FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY
IN TRANSACTIONAL SPEAKING CLASS
THESISSubmitted in Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Victoria Christine 112011059
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY SALATIGA
i
FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY
IN TRANSACTIONAL SPEAKING CLASS
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Victoria Christine 112011059
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY SALATIGA
ii
FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY
IN TRANSACTIONAL SPEAKING CLASS
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Victoria Christine 112011059
Approved by:
Rindang Widiningrum, M. Hum. Supervisor
iii
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright@ 2015. Victoria Christine and Rindang Widiningrum.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the permission of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga.
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PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION
As a member of the (SWCU) Satya Wacana Christian University academic community, I verify that:
Name : Victoria Christine
Student ID Number : 112011059
Study Program : Language and Literature
Kind of Work : Undergraduate Thesis
In developing my knowledge, I agree to provide SWCU with non-exclusive royalty free right for my intellectual property and the contents therein entitled:
Foreign Language Anxiety in Transactional Speaking Class
Along with any pertinent equipment.
With this non-exclusive royalty free right, SWCU maintains the right to copy, reproduce, print, publish, post, display, incorporate, store in or scan into a retrieval system or database, transmit, broadcast, barter, or sell my intellectual property, in whole or in part without my express written permission, as long as my name is still included as the writer.
This declaration is made according to the best of my knowledge.
Made in: Salatiga Date:
Verified by signee,
Victoria Christine
Approved by
Thesis Supervisor Thesis Examiner
v Table of Contents
Cover Page ………... i
Approval Page ……….. ii
Copyright Statement ………...……….…... iii
Publication Agreement Declaration ... iv
Table of Contents ... v
List of Table ... vi
List of Figures ... vii
Abstract ... 1
Introduction ... 1
Foreign Language Anxiety ... 4
Types of Anxiety ... 5
The Study ... 7
Context of the study ... 7
Participants ... 7
Data Collection Instrument ... 7
Data Collection Procedures ... 8
Data Analysis Procedures ... 9
Findings and Discussion ... 9
Test Anxiety ... 10
Communication Apprehension ... 14
Fear of Negative Evaluation ... 16
Discussion ... 20
Conclusion ... 21
References ... 24
vi List of Table
vii List of Figures
Figure 1. The number of items indicating Test Anxiety ……… 10
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FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY IN TRANSACTIONAL SPEAKING CLASS
Victoria Christine
ABSTRACT
This study aimed to find kinds of anxiety experienced by EFL (English as Foreign Language) learners in Transactional Speaking class. Several researches (Horwitz et al. (1986); Dörnyei (2001); and Littlewood (1998)) propose that anxiety can impede the
students’ learning processes. Therefore, it is important find kinds of anxiety which the participants are experiencing. This study examined 56 first year students of English Literature Program of Faculty of Language and Literature in Satya Wacana Christian University who are taking Transactional Speaking class. A 16-item questionnaire adapted from Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale and semi-structured interview were used as data collection instruments. The data shows that the participants experienced the three kinds of anxiety, Test Anxiety, Communication Apprehension, and Fear of Negative Evaluation. The three kinds of anxiety used in this study are based on Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope (1986). The discussion shows that their anxiety could be affected by many reasons. It is hoped that by considering various kinds of anxiety and its reasons, teachers can get a better insight in motivating their students who are anxious.
Keywords: Foreign language anxiety, speaking class, EFL learners, FLCAS, language learning
INTRODUCTION
Mostly, foreign language learners want to be successful in term of speaking skills. Bailey and Savage (1864) as cited in Lazaraton (2001) state that most people want to be able to be good at speaking rather than reading, listening, or writing in second or foreign language. It is because speaking is the most measurable skill for people especially those who are not language teachers. If a learner wants to be fluent in
speaking and sound like native speakers, “one needs to know how to articulate sounds
in a comprehensible manner, one needs an adequate vocabulary, and one needs to have
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Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga, requires the students to take speaking
class in the first three semester in order to develop the students’ oral skill. The first is
interpersonal speaking, transactional speaking, and the last public speaking. Therefore, the need to have a good speaking ability is high.
