Language proficiency and speaking anxiety in Macedonian learners of English

A number of studies have investigated the connection between students’ proficiency level and their speaking anxiety, for which mixed results have been presented. Namely, some claim that the more proficient the learner, the lower their anxiety level and vice versa, however, some disagree. This study aims to investigate the possible relationship between language proficiency level and speaking anxiety, contributing to the existing literature for better understanding of the core issues that top and average students experience. Results revealed that the more proficient participants (C1 level) are more relaxed compared to the less proficient participants (B1 level) with the former classified as experiencing “low anxiety” while the latter - “moderate anxiety”. The main issue of the less proficient participants is found to be low self-confidence during speaking activities, which further supports the majority of the past findings, while grammatical correctness is something that high proficient participants are most aware of during speaking activities. The results also showed that both groups do not feel particularly frightened to speak right after receiving corrective feedback.