Anxiety as an English Pronunciation Barrier in Multilingual Classroom: A Case Study of Southern Punjab (Pakistan)

The basic objective of this study was to detect barriers in teaching speaking English to adults in foreign language classroom at public sector colleges, universities in Pakistan and their sub-campuses. This research utilized a mixed method approach and data was obtained through a questionnaire. A majority of respondents (N=200) replied that the sensitivity of their poor pronunciation was due to anxiety, which intervened when speaking silent letters, lengthy words etc. The respondents also indicated that they had to face two types of barriers during different pronunciation activities such as comprehension of the message and the production of the message. A large number of students made their complaints for production level especially about when they have to speak in front of educated people, in acts of pronouncing compound words, reading aloud in front of the class and teachers and pronouncing silent words as well. Similarly, they had to face comprehension barriers when fast pace of the speakers such as their teachers, or the students whose reading speed was good. To resolve these students’ learning barriers, English language teachers should come forward and motivate their learners to overcome their anxiety about pronunciation though undertaking training of the English sounds.