However, there are factors that need to be considered when learners learn to speak in a new language which can be both foreign and second language. Scovel (2001), reveals that those factors are people, language, attention, cognition, and emotion, which can be abbreviated as PLACE. Anxiety is under the Emotion factors which will be the important point in this discussion.
The discussion might seem trivial that anxiety is only a small part comprised among a great deal of the other factors, but it is, in fact, crucial for foreign language learners who want to improve their oral skill. According to Horwitz et al. (1986), anxiety is viewed as the main impediment that should be considered and solved when learners learn to develop speaking skill of either second or foreign language. Dörnyei (2001) and Littlewood (1998) propose similar argument that anxiety is a powerful factor to hinder second language learning achievement. In addition, in its relation to oral skill, if learners experience anxiety, it will give debilitating effect and influence the achievement of their goals (Woodrow, 2006).
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direct observation to collect the data. The researcher found that their anxiety was the result of fear of negative evaluation from their friends and perception of low ability.
Subaşi (2010) confirmed the result of the study conducted by Keramida (2009).
He used a questionnaire with 55 items of multiple choices. The questionnaire was adapted from the questionnaire used by Kitano (2001). He also did an interview to get a further description about the anxiety the participants felt. Then, there were 65 participants who were from Anadolu University, in Turkey. The result showed that fear of negative evaluation and self-perceived ability in speaking can cause them to be anxious.
Woodrow (2006) conducted a study to find the major factors which make the participants stress and anxious. The participants were attending English for Academic Purposes courses in Australia. There were 275 participants involved in this study. They mostly came from China. She developed a 12-item questionnaire with Likert scale called Second Language Anxiety Speaking Scale (SLSAS) to find out the stimulus that made the students anxious. Then, the result was that the participants were triggered to be anxious when they were interacting with native speakers.
From those studies, we can have a better understanding about kinds of anxiety, especially the factors which cause anxiety. Therefore, we find that anxiety, actually, stems from various factors. Therefore, the definition of anxiety and its related ideas will be explained later in the literature review.
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whenever I have to present something in front of the class or if the lecture likely points students randomly to answer several questions. Then, when I am waiting for my turn to do a presentation, usually, my heart beats quickly, and the most annoying thing is that the terrible butterflies in my stomach. Similarly, language testing always makes me anxious, especially if it has anything to do with oral tests.
Therefore, this paper aimed to find kinds of anxiety the students in transactional speaking class might be experiencing. By doing this research, it will give some ideas to the teachers about various kinds of anxieties their students might experience. Therefore, they will understand the difficulties faced by students who are anxious instead of
judging the students’ reluctance to speak as their low performance in class. The
following research question was addressed to guide the study: What kinds of anxiety the students in transactional speaking class are experiencing?
Foreign Language Anxiety
Scovel (2001, p.127) defines anxiety as “a vague sense of unease.” We see that
Scovel (2001) relates anxiety with the word “unease” which means that anxiety is
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Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986) say that anxiety can be categorized into a more specific kind of anxiety when it comes to language learning context. Hence, they define specifically foreign language anxiety as “self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the
language learning process” (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986, p. 128). Therefore,
speaking anxiety in a foreign language classroom can be defined as a situation when the learners are experiencing anxiety when they attempt to communicate in a foreign language during lessons in the classroom (Bailey, 2005).
As a conclusion, in this context, anxiety in speaking foreign language classroom is vague feelings, beliefs, self-perceptions, and behaviors of worried, nervous, fear which are triggered by interaction in the target language during lessons.
Types of Anxiety
According to Scovel (1978) as cited in Lucas, Miraflores, & Go (2011, p. 98), there are three types of anxiety. The first is trait anxiety. It is a perpetual condition when a person is likely to be anxious. The second is state anxiety, a kind of anxiety which only happens in a certain condition. Then, the third is situation-specific anxiety
which is “caused by specific situation or event such as public speaking, examinations,
or recitations”.
