A Speaking Anxiety in Private One-on-One Online English Classes: A Qualitative Case Study of EFL Learners

Abstract

Speaking anxiety remains one of the most persistent barriers in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning, particularly in oral communication. Although extensive research has examined this phenomenon in traditional and group-based classroom settings, very little attention has been given to how anxiety operates in private, one-on-one online instruction — a setting that theoretically removes peer pressure and audience judgment, yet in practice continues to produce visible anxiety behaviors. This study addresses that gap by exploring speaking anxiety among EFL learners in a private online English class conducted synchronously via Zoom. The study aims to identify the forms of speaking anxiety students experience, analyze the contributing factors, and examine how students respond to speaking activities in this context. A qualitative case study design is employed, following Creswell (2013) and Yin (2018), with two participants aged 19 to 26 selected through purposive sampling. Data were gathered through in-depth semi-structured interviews, classroom observation, and documentation, then analyzed using the interactive model of Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña (2014). Grounded in the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety framework by Horwitz et al. (1986), the findings reveal that anxiety in this setting manifests through vocabulary-related hesitation, fear of disappointing the teacher, and short-answer avoidance strategies. Despite the absence of peer pressure, anxiety persisted due to limited vocabulary confidence, concern about teacher evaluation, and platform-specific disruptions. Both participants reported that a close, supportive teacher-student relationship was the most effective anxiety-reducing factor, suggesting that relational closeness plays a central role in managing speaking anxiety in private online instruction.