Anxiety reduction strategies in delivering oral presentations in English of Thai adult EFL students

This research aimed to examine the anxiety-reducing strategies in giving oral presentations among Thai adult EFL students, and to compare the differences of using strategies to decrease anxiety in giving oral presentations between the low- and high- proficient students. The participants were 48 second-year students in Career English for International Communication (CEIC) major at a leading university in Thailand. A questionnaire and interviews were used as the instruments of the study. The researcher analyzed the data by using percentage, mean score, and standard deviation. The results indicated that Thai adult EFL students had a higher mean score use of affective strategies to reduce anxiety in giving oral presentations in English. In contrast, compensatory strategies were stated to be low for reducing anxiety. From the interviews, high speaking ability students used both cognitive strategies and meta-cognitive strategies. On the other hand, low speaking ability students used affective strategies to reduce anxiety in delivering oral presentations in English.