Don't speak to me in English: Communication apprehension in Puerto Rico

Comparison of communication apprehension levels of Puerto Rican college students with U.S. mainland students indicate the Puerto Ricans are much less apprehensive about communication in their native language than are the U.S. students but are much more apprehensive about communication in English. Additional findings indicate that apprehension in a first language is a much better predictor of apprehension in a second language than is self‐perceived competence in that second language. It is suggested that the problem of communication apprehension must be addressed by second language teachers if students are to be taught to be truly bilingual. Key concepts: Communication apprehensionnative languageEnglish languagebilingualsecond languageanxietyshynessreticencecommunication competence