It’s Monday morning and I’m in my 8 am lecture. The class is eerily quiet. I hear the tips of pens being aimlessly scribbled on blank pages while I scan the faces of my fellow students. Someone at the back coughs awkwardly, trying to break the tension that has now entered the lecture theater as our professor stares up at us expectantly, annoyed by our silence. A thought pops into my mind as I stare back at the professor. Can it be that none of the 50 something students knows the answer to his question or are some, like me, simply too petrified of opening their mouths? You see, I know the answer, but I’ve been sitting here forming the ‘correct’ way of voicing the answer for almost a minute. Mulling over the broken English that I know will eventually spill from my gums, like word vomit. The lecturer sighs defeated before he continues to answer his own question. I lean back in my chair, relieved, and my stomach unclenches as the thought of publicly answering his question disappears. Only, a few minutes go by before he poses his next question. My stomach clenches again as the turn tables in my head start spinning and my tongue knots shamefully.
Anxiety is complex, there are different variations of it whether it’s social anxiety, test anxiety or general anxiety, but they all break down to one simple variable: fear. Second language- or Foreign language anxiety is probably the most stifling variation of anxiety in an educational environment as provided by the dominantly English, University of Cape Town. At University level there is a certain expectation of students who belong to this environment, an expectation of excellence in every aspect of their lives, language is especially important. With this notion in mind I set out to find how much value UCT students put upon one’s ability to speak English eloquently in order to evaluate whether or not the anxiety that comes along with speaking a second language is purely self conceived or if it is justified by the perception of others.
The five students I interviewed consisted of four females and one male: Jasmin Valcarcel, Zeenat Samodien, Varisha Hutheram, Tamlin Bora and Kgabane Kb Lengane. Apparently, UCT’s male population are prone to being camera shy. Out of the five students I did manage to interview three students did admit to subconsciously judging others based on the way that they spoke. Second Year Fine Arts student Jasmine Valcarcel stated that she ‘definitely’ thought people subconsciously judge others based on the way that they spoke. She went on to use an example of the stereotypical stigma surrounding people who have strong ‘black’ accents, saying that it is associated with being uneducated. While the remaining two students, Kgabane Lengane and Varisha Hutheram, who denied being judgmental of others based on the way that they spoke stated that, the only important thing is that one’s point comes across clearly and that it didn’t matter to them how eloquently people speak.
Although the students had different views regarding the need for eloquent speech they all agreed on two fronts, people who do feel self-conscious about their speech will be at a disadvantage regarding their academic and social experience at UCT. Varisha Hutheram noted that the anxiety that comes along with perceptions of speech will create barriers between the student and the lecturer: “You won’t be able to approach a lecturer if you have any questions or if you misunderstood any of the course content.” She went on to say that socially, you would become more of an introvert for fear of people shunning what you say or downgrading your opinions.
Knowing that all of the students agree on the impact anxiety in general and language anxiety has on students who have this fear, the lack of support specifically aimed towards students who suffer from anxiety on the University’s part is very problematic. The University’s Wellness Center used to have a program specifically for students who suffer from anxiety, but it has been suspended. Students who do seek help now need to find alternative ways of either coping or conquering their anxieties. Considering the fact that students are disadvantaged academically as well as socially, the lack of support in this regard might attribute to student dropout rates. Since anxiety is not an easily identified problem it seems as though this situation is overlooked by the University which in itself poses the question of how important the wellness of students really are.
With Universities such as UCT filled to the brim with students from all over the country chances are many of them have to face the hurdle that comes from being in a dominantly English environment. Even though one’s ability to speak English eloquently has little to do with intelligence or education the stereotypes still exist subconsciously in the minds of students. However, it is important for us to understand that our judgment and ridicule has the power to influence people’s perceptions of themselves and therefore we should be mindful of the ways in which we indulge in those stereotypes. H. Jackson Brown Jr , the author of Life’s Little Instruction Book, once said : “Never make fun of someone who speaks broken English. It means they know another language.” We should all keep this in mind the next time we find the urge to indulge.
See the interviews discussed in this article here:
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