Facing the Virtual Panel: Anxiety Experiences of ESL Engineering Undergraduates in Online Mock Interviews
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15282/Keywords:
ESL tertiary learners, Interview anxiety, Job search, Speaking skills, Virtual contentAbstract
Job interviews, formal conversations between job applicants and company representatives, which assess suitability of applicants for the company and vice versa, are one of the first hurdles to getting employed. Oftentimes, the number of applicants outnumber the vacancies available. To ensure students excel in interviews to even be considered for the position, mock interviews are conducted to enable them to experience the interview process similar to actual interviews. However, are the anxiety levels similar? This concurrent triangulation mixed method research study focuses on English as a Second Language (ESL) learners’ anxiety during online mock-job interviews. This study measures the interview anxiety levels among ESL learners; particularly engineering undergraduates in an English proficiency course at a public university in Malaysia. This research adapted McCarthy and Goffin’s (2004) Measure of Anxiety in Selection Interviews (MASI) questionnaire with additional open-ended questions and distributed it online to 91 engineering undergraduates. The results of the study show that most students experienced moderately low anxiety in all five (5) domains of anxiety measured which were Communication, Appearance, Social, Performance and Behavioural. Of all the items in all the domains, the highest mean score was recorded for one of the items under behavioural anxiety domain in which students’ mouth get dry during the online mock job interviews. Analysis from open-ended questions also disclosed that some students did experience nervousness and exhibited anxiety symptoms such as stuttering when answering the questions and having sweaty palms during the interviews. The study provides valuable insights into the interview anxiety experienced by ESL learners and its relevance to job search processes. It signifies the importance of developing interventions and support mechanisms to reduce interview anxiety among ESL learners and thus enhance employability success rate.
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