GLOSSOPHOBIA AND ITS EFFECT ON ESL LEARNERS AT THE COLLEGE LEVEL

Abstract

Speaking has been the most common and effective way of interactive discourse. An essential part of knowing and sharing the thoughts, feelings, and concerns from one person to another is a very simple task, which is difficult for individuals suffering from Glossophobia. Glossophobia is a phobia in which a person has an anxiety feeling that causes them to feel awkward and humiliated in a large crowd. Glossophobia goes hand in hand with a disorder known as Social Anxiety Disorder, that also known as Social Phobia. Major side effects of this phobia are likely to be blank while interacting, body shaking while speaking, words/vocabulary lost, sweating, and short-term memory loss. A highly uncontrollable and prominent condition is faced by more than half of the world’s population, who suffer from it. Glossophobia also affects personality, such as competence and performance in day-to-day tasks that are seemingly impossible to overcome for patients. Also, meanwhile, second language discourse, loss of words and irregular vocabulary shatter the confidence of the person. FSLA is another fear of being judged/ humiliated/ fear of pronouncing wrong words. Language barriers, humiliation, fear/criticism, which lead to a lack of confidence, are those factors that directly affect on lives of multiple individuals globally. This study has a population of approximately 200 government co-college students of Karachi, Pakistan. It has a quantitative research methodology, and the research has been cross-sectional in nature. For the data collection questionnaire in the form of a survey is used. And simple random sampling has put to collect data accurately through SPSS 20. All these factors respectively go hand in hand to drive the conclusion of how Glossophobia affects language learning and how both genders go through it. At last, Recommendations on the basis of linguistic knowledge are shared.