Meanwhile, Young (1991) proposes that anxiety can arise from six potential sources from both teachers and students point of view. Based on his analysis, anxiety
can be caused by personal and interpersonal anxieties. It is related to “low self-esteem
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language learning. In relation to this, Young gives a clear explanation that this kind of anxiety can appear if the learners have illogical target in learning language, e.g. they have to master all grammar matters in six months that grammar is very important for them, and they will end up in frustration and anxiety. The third is instructor beliefs about language teaching. One example of instructor belief that may lead to anxiety is when they believe that they should not have a group work activity since it will cause the students to be noisy. Whereas, the learners might prefer to learn in groups since they can work together and learn from each other. The forth is instructor-learner interactions which are linked to the way the teachers correct the students’ mistakes, for example, when they mispronounce a word. The fifth is classroom procedures, e.g. when the students are required to do a 2-minute oral speech in turn before the class starts. And the last is language testing.
Horwitz et al. (1986) state that anxiety is focused mainly on listening and speaking skills in the foreign language. However, I will put more emphasis on the speaking. They categorize anxiety in foreign language classroom into three kinds which are communication apprehension, test-anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation. Communication apprehension is a feeling of fear about the inability to understand what their interlocutors said that they cannot give responses well. Test anxiety is a kind of anxiety caused by the fear to be failed (Gordon & Sarason, 1955) (as cited in Horwitz et al., 1986). Fear of negative evaluation refers to a feeling of worried as a result of negative opinion or evaluation from their peers. They also develop Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), that later is used in this research, to categorize the
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apprehension, test-anxiety, or fear of negative evaluation in the foreign language classroom.
THE STUDY
Context of the study
This study took place at Satya Wacana Christian University in Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. The participants were students, who were taking Transactional Speaking class in their second semester. The study was conducted to seek the kinds of foreign language anxiety which the students in Transactional Speaking Class might experience. The reason, why I chose the participants, was because in speaking classes anxiety can appear more frequently. Thus, it was expected that I would get richer data if I selected participants who were taking speaking class.
Participants
The participants of the study were students taking speaking class, specifically Transactional Speaking Class in Faculty of Language and Literature in Satya Wacana Christian University. It was their second semester in their first year, II/2014-2015. The total of the participants was 61 students. They were the students of English Literature program.
Data Collection Instrument
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questionnaire. They were chosen because they were closely related to speaking in foreign language classroom. The second was the researcher changed the alternatives to answer the items. This change was done after considering the result from piloting the questionnaire. FLCAS used 5-point Likert scale, meanwhile, in this study the researcher used 4-point Likert scale to avoid neutral answer. However, in the findings and discussion, the 4-point Likert scale would not be counted. They were only divided into two categories: agree and strongly agree were categorized into positive and disagree and strongly disagree were categorized into negative.
The second was semi-structured interview for 6 out of 61 participants. The interview was done in Indonesian to make the participants more comfortable in expressing their statements. The interview was aimed to get richer data and further explanation from the participants. Here, the researcher provided several questions that could trigger them to give deeper information about things that made them anxious in speaking class and the reason why they gave that answers.
Data Collection Procedures
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(61) who filled the questionnaire) who were interviewed. And then, the interview was transcribed and analyzed further.
Data Analysis Procedures
This research used descriptive analysis. In which after the participants filled the questionnaire, the researcher counted the total answers for each category (positive and negative) to seek the difference between positive and negative categories. However, each difference has different meaning depending on each statement in each item. Then, if there was a blank-left item in a questionnaire, then it would not be counted. As a result, there were 56 participants in total since there were 5 questionnaires with blank answers. Then, I selected 6 students who were able to be interviewed. From the transcript of the interview, I collected statements from the participants which indicate anxiety and in which situations they were anxious or what made them anxious while considering the data collected from the questionnaire. Later on, I categorized those statements into kinds of anxiety adapted from Horwitz et al. (1986) category. The categorization was modified based on the needs in this research and my interpretation.
