social interaction, and when this is

impossible, by inhibition and an inability to respond appropriately; they are hesitant to

talk, to make eye contact, to gesture, and to smile.

The theory of shyness is very important in much of the communication anxiety

literature. With this, researchers have assigned degrees to shyness. McCroskey and

Richmond (1988) identified at least five different types:

·The Skill Deficient. These people are shy in situations where they believe (either

correctly or incorrectly) that their skills are insufficient to communicate effectively resulting

to poor communication skills. People tend to do what they do well and avoid doing what

they do poorly.

·The Social Introvert. Unlike skill deficient individuals, introverts have different

variety in the degree of shyness they show. Introverts behave in a shy manner because

they have little motivation to interact with other people. In some circumstances where they
have little motivation to communicate, they won’t communicate with you at all, displaying

shyness. In other situations, when they actually have the motivation, they won’t appear

to be shy at all.

· The Alienated. These individuals are the type that do not share the common,

mainstream values of society, are not well integrated into society, its groups and

institutions, and are socially isolated from the mainstream. Most people in our society

attempt to follow to the norms and values of the people. Some people, however, do not

share the norms and values of the other people in their environment. They do not have

the same needs and desires. This is why alienated individuals typically display shyness.

If these kind of people are to be put in another environment they might behave differently,

but given their current environment where they see the little need to communicate

because they see no benefits in communicating.

·The Ethnically/Culturally Divergent. Each ethnic and cultural group has its own

ways of behaving. Similarly, ethnic and cultural groups communicate in very different

ways, sometimes even in different languages or dialects. The problem arises when one

moves into a different group in terms of culture. The person, despite being an effective

speaker in his own group would possibly have difficulties in understanding what he or she

should do to communicate effectively. Because of this circumstances the person is very

likely to behave in a shy manner.

Communication competence is a term that describes the problem associated with

individuals being ineffective communicators. McCroskey (1980) referred to this as, the

implication that the person’s behavior is dysfunctional because the person lacks

communication skills. However, describing communication competence as the elusive

construct, McCroskey (1984) elongates his previous definition to state, communication

competence requires not only the ability to perform enough communication behaviors, it

also requires an understanding of those behaviors and the cognitive ability to make

choices among behaviors.

Although studies related to language anxiety have already started in the western

countries since the 1970s, many researches have been generated since the publication

of Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope’s (1986) Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety where they

were able to formulate the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS).

Students of the University of Texas participated in a support group concerning in the said

study. The study reported the presence of psychophysiological symptoms associated with

anxiety such as tenseness, trembling, perspiring, palpitations, and sleep disturbances.

In Africa particularly in Algeria, a study by Idri in 2012 mapped out factors that

generates foreign language anxiety in Algerian students learning English. Idri (2012) dealt

with university students in the Algerian education system where English is considered as

a foreign language. The researcher focused on the way students see and live anxiety in

their foreign language classroom and how they manage to handle it. The studies

previously mentioned focused on investigating anxiety in learning English as a second or

foreign language in general. Apart from general foreign language classroom anxiety,

many learners are highly anxious with respect to participation in speaking activities

(Cheng,Horwitz, and Schallert, 1994 as cited in Tsiplakides, 2009).

Studies regarding communication apprehension are not only limited in western

countries. Several Asian countries also conducts researches regarding the said topic.
 In a Japanese context, a study that was conducted in Japan by Williams and

Andrade (2008) examined anxiety in Japanese university foreign language classes

regarding the type of situations that provoked anxiety, the perceived cause of anxiety,

and the ability to cope with the anxiety. Using cross-cultural study of emotion responses,

the findings with 243 Japanese learners as the participants revealed that anxiety was

most often associated with the output and processing stages of the learning process.

Unsurprisingly, their study revealed that the participants attributed the cause of anxiety to

the teacher or other people.

In Malaysia, Devi and Feroz (2008) investigation communication apprehension

among engineering students and dealt with the learners’ perceived communication

competence, their general performance in the oral presentation skills and identified the

possible correlations that existed between these elements. The researchers used the

Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC), Personal Report of

Communication Apprehension (PRCA-12) and a Presentation Evaluation Rubric. Based

on their investigation, they found out that their participants fall under the modest group of

speakers and have a moderate communication anxiety but it did not affect their grades.

Their study further suggested that the higher the students’ perception of their

communicative competence, the less communication anxiety there is.

European researchers also conducted similar studies, Baran-Lucarz (2010)

reported in her paper the study investigating whether the actual level of foreign langguage

learners’ pronunciation and the pronunciation level perceived by Polish students can be

considered significant sources of anxiety. The researcher employed the FLCAS (Foreign

Language Classroom Anxiety Scale) to measure the participants’ degree of anxiety and
a Pronunciation Test to diagnose the actual level of pronunciation. The research showed

that both the actual and perceived pronunciation levels correlated significantly with the

degree of learners’ language anxiety. Further, the results of the study showed that

perceived pronunciation level was found to be more strongly related to language anxiety

than the actual pronunciation skills. The researcher emphasized on introducing regular

well-planned pronunciation practice which would improve the foreign langguage learners’

actual pronunciation level. She posited that the relationship between pronunciation and

language anxiety might be moderated by several variables, such as concern for

pronunciation, motivation to speak a good accent and level of competitiveness.

A research by Rosario Mahusay-Baria of UP Los Banos (2016) resulted that there

is a significant relationship between hesitation phenomena and oral communication that

results to public speaking anxiety. This paper examines how hesitations, through oral

communication, shows various levels of communication apprehension among the

students of a public speaking class at the University of the Philippines in Los Banos. One

hundred students enrolled in Speech Communication 1 class in UP Los Banos

participated in the study. Each student was assigned to speak in both Impromptu and

Extemporaneous speeches using the Filipino and English as a medium. The respondents’

level of anxiety was observed, judged, and rated by three speech instructors using the

Behavioral Assessment of Speech Anxiety (BASA). The recorded speeches were

transcribed as literally as possible to make an accurate observation and analysis of the

frequencies of hesitations.

