Learners’ perceptions of performance in major speaking activities at tertiary level

Abstract

The objective of the research is to explore learners‘ attitudes to their performance in oral class activities at tertiary level. The research method employed the survey on key speaking issues such as spontaneous speaking, short talks, participation in discussions or debates, and delivering PPPs on professional topics. The learners were asked to assess their performance in speaking on the 5-point Likert scale ranging from ‘very difficult’ to ‘very easy’ and reflect on the difficulties they faced while speaking in front of the audience. The respondents are 145 full-time students of two specializations who study at the VGTU, Vilnius. Different methods of statistical treatment of students’ responses by a means of the SPSS procedures have been analyzed with the aim of selecting the appropriate one for the obtained data. Computations of the Student’s t-test yield critical t-values that indicate that the obtained data are significant at the probability of 95%. Learners’ reflections on speaking difficulties indicate fear of making mistakes, lack of self-confidence, shortage of ideas, and complexity of topics.