For instance, item number 1 “I don’t worry about making mistakes in English class”.
In this item, the keyword was “making mistakes”, therefore I put it into Test Anxiety.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
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Table 1
The Categorization of the Kinds of Anxiety
Kinds of Anxiety Items Indicated
Test Anxiety 1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 13
Communication Apprehension 2, 5, 12, 14, 15 Fear of Negative Evaluation 3, 8, 10, 11, 16
Test Anxiety
The result showed that generally the participants experience Test Anxiety. They gave positive answers for item number 6 which is the highest percentage of all. Also, there was high differences between negative and positive responses in item 1and 13. For item 4, 7, and 9, there was not significance differences between the negative and positive answers.
From the result, we can notice that there was a contrast between item number 1 (I don’t worry about making mistakes in English class) and 6 (I worry about the
Figure 1. The number of items indicating Test Anxiety
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consequences of failing my English class). The contrast was that the percentage of positive answer for both item is high. Then for item 13 (Language class moves so quickly I worry about getting left behind), more than 37 participants are negative.
Based on the interview, 2 out of 6 interviewees stated that they do not worry to make mistakes (item 1) because they consider making mistakes as a part of learning. Participant F explained that,
(Kita itu kan ada di dalam kelas, jadi kita di kelas itu tujuannya emang buat belajar, jadi kalo walaupun kita buat kesalahan itu kan guru juga bisa paham. Kita juga lagi belajar kan? Kalo seumpamane guru udah nyalahin kita kan nanti malah muridnya males buat belajar gitu.) “We are in the classroom, so we are in the classroom that aim to learn, so.. if, although we make mistakes, the teacher can also understand.We are still learning, right? If, for example, the teacher blame us, the students will be lazy to learn.“
In line with that, participant D said that,
(Memang kalo ngomong bahasa lain kan mesti agak salah-salah sedikit gitu.. ya itu wajar maksude kalo belum lancar gitu lo… ya kayak gitu doang si tur ya gurune eh dosene juga ngomong ga usah takut og nek salah, salah ngomong.. ya dibuat nek salah nek diketawain ya buat bercanda aja wis.. daripada dibuat malu..)“If we speak in different languages, we must have made slight mistakes..
that’s normal, I mean if we’re not fluent yet.. just like that moreover the teacher..
eh.. the lecturer also said not to be afraid if we’re wrong.. speak wrongly.. make it if we’re wrong, being laughed.. make it as a joke.. rather than being ashamed..”
Participant F stated that teachers will understand if their students make mistakes in the classroom since they are there to learn something. Then participant D stated that it is normal if we make mistakes since we are learning to speak in different languages. Her lecturer also said to her not to be afraid to make mistakes.
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do not want to cause a disappointment to their parents, as participant C stated during the interview:
(Kita takut nanti konsekuensi kalo ga lulus.. itu apa.. kita dapet IP-nya jelek.. terus nanti dimarahin orang tua.. ) “We are afraid of the consequences if we
couldn’t pass.. what is it.. we would get bad GPA, then, our parents would get angry”
Statements from participant A, B, and F were almost similar with participant C that they are afraid to fail classes because of their parents. Participant E is afraid because she does not want to repeat classes. While participant D is not afraid since for her repeating classes is not wrong.
(Karena ya harus ngulang gitu lo.. )“Because I have to repeat.. “ (Participant E)
(Nek seandaine fail, ya udah ngulang aja daripada nanti nilaine jelek.. mendingan ngulang aja.. )“Supposed if I failed, yaa just repeat it rather than
get bad grade… it is better to repeat it” (Participant D)
Therefore, based on the interview, the contrast can happen because they have their own concept about “mistake”. Mistakes in their mind are the ones which do not affect their grade. In other words, they can tolerate mistakes they make during discussions or question and answer session with their friends during speaking class. They worry if only the mistakes will affect their grades or if they have to speak for the whole class. Participant B stated this when she gave a clarification that she is not worried to speak during discussions with her friends,
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already been quite.. already.. already really.. but, when I come to the front,
suddenly I’mblank.. instantly nervous.. can’t do anything..“
It shows that participant B is not worried to speak in a group discussion, but she is worried to speak English when she has to do a presentation or speak at the front for all her classmates. The finding that shows the participants are afraid of consequences of failing their speaking class is similar with Batiha et al. (2014) findings that most of the respondents highly concern about their grade. They have to make sure that their grades are qualified to pass each courses.
