Essay --

It is widely known that in EFL learning situations, many students â€Å"exhibit fear of foreign language speaking† (Yaikhong & Usaha, 2012, p. 23). In Asian countries, EFL learners suffer even more in language classroom anxiety because of insufficient language environment. According to Scovel (1978), anxiety in language learning is â€Å"a state of apprehension, a vague fear† (p. 134). Such anxiety may exist in many aspects of language learning process. Language classroom anxiety is one of the most common concerns. Many researches showed that students’ classroom anxiety will greatly affect their language learning effect (Young, 1986; Horwitz & Young, 1991; Phillips, 1992; & Aida, 1994). For example, Wariyachitra (2003) stated that classroom anxiety will reduce students’ motivation in communication, and if students avoid interaction in English, they will not succeed in learning the target language. Arnold and Brown (1999) believed that anxiety might be the most important reason that causes obstruction of language learning. Another researcher Boonkit (2010) did a research in Thai, and the result revealed that the undergraduate students are not confident enough to communicate in English, even in language classrooms. These findings tell us many EFL students are lack of communication opportunities, which are very crucial to their language learning, because they dare not use the language. In the learning process, this classroom anxiety is the key element that causes students’ lack of confidence and poor language performance. In China, situations are quite the same. Reading, writing, even listening are always much easier for Chinese EFL learners, and Speaking is always the most suffering course. People don’t have chance to speak English in their ... ...age skills and cognitive abilities. Harris, etc. believed that students with speaking anxiety will â€Å"often avoid anxiety-producing social or performance situations†, because they don’t know how to change their negative response in such situations, if they cannot avoid such situations, the will suffer a lot (2002, p. 543). The problem is what will happen after they repeated suffering and practice? Can they improve themselves with proper training and sufficient practice chances? Few researchers have done investigation in this field. In this study, I will try to answer the following question based on previous researches and a survey: a) Can EPS tasks lead to EFL students’ language classroom anxiety reduction? b) Can EPS tasks lead to EFL students’ language public presentation improvement? c) Is there any relation between students’ anxiety level and language performance?