Photo: Brian Herzog

Eyoung Liu

For many years, I have been discouraged from pursuing a path that involves extensive reading, writing, and speaking, because of my identity as a foreign student. As a non-native speaker, I struggled to open my mouth in front of crowds when I was younger — I was ashamed of my accent, abashed by harsh criticism, and afraid of making mistakes. In high school, the most nerve-wracking thing I could think of was delivering presentations. No matter how prepared I was, I could not handle standing in front of the classroom and having my peers’ eyes on me. Some symptoms I experienced included: sweaty hands, dry throat, raised heartbeat, and a temporary wipeout of all my English vocabulary. For my international peers, I am sure you can relate.

As an international student pursuing higher education in a foreign country, one of the biggest challenges you may face is speaking in a language that is not your native tongue. Foreign language speaking anxiety can be a common hurdle that prevents many international students from fully engaging in classroom discussions, making new friends, or expressing themselves confidently. However, with the right mindset and effective strategies, you can overcome this anxiety and unlock your potential for success. In this blog post, we will explore some tips to help you conquer foreign language speaking anxiety.

1. Stop judging yourself

Frankly, most of the time when we think that people are constantly judging us, they are not. As reported by Horwitz et al. (1986), “Foreign language anxiety is a distinct complex of self-perceptions, feelings, and behaviors.” In short, negative self-perception is probably the fundamental cause and the biggest enemy to overcoming foreign language speaking apprehension. The reason we feel so anxious about speaking in front of others is that we care too much about our grammar, pronunciation, sentence structure, and accents, but our audiences don’t. When I worked as a speech tutor, there was once a foreign student presenting his speech in front of me, and he was trying so hard to correct a few words he mispronounced that he stopped the coherence of the entire speech. He also awkwardly laughed at himself and apologized several times. I could understand him perfectly fine without him correcting himself, but he feared criticism, this speaker took more time distracting his audience than actually clarifying himself.

This mindset could be potentially altered. Let’s think of a prestigious CEO, Steve Jobs, for example, delivering a speech at commencement. During his speech, Jobs mispronounced a word and he had a grammatical error at one point. Would you think of him as a bad speaker, or even a bad person because of this? No. We care more about the content of the entire speech, not just a word or two. So don’t overthink! If Steve Jobs is fine, you are fine too.

2. Start Small

You can never improve unless you start trying. Many foreign students are afraid to speak in public, so they try their best to avoid all kinds of situations involving public speaking. This could be detrimental because, at some point, you will have to speak in a group discussion or deliver a PowerPoint Presentation in front of the classroom. Therefore, it is better to start practicing early. I suggest you start by speaking or practicing in low-pressure environments, for example in front of your roommates or family members, where you feel more at ease. After you are comfortable doing so, try to speak up in a smaller group discussion, and then try raising your hand in larger classroom settings. This gradual approach allows you to build confidence incrementally and reduces the overwhelming feeling that may come with speaking in front of a larger audience.

3. Prepare Thoroughly

A study conducted by Ay shows that foreign language speakers’ anxiety occurs the most when they are speaking without being prepared in advance (2010). Therefore, reparation is key to reducing anxiety and boosting confidence. If you know you’re an anxious speaker, you should spend more time drafting the speech, asking for feedback from English speakers, and practicing. Familiarize yourself with the content to a point where you can clearly remember the overall structure of the speech–introduction, main points, and conclusion–so you do not keep your eyes on your script all the time. After that, you can start enhancing your delivery. For example, you could consciously pay attention to the amount of eye contact you make with the audience, the hand and body gestures you have during a speech, and the shifts in tone.

Overcoming foreign language speaking anxiety can be hard, but it is not impossible. By fostering positive self-perception, starting small, and preparing yourself thoroughly, you can gradually build your confidence and become a skilled public speaker.

Work Cited:

Ay, S. (2010). Young adolescent students’ foreign language anxiety in relation to language skills at different levels. The Journal of International Social Research, 3(11), 83-92.

Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125-132.