Additionally, for item number 13, 33.98% participants do not worry if they get left behind. According to the interview, they do not worry because they think they will have a chance to ask their friends and they can study by themselves after classes.
(Ehm.. kalo misal e ketinggalan, tinggal nanti pas di.. pulang tinggal belajar lagi aja..)“Ehm.. if I get left behind, later when in.. just study it again when I
get home” (Participant D)
(Ga, selama.. ga ga ga ga.. selama.. selama aku mau ngejar materi yang aku ga bisa.. ya.. gapapa.. itu aku bisa.. bisa tanya.. )“No.. as long as.. no, no, no,
no, as long as.. as long as I want to catch up with the materials which I don’t
understand.. it’s ok.. I can.. can ask..” (Participant A)
Similarly to item number 1, the participants have their own concept about making mistakes. It seems that the participants also have their own concept about getting left behind. Participant A stated that she do not worry if she gets left behind only for materials in one meeting. However, if she gets left behind for one course, in other words, if she fails and has to repeat the course, she will be worried.
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Here, she stated that she is worried if she does not pass when she clarified whether she
is worried or not if “getting left behind” means repeating a course. Therefore, the
participants are worried when it is about whether they pass or fail the classes. They are experiencing Test Anxiety.
Communication Apprehension
In general, the result showed that the participants experience Communication Apprehension. However, there was a unique result for item number 12 and 15 that the participants give equal total of answer for both positive and negative. Item number 5 had higher positive response which indicate the participants’ anxiety. Then, for item 2 and 14, the differences were not significance.
In the data, there was an equal distribution for both agree – strongly agree and disagree – strongly disagree for item number 12 (I feel very self‐conscious (gugup)
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about speaking English in front of other students) and 15 (I get nervous when I don't understand every word the English teacher says). Based on the interview, I found that their answers are determined by a particular circumstance. The circumstance which can affect their anxiety level is a situation where whether or not they are surrounded by people who can make them secure, such as teachers and their close friends. This might be the reason why the answer is equal. For example for item number 12, participant D
chose ‘strongly disagree’, nevertheless during the interview she explained,
(Gugup si, cuma kalo dosen e aku kenal, terus di depan e temen-temen baik ku, temen-temen deket lah.. salah sedikit gapapa lah.. gitu..)“I’m nervous, but if I
know the lecturer well, then in front of my best friends, my close friends, a little mistakes will be okay.. like that..”
Based on the interview, we perceived that although participant D stated strongly disagree with item number 12, she said that she will not nervous if she knows the lecturer well and she is with her close friends. For item number 15, participant F chose
‘agree’, but he also stated,
(Takut aja kalo seumpamane gurunya biasane kan kalo guru yang native speaker gitu, ngomong e cepet, kadang ketinggalan gitu.. ga masuk.. ga masuk
ke otak…) “Just afraid if, for example, the teacher, usually if the teacher is a native speaker, speaks fast, sometimes I get left behind.. can’t get it.. can’t get
it into my brain..”
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their close friends and the lectures either whom they know well or he/she is not a native speaker who speak fast. Therefore, according to the interview, their anxiety is influenced by the people who are with them in classes when they are speaking.
Fear of Negative Evaluation
Overall, the result showed that the participants experience Fear of Negative Evaluation. There was high difference between positive and negative responses in item number 3, 8, and 10. While, the difference for 11 and 16 was not significance.
For item number 3 and 11, more than 30 participants considered that the other students are better than them. There were several different reasons why they think that way.