In the University of the Philippines, an earlier research by Carmencita Del Villar

(2010), also stated that there are eight factors that causes communication apprehension
to beginning Filipino students. These factors are expectation, training and experience,

audience, self-worth, rejection, verbal fluency, preparation and previous unpleasant

experience. The factors that are mentioned were given to Del Villar by Filipino students

to explain the fear that they feel whenever they speak in public. The students believe that

8they will be able to overcome their public speaking anxiety. Practice and preparation are

what they believed to be the most important remedy.

A similar study to Del Villar, was also conducted at the University of San Carlos in

Cebu City by Cris Delatado Barabas wherein he investigated in their domains namely,

Utilizing Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope’s (1986) Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale

(FLCAS). The results show the neutrality in the three domains. His paper reports on the

factors that the learners perceived to be anxiety provoking. Factor analysis yields eight

categories: audience, preparations, personality, unpleasant experiences, environment,

lack of skills, physiological, and learning activities.

According to Laurilla (2007) communication apprehension has attracted a lot of

research especially in the area of student behavior in the classroom and an ever-

increasing body of research has accumulated indicating that there is a pervasive

relationship between this communication variable and the various aspects of the

academic experience. The past three decades of research in CA indicates that the

relationship between CA and language learning is an important, complex, yet a common

research topic (Pyun et al., 2014). For example, research findings conducted by Pyun et

al. (2014) indicate that CA strongly underlies the affective variables such as risk taking, a

prominent determinant of classroom participation and a significant indicator of successful

learners.
 Research by Witt & Behnke (2006) elucidate that one’s level of communication

apprehension does have a profound impact on their oral communication, social skills and

self-esteem. Earlier studies done by Powers & Smythe (1980), said that CA levels have

a significant effect on students’ examination grade. In addition, Quiggins (1972), found

that individuals with high CA are often perceived as less credible and less attractive, which

can lead to more rejection in social and work environments.

As stated by P’Rayan A & Shetty T (2008), that even those who have high level of

proficiency in a language can experience CA. Some people may be good at

communicating through writing but they may have problems speaking in front of an

audience. Some may be good at interpersonal communication but may not feel

comfortable making presentations.

References

http://www.jamescmccroskey.com/measures/shyness.htm

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1065859

https://papers.iafor.org/submission29844/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265823213_Beginning_Filipino_students'_attri

butions_about_oral_communication_anxiety

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325258585_Foreign_Language_Anxiety_in_E

FL_Speaking_Classrooms_A_Case_Study_of_First-

year_LMD_Students_of_English_at_Saad_Dahlab_University_Algeria

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1136575

http://apheit.bu.ac.th/jounal/Vol21No2Dec2015/13-p111-123.pdf
 Statement of the Problem

This study dealt with the communication apprehension of Grade 11 HUMSS

students. Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the Grade 11 HUMSS students in terms of:

a). Age

b.) Gender

c.) Name (optional)

2. What is the level of communication apprehension of Grade 11 HUMSS Students in

terms of:

a.) Impromptu speaking

b.) Extemporaneous speaking

c.) Informative speaking

Assumptions

The assumptions will be stated in null form. There is no significance between the

respondent’s profile and the respondent’s public speaking experiences for having

communication apprehension.

Significance of the Study

The result of the study could benefit the following:

 Students. This study could benefit the students by guiding and helping them to

enrich their research to get further information. It could help them in overcoming their

communication apprehension.

Teachers. This study will benefit the teachers in a way that it help them guide their

students since they would know the reasons of their communication apprehension.

Future Researchers. The study will give further information and knowledge to the

researchers and future researcher who wants to conduct the same study on the

subject/research.

DepEd. This study will benefit DepEd for implementing the K-12 curriculum and

for the good response of the students to be better public speakers.

Scope and Delimitations

The coverage of this study is to distinguish how communication apprehension can

affect the Grade 11 HUMSS students of Urdaneta City Nation High School’s (S.Y. 2018-

2019) ability to succeed. The respondents of this research will be limited to 20 selected

Grade 11 HUMSS students inasmuch as they are dealing with public speaking. The

researchers chose Grade 11 HUMSS students to be their respondents since speaking is

their realm.

Definition of Terms

The following terms were defined operationally for the purpose of the study:

Anticipated. Expected or looked forward to.

 Anxiety. A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent

event or something with an uncertain outcome.

Apprehension. Anxiety or fear that something bad or unpleasant will happen.

Cognitive. Involving conscious mental activities.

Communication. The act of exchanging information and expressing ideas,

thoughts and feelings.

Conduct. The manner in which a person behaves, especially on a particular

occasion or in a particular context.

Cope. To deal effectively with something difficult.

Correlation. The relationship between things that happen or change tgether.

Enrich. To improve the usefulness or quality something by adding something of it.

Facets. A particular aspect or feature of something.

Mechanism. A process or system that is used to produce a particular result.

Pervasive. Existing in every part of something.

Prone. Likely to do or have

Rural. Of or realting to the country and the people who live there instead of the

city.

Sought. Past tense and past participle of the word seek.

Standardized. To change (things) so that they are similar and consistent and

agree with rules about what is proper and acceptable.

Traits. A distinguishing quality.

Urban. Of or relating to cities and the people who live in them.

Various. Used to refer to several different or many different things, people, etc.