This study investigated the effects of anxiety on speaking performance in a case study approach by analyzing learner language elicited in a stress-inducing speaking task and examining the influence of anxiety measured in real time as they performed the task. Six Japanese university students learning English at the pre-intermediate level participated in the study. Each participant was asked to make four short speeches in English in front of the others. After each speech, their anxiety was measured with a five-point Likert-type scale. They were also asked to reflect on their task process and write a report on how their anxiety affected their performance. The results indicated that anxious participants lacked fluency, accuracy, and expressiveness in their speeches. For future research, increasing the number of participants and refinement of measurement of anxiety as well as more control of learner characteristics were considered to be necessary.