(Karena mereka lebih itu aja.. soalnya jujur ya kak.. aku orangnya susah ngomong. Sebenernya di dalam otak itu udah.. udah.. udah ada kata-kata yang mau diomongin tapi setelah mau diomongin, susah mau keluarnya. Ngerasa aku.. ya ngerasa.. aku tu ngerasa kalo temen-temenku tu lebih.. lebih jago gitu daripada aku.)“Because they are more..that’s it.. because, to be honest.. I’m a
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kind of person who is difficult to speak. Actually, inside my brain, there’s been..already..there has already been words I am going to say, but after I am going to say it, it is hard to say it out. I feel..feel.. I feel my friends are more..better than me.” (Participant A)
(Karena kenyataan yang saya liat.. temen-temen saya lebih dari saya.. karena gimana ya kak.. ya memang saya Bahasa Inggrisnya lemah ya.. saya ga terlalu pinter seperti yang pada umumnya.. untuk standar IPK aja ya saya ibaratnya minimal 2,75 kemarin yang temen-temen rata-rata dapatnya 4.. jadi saya tu ngerasa mereka tu lebih pinter dari saya..)“Because that’s the reality that I see.. my friends are better than me.. because.. how.. ya.. my English is weak. I am not that smart like people in common.. for GPA standard, I got like minimal 2.75 last time when my friends in average got 4.. so, I feel they are smarter than
me.” (Participant B)
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(Kayak lomba mbe temenku yang pinter inggris tu si.. cepet-cepetan jawab gitu..)“Like competing with my friend who is good at English.. compete who
can first answer..” (Participant D)
(Ga.. sama-sama belajar inggris kok malah diketawain.. kan ngerasa kalo dia lebih itu berarti.. lebih.. lebih jago.. lebih segala-galanya lah.. kan masih sama-sama belajar.. ) “No.. we are learning English together, why they laugh.. It means they feel they are more... better at everything.. we are still learning together.”(Participant A)
According to the interview, participant D is not embarrassed to volunteer answers because she is competing with her friend. While participant A is not afraid if her friends laugh at her because they are still learning together. Moreover, participant A claimed that she is confident because she is interested to learn English. She stated during the interview,
(Karena rasa suka aja sama Bahasa inggris.. jadi PD lah.. keren aja kalo bisa Bahasa inggris.. tu kayaknya keren.. biarpun kan orang Indonesia tapi kan semua semua bisa Bahasa inggris.. nah itu keren..) “Because of my interest in
English, so I’m confident.. it’s just cool if [I] can speak English.. seems cool ..although Indonesian, but, all.. all.. can speak English.. nah that’s cool” We see that although they feel the other students are better than them, it does not affect their feelings. For A, it seems that her interest in English and having interaction with foreigners can increase her self-confidence to speak English. This supports findings from Wu, Yen, & Marek (2011) that they find having motivation to learn English can
increase learners’ confidence. Thus will lead to be couraged to speak in class. As a
result, their ability to speak in English will also be benefited from having motivation to learn English.
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because they are worried about if they make mistakes and about what the others might think about them. One of them said,
(Karena merasa aku tu.. ahh takut salah, ahh takut salah gitu.. jadi ga usah lah.. gitu.. sering juga tau, terus ga ada yang jawab juga yang lain.. pengen ngomong, tapi karena takut salah itu, karena merasa yang lain tu pasti better.. mereka tu pasti lebih baik lah dari aku.. udah nganggep itu duluan jadi.. mending udah lah.. ga usah jawab..)“Because I feel that.. ahh ..ahh I am afraid if I am wrong.. so I’d better not.. often happens, then no one answers.. I want to speak, but because I am afraid to make mistakes, because I feel the others must be better.. they must be better than me. I think that way so.. I’d better not.. not to answers”. (Participant E)
In the statement, it can be concluded that participant E tends to decide not to volunteer answers and remain silent because she is afraid to make mistakes and always thinks that the others are better than her. It supports the theory from Dörnyei (2001) that the students who are afraid to make mistakes will prefer to remain silent. They tend to avoid making mistakes since they have experiences being humiliated when they make mistakes. This makes them traumatic to speak English and make mistakes in class.
