The Causes of Anxiety in Highly Anxious Students in Japanese Communicative EFL Classes

The purpose of this study was to identify the causes of speaking anxiety in highly anxious students, of which their teachers might not have been aware, and solutions to alleviate the problem. Sixteen students from a Japanese language-oriented university participated in an interview survey. The participants’ anxiety levels were measured using a five-point Likert scale questionnaire that included five items related to foreign language classroom anxiety. The results were compared to the results of interviews with their teachers, and interesting responses from the student interviews that their teachers did not raise were highlighted. The main causes of anxiety were an unpleasant classroom environment, peer pressure, and non-ideal class types. Students argued for several strategies to reduce the anxiety associated with speaking practice, increase their use of English, and improve their proficiency. To achieve these strategies, teachers need to take into account the opinions of students they did not previously focus on.