Analysis of Chinese EFL Postgraduates' Experiences with Public Speaking Anxiety toward International Conference Presentation

Abstract

Anxiety has a significant effect on oral communication, particularly when it occurs in the form of a public address. The quality of a public speaker's oral presentation may highly be determined by a variety of emotive elements. However, this has received much too little attention in the realm of academic conference presentations, despite the fact that this process may be incredibly nerve-wracking for both novice and experienced postgraduate students. In the current study, 137 Chinese EFL postgraduate students consented to complete a revamped version of the Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety (PRPSA). Chinese EFL postgraduates reported a high level of public speaking anxiety during their international conference presentations, as measured by three categorical variables: public speaking apprehension, self-behavior management, and fear of negative evaluation. During the international conference presentations, ten questionnaire items were recognised to be the most anxiety-provoking conditions in terms of public speaking anxiety. In addition, differences in gender and graduate study specialization were not significantly associated with Chinese EFL postgraduates' experiences with public speaking anxiety. Nevertheless, it was discovered that Chinese EFL graduate students reported statistically significant levels of public speaking anxiety, and pedagogical suggestions were offered.

Self-Investigation Into Repercussions of Perfectionist Behavior on Academic Anxiety and Flexibility Amongst Chinese Postgraduates

“…Historically, perfectionistic tendencies have been robustly correlated with a gamut of psychopathological phenomena, most prominently depression and anxiety (Hill, 2023;Starley, 2020;Dunkley, 2017). One might postulate, based on the available data, that perfectionism, characterized by an insatiable quest for flawlessness and the concomitant fear of making mistakes, precipitates heightened anxiety levels, thereby fostering an environment conducive to the onset of depressive symptoms (Lai & Yeung, 2023;Wu et al, 2022;Wei, 2023;Wei, 2022). Concurrently, studies have posited an intimate linkage between perfectionism and heightened anxiety levels (Ong, 2022;Ong & Twohig, 2022;Burgess & DiBartolo, 2015).…”