communication appréhension among ESP students. : The case of: final-year political studies students at chlef University.

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the level of communication apprehension (CA) among Final-Year Politics students studying English for Specific Purposes (ESP), and to investigate the main factors leading to their CA in the ESP classroom. The instruments that were used for data collection in the study are the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and another questionnaire with 38 items concerning the main factors that lead to students’ CA. The two questionnaires were administered to 50 Politics students in their final year at Chlef University. The findings of the study revealed that most students had high level of CA with the relative contribution of two main factors: instructional and psychological to the situation. The paper concludes with a number of suggestions on how to reduce communication apprehension among ESP students.