(Saya malu.. terus temen-temen juga sering ngetawain saya kalo saya salah.. pengalaman kak, jadi waktu ditanyain.. waktu itu “what do you feel about this..
ini.. ini.. ini..” katanya dia bilang.. terus saya ngelantur jawabnya, saya udah
lupa saya jawab apa.. saya diketawain.. mulai dari situ saya, takut sama temen-temen terus..) “I am embarrassed.. then, my friends often laugh at me if I’m wrong.. [I] experience, so that time I was asked, at that time “what do you feel
about this..this.. this..this..” he said.. then I answered it stray far from how it supposed to be.. I forgot what I said..I was being laughed. Starting from that
time, I am afraid of my friends…”(Participant B)
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(Kadang iya.. ya si mungkin sebenarnya confident-confident aja.. cuman pernah ngomong terus ada temen yang comment.. dan itu tu yang buat confident-nya berkurang.. gitu lah..) “Sometimes yes.. ya.. maybe [I am] confident.. but I have ever spoken then there was a friend who commented.. and
that.. that is what makes my confidence decrease..”
It seems that a friend who makes a remark about what she said can make her less confident. In the further interview, she stated that her friend said unpleasant things about the way she spoke. Overall, the participants experience Fear of Negative Evaluation. Although they are confident, not embarrassed, and not afraid, they have self-perceptions that they are not better than their friends.
DISCUSSION
From the findings, it seems that the participants are grade-oriented. They are worried if they fail their classes. This can bring positive effect to teaching and learning process, since it can motivates them to do better in class. As Harmer (1998, p. 8) states
that “highly motivated students do better than ones withoutt any motivation at all.”
Secondly, the participants’apprehension are actually affected by people in their classes. English teachers can help reducing their apprehension by creating less intimidating classrooms. Teachers can use Suggestopedia method. This method is characterized by colorful classrooms with the use of posters or decorations and cheerful classrooms with the use of songs or musics. Lozanov (1978) (as cited in Richards & Rodgers, 2001) believes that sudents can learn more effectively by using this method than the traditional ones. This positive atmosphere also emphasizes on ensuring
students to be less anxious and showing them that their “experimentation and questions
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can be turned into a strong motivation to be better than their friends. Teachers only need to stimulate students’ “interest and involvement” (Harmer, 1998, p. 8) in classrooms’ activities.
CONCLUSION
The present study attempted to find the kinds of anxiety that the students in Transactional Speaking Class are experiencing. In order to find the kinds of anxiety they are experiencing, a 16-item questionnaire and semi-structured interview were used to collect the data. Therefore, basically, the study found that the students are experiencing the three kinds of anxiety, Test Anxiety, Communication Apprehension, and Fear of Negative Evaluation.
In Test Anxiety, they might not be afraid to make mistakes however they are afraid if the mistakes will affect their grade or cause them to fail the classes. Then, for Communication Apprehension, it is believed that their answers are influenced by a particular circumstance. For instance, according to the interview, they can be more apprehensive if the lecturer is a native speaker who speaks fast or they have to speak in front of people other than their close friends. For the category of Fear of Negative Evaluation, more than a half of the participants agree that their friends are better than them. Yet, it seems that it does not affect their feelings.
According to the result, the participants can experience the three kinds of anxieties proposed by Horwitz et al. (1986). The result of the present study might help
English teachers to get a better picture about their students’ anxieties that actually those
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why students prefer to not actively participate in classes. They choose to be silent may be because they have an unpleasant experience when they are speaking for the whole class. By knowing the specific type of anxiety and the stressor, teachers can avoid to judge their students as having low intelligence. Instead, they can motivate their students in a more specific ways to reduce their anxiety in speaking class. Teachers can use Suggestopedia method in their classes and create less anxiety-provoking classrooms Moreover, their anxiety can also produce positive effect for language learning.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This thesis would not have been finished without help and supports from many people. First of all, I would like to thank God for His guidance throughout my study and the process of writing the thesis. Secondly, I would like to express my gratitude to Rindang Widiningrum, M. Hum., as my supervisor, for her patience and supports which motivate me to work on my thesis and Dian Toar Y. G. Sumakul, M. A., as my examiner, for his advice which is very useful for the improvement of my thesis.
