xv ABSTRACT
Fika Apriliana. 2016. The Highly-Motivated Students’ Lived Experience of Communication Apprehension and Fear of Negative Evaluation. Yogyakarta: The Graduate Program in English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
A series of research undertaken have revealed some interesting aspects regarding the importance of motivation and the existence of Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) which can hinder students to learn foreign languages. Previous research has been done showing that the number of students who experience FLA is amazing. Students with high motivation are not the exception. In the foreign language learning, it is highly likely that they also experience FLA. It is interesting to find out how students who are closely associated with language achievement and considered as successful learners experience FLA handle it and give meaning to it. In this study, the type of FLA was delimited into Communication Apprehension (CA) and Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) since they are factors contributing to students’ oral communication in the classroom. Therefore, this study was conducted to find the scientific truth of the highly-motivated students’ lived experience of CA and FNE specifically by describing and interpreting their lived experience of CA and FNE.
This study was a hermeneutic phenomenological study since it was an interpretive study of the highly-motivated students’ lived experience of CA and FNE. The data gathered for completing the study was in the form of texts including anecdotes. The texts represented the participants’ lived experience and their reflection on their experience. The texts were obtained from two second-year ELESP students through in-depth interviews. The texts were interpreted thematically by using van Manen’s (1990) approach named selective reading approach. The trustworthiness of the study was supported by the suitability of the participants’ criteria with the criteria set for the study, the validity of the instruments and member checking.
xvi
deep breath. They also made effort to turn their negative thoughts into the positive ones by believing their own competence. Further, one participant made preparations before her presentation. Interestingly, both participants tried to ignore the thought that they would be negatively evaluated by their classmates. Motivation seemed to have important roles in helping the participants cope with CA and FNE in that their reasons of chosing coping strategies were related to their motivation. About the impacts of the experience, the experience brought positive impacts to one participant. For the other participant, the experience brought a positive impact as well as a negative impact.
This study provided scientific, practical and humanistic benefits. Scientifically, the findings of the study contributed to the body of knowledge in English Language Studies (ELS). Practically, the findings of the study implied that educators and students should be aware of the existence of CA and FNE in teaching and learning process. Thus, educators were expected to help students cope with anxiety-provoking situations for example by helping students recognize their beliefs, being aware of factors related to educators that could trigger students’ FNE, reassuring that their students had learning goals and giving extrinsic reward if it was necessary. Humanistically, the study presented findings that were expected to promote empathic understanding of participants’ lived experience of CA and FNE. Moreover, this understanding was expected to lead to self-actualization which occurs when people realize their own maximum potential and capabilities.
xvii ABSTRAK
Fika Apriliana. 2016. Pengalaman Hidup Mahasiswa dengan Motivasi Tinggi dalam Menghadapi Kecemasan Berkomunikasi dan Kecemasan terhadap Evaluasi Negatif. Yogyakarta: Program Kajian Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Penelitian-penelitian yang telah dilakukan menunjukkan beberapa aspek menarik berkaitan dengan pentingnya motivasi and keberadaan kecemasan berbahasa asing yang dapat mengganggu mahasiswa dalam belajar bahasa asing. Penelitian-penelitian yang telah dilakukan sebelumnya menunjukkan bahwa jumlah mahasiswa yang mengalami kecemasan dalam berbahasa asing sangatlah menakjubkan. Mahasiswa yang mempunyai motivasi tinggi tidak luput dari hal ini. Di dalam kelas bahasa asing, mereka juga cenderung mengalami kecemasan dalam berbahasa asing. Akan sangat menarik jika dapat mengetahui bagaimana mereka mengalami, menghadapi dan memaknai kecemasan mereka. Dalam penelitian ini, tipe kecemasan berbahasa asing hanya difokuskan pada kecemasan dalam berkomunikasi dan kecemasan terhadap evaluasi negatif karena tipe-tipe kecemasan tersebut adalah tipe-tipe kecemasan yang erat kaitannya dengan komunikasi lisan di dalam kelas. Untuk itu penelitian ini dilakukan untuk menemukan kebenaran saintifik tentang pengalaman hidup mahasiswa dengan motivasi tinggi dalam menghadapi kecemasan berbahasa asing khususnya dengan mendeskripsikan dan menginterpretasikan pengalaman hidup mereka dalam menghadapi kecemasan berbahasa asing.
Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian fenomenologi hermeneutika karena penelitian ini merupakan penelitian interpretasi tentang pengalaman hidup mahasiswa dengan motivasi tinggi dalam menghadapi kecemasan dalam berkomunikasi dan kecemasan terhadap evaluasi negatif. Data didapatkan dalam bentuk teks termasuk anekdot. Teks merepresentasikan pengalaman partisipan dan refleksi mereka terhadap pengalaman yang telah mereka lalui. Partisipan merupakan dua mahasiswa Program Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Universitas Sanata Dharma. Teks didapat melalui wawancara mendalam antara peneliti dan partisipan. Selanjutnya teks diinterpretasikan dengan menggunakan analisa yang berfokus pada tema. Data di dalam penelitian ini dapat diyakini kebenarannya karena didukung oleh kecocokan partisipan dengan kriteria penelitian, validitas instrumen penelitian dan konfirmasi ulang kepada partisipan.
xviii
teman kelas merupakan faktor-faktor yang menyebabkan kecemasan terhadap evaluasