Learning English

"My arms and legs start trembling. My, my heart pounds as if trying to escape my chest. It's a full fight-or-flight response.” - Miguel

"One of the most nerve-wracking moments was presenting my research project. I feel nervous and anxious. I feel like my body starts to hyperventilate." – Elisa

All episodes 
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Watch Georgie's video about public speaking

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Introduction

Speaking in front of people can make us nervous even in our first language, so it can be even worse in a foreign language because we have less control over what we’re saying. Learn from experts about this topic and get tips on how to reduce the fear of speaking in front of others.

With Regina Kaplan-Rakowski, Assistant Professor of Learning Technologies, University of North Texas.

Reflect 

Discuss in pairs/groups or make self-reflections.

Before listening: 

• Are you nervous speaking in front of people in your own language or is it just English?
• What physical reactions do you feel when you speak in front of others?

After listening: 

• What do you think of the advice given to overcome your fear of speaking in front of others?
• Do you think it’s better to immediately get out of your comfort zone? Or do you like the idea of practising in a lower-stress environment, like VR or sending voice messages?

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Vocabulary 

tremble
shake without meaning to, typically because of anxiety or excitement

fight-or-flight
the instinctive response to a threat which prepares you to either run away or confront the issue

safe space 
an environment in which you feel protected from harm  

hyperventilate
breathe too quickly    

nerve-wracking
causing stress or anxiety  

virtual reality
a computer-generated environment which immerses its user in a realistic, 3D world

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Transcript 

Hanan
Are you nervous to speak in front of other people in English?

Miguel
My arms and legs start trembling. My, my heart pounds as if trying to escape my chest. It's a full fight-or-flight response.

Han Luo
It's a performance. Yeah, it's like a performance. You are constantly judged and evaluated by others and also by yourself.

Regina Kaplan Rakowski
But on that platform, they were not afraid to talk. So technology basically created that safe space.

Georgie
Today we're talking about public speaking and how technology might help us feel less nervous when speaking.

Hanan
Hello and welcome to Beating Speaking Anxiety. In this special podcast, we help you feel more confident speaking English. I'm Hanan.

Georgie
And I'm Georgie. Find a transcript of this episode and more resources to help you learn on our website bbclearningenglish.com. For many people, speaking anxiety can cause a physical reaction.

Elisa
I feel nervous and anxious. I feel like my body starts to hyperventilate.

Hanan
This is Elisa from Mexico. Elisa finds speaking in English stressful, but for her, the thing that's hardest is to speak in front of a group of people.

Elisa
One of the most nerve-wracking moments was presenting my research project.

Georgie
Elisa had to present her research project to a room full of people from around the world.

Hanan
A lot of people will be familiar with the anxiety Elisa felt about the presentation.

Elisa
It was the most anxious moment ever felt. I have headache and a stomachache. Uh, that moment was terrifying.

Georgie
We call situations like this, where you have to speak in front of a lot of people, 'public speaking'. And people can feel nervous to do public speaking, even in their first language. But doing it in your second language can be even worse.

Elisa
It also makes me nervous to see people's face in a way makes me feel foolish and judged.

Hanan
Elisa felt foolish and judged when she had to speak English in front of people. And this is common.

Han Luo
It's unique, right? You cannot just, you know, silently study it or, you know, you have to presenting yourself in front of others. It's a performance. Yeah, it's like a performance.

Georgie
This is Han Luo, an expert in language anxiety, who we heard from in the first episode of this series. Han says that speaking in front of people feels like a performance, which is quite an intense experience.

Han Luo
So you are constantly judged and evaluated by others and also by yourself.

Hanan
Thinking of speaking a second language as a performance helps us understand why it can make us feel so nervous. Most people would be nervous to stand on a stage in front of people and speaking in another language can feel exactly like that. Even during small group conversations.