I would also express my gratefulness to my parents, in heaven, my brothers, and especially my sisters for their prayers, supports, and snacks supplies during the process of my thesis writing.
And then, I would like to thank all my Youthteen family and all my friends in FLL, especially Chintya, Evelyne, Fani, Iin, Melisa, Wenda, Wulan, and Yuni for brightening my days.
I also want to thank my participants for their helps in collecting the data for my thesis.
24 References
Bailey, K. M. (2005). Practical English Language Teaching: Speaking. (D. N. Editor), Ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill ESl/ELT.
Batiha, J., Noor, N. M., & Mustaffa, R. (2014). Exploring the factors of classroom anxiety in the context of EFL Arab students. International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research, 2(2), 18-31.
Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Harmer, J. (1998). How to Teach English: An introduction to the practice of language teaching.
England: Pearson Education Limited.
Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, a. J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70, 125-132.
Keramida, A. (2009). Helping students overcome foreign language speaking anxiety in the English classroom: theoretical issues and practical recommendations. International Education Studies, 2(4), 39-44.
Lazaraton, A. (2001). Teaching Oral Skills. In M. Celce-Murcia, & M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.),
Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (3 ed., p. 584). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Littlewood, W. (1998). Foreign and Second Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lucas, R. I., Miraflores, E., & Go, D. (2011). English language learning anxiety among foreign language learners in the Philippines. Phillipine ESL Journal, 7, 94-119.
Nunan, D. (1999). Second Language Teaching & Learning. Canada: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.
Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Scovel, T. (2001). Learning New Languages: A Guide To Second Language Acquisition.
Ontario, Canada: Nelson/Thomson Learning.
Spada, N. (2006). How Languages are Learned. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Subaşı, G. (2010). What are the main sources of Turkish EFL students' anxiety in oral practice?
Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry, 1(2), 29-49.
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Wu, W.-C. V., Yen, L. L., & Marek, M. (2011). Using online EFL interaction to increase confidence, motivation, and ability. Educational Technology & Society, 14(3), 118– 129. Retrieved 2015, from http://www.ifets.info/journals/14_3/10.pdf
26 APPENDIX
NIM: ____________________ Dear participants,
I am a student of Faculty of Language and Literature who is doing a research for my thesis. This questionnaire aims to find the kind of Foreign Language Anxiety the students in transactional speaking class might be experiencing. I provide some options (SA=Strongly Agree, A=Agree, D=Disagree, SD=Strongly Disagree) and please choose one according to your opinion. This questionnaire will not affect your grade. Thank you.
Put a check mark ( ) according to your opinion.
Statement SA A D SD
1. I don’t worry about making mistakes in English class.
2. It frightens me when I don’t understand what the teacher is saying in English.
3. I keep thinking that the other students are better at English than I am.
4. I am usually at ease (rileks) during tests in my English class. 5. I start to panic when I have to speak without preparation in
English class.
6. I worry about the consequences of failing my English class. 7. In English class, I can get so nervous I forget things I know. 8. It embarrasses me to volunteer answers in my English class. 9. Even if I am well prepared for English class, I feel anxious about
it.
10.I feel confident when I speak in English class.
11.I always feel that the other students speak English better than I do. 12.I feel very self‐conscious (gugup) about speaking English in front
of other students.
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Adapted from Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale by Horwitz, E. K., et al (1986)
Consent form
If I need more information on your questionnaire, can I contact you for an interview? Yes/No (circle accordingly)
If you say Yes, complete the following information:
Name :
HP :
Email :
