Navigating anxiety in oral presentation: understanding communication strategies and fear causes

Higher education institutions use various alternative assessments, including oral presentations, to evaluate students’ performance. The effectiveness of oral presentations greatly depends on students' ability to communicate clearly and effectively, hence strong oral communication skills are essential. However, fear or anxiety could affect students’ communication proficiency and performance during oral presentations. Therefore, this study explores the internal and external factors causing fear among students in an English oral presentation, the communication strategies they employed during oral presentation and whether these factors influence the communication strategies students choose. 150 participants responded to an adapted survey questionnaire. The data was analysed using SPSS and presented in percentages and means. Findings revealed that students’ nervousness was the biggest internal factor, while the size and composition of the audience was the highest external factor, which caused fear among the students. Also, students mainly employed message reduction, orientation and non-verbal (MRQ) strategies compared to other types. The internal factors also demonstrate moderate correlation with social affective strategies, while for external factors, accuracy-oriented and MRQ strategies showed a strong correlation. These findings are essential for educators to help reduce fear among students, thus suggesting possible communication strategies to enhance their oral presentation skills. Overall, as this study revolves around language and communication, it sheds light in understanding the psychological factors that can uncover challenges faced by students and contribute strategies to a more confident and effective presentation of ideas.