Georgie
Yeah, I used to feel this fear a lot when I was speaking Spanish in Spain. Um, even in a group of friends that I know love me and are kind, um, I would start speaking and everyone would look at me and suddenly I forget all the words. I get really stressed, and then I don't say anything, and then it's really, really embarrassing.

Hanan
Yeah. And what's interesting is that people like you, Georgie, who are usually quite confident, can still experience these feelings.

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Watch an explainer video

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Georgie
Yes. And another person like that who is quite confident but found speaking in new language made them feel stressed and shy, is Regina Kaplan Rakowski, professor of learning technologies at the University of North Texas.

Regina Kaplan Rakowski
As a learner, and I studied a dozen languages, I always felt like, you know, not that comfortable to talk to other people. Um, because I was afraid to make mistakes. I was afraid that they would not understand me. Maybe they will make fun of me.

Hanan
Regina wanted to try and find ways to distract learners from the anxiety they feel when speaking, so she started working with virtual reality – this is technology which makes you feel like you're in a different place or situation.

Georgie
One example was using a virtual world called Second Life to help students studying German relax.

Regina Kaplan Rakowski
We recreated a Bavarian beer house, so we took students with, you know, big pints of beer. Well, things like this would not be possible in a real classroom, of course, but it was extremely interesting for me to see how many students that normally would be super quiet. They would never open their mouth, but on that platform they were not afraid to talk because they were shielded behind avatars. So technology basically created that safe space.

Hanan
The technology created an imaginary situation which helps students have fun and forget their nerves. But Regina also uses virtual reality to create the exact situations that students are afraid of.

Georgie
Yes, so students can practise talking in front of an audience of virtual people.

Regina Kaplan Rakowski
They would do different gestures that would make, maybe make me feel either good or bad. But that's OK. The idea is that I need to get used to it, because in front of the public, audience, sometimes you have a lot of people and they do all different things, like playing on their phones or laughing, you know, somewhere at the back. There's always different responses you need to get prepared for.

Georgie
Wow. I think it's really interesting how technology can be used on one hand to distract learners and make them forget about their anxiety, but also to practise in the situations that make them feel stressed. So it's kind of yeah, this idea of a safe space to build your confidence and skills without the pressure, you, you know it's not real, but it still feels kind of real.

Hanan
But how about people who don't have access to this technology? What do you think, Georgie, of maybe using a mirror, and I used to do that myself. Um, I would stand in front of the mirror and practise, and I did it for my job as well, not just for the English, but it helps a lot because you can see yourself, you see how you pronounce certain words. What do you think of that technique?

Georgie
Yeah, I think that's I think that's a really good tip.

Hanan
Georgie, are there any other tips you would recommend?

Georgie
Yes. My favourite one is to, um, phone someone and go for a walk. So I actually used to do this and it really helped me. Um, I spoke for 30 minutes on the phone in Spanish with someone, um, and I had my headphones in, I was walking, so I was distracted. Um, I didn't have them in front of me, so I couldn't see their face judging my mistakes or anything like that. Um, that's my favourite one.

Hanan
That's very good, because also, you let your nerves go. You're more relaxed.

Georgie
Exactly, exactly. You're in the fresh air. You're very distracted. It's, it's a good one. And if you have a presentation, so real public speaking, think about how you might prepare in your own language. Put in the time to make sure you've practised it to someone, including things like taking questions which can be harder to prepare for. Technology can help us, so voice messages and videos are great because you can prepare, make notes about what you want to say. You can listen back and check your pronunciation. There are now also some apps using AI where you can speak and get feedback. Remember, you don't need technology, like your idea, Hanan, so speaking in front of the mirror, the most important thing is that you practise.

Hanan
Thanks for listening to this episode. If you want more help with your speaking skills, Georgie has made videos on all the fears we talk about in this series. You will hear more advice and see some tips in action with real learners. Find them at bbclearningenglish.com.

Georgie
Next time we'll be talking about accents and getting people to understand you in English. See you then.

Hanan
Bye bye!

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