Speaking in class is most frequently difficult for anxious students even though they are pretty good at responding to a drill or giving prepared speeches. Anxious students may also have difficulties in discriminating sounds and structures or in catching their meaning. Horwitz et al. All of the subjects answered that having to speak a foreign language in front of other students resulted in the most anxiety. Other responses were making pronunciation errors or being laughed at by others.
Price then mentions the role of the instructor.
He says that those instructors who always criticize students' pronunciation might make students anxious. He suggests that they could reduce students' anxiety by encouraging them to make mistakes in the class. Price also advises that instructors should make it clear that the classroom is a place for learning and communication. This is partly because Japanese students are used to not speaking their opinion in the class but keeping silent. It is assumed that Japanese learners of foreign language tend to have this anxiety about speaking in front of other learners as well as the anxiety about learning a new language, which students might have regardless of culture.