Class Presentation Phobia for English as a Foreign Language among Undergraduate Students: A Study of EFL Learners

Foreign language anxiety (xenoglossophobia) denotes the discomfort, fear, and uneasiness experienced while using or learning a second language, particularly in oral communication. In an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) context, this study focuses on first-year undergraduate students' anxiety levels during English presentations. It also examines how gender affects this anxiousness. An adapted version of Horwitz et al.'s Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) was used to collect data from 164 Bachelor of Computer Application students, 78 of whom were female and 86 of whom were male (1986). According to statistical analysis using descriptive methods and t-tests, students had a significant amount of presenting anxiety, with females reporting significantly higher anxiety than males. The findings suggest that addressing gender-related differences in language anxiety could help educators support students in overcoming public speaking challenges, improving both their academic performance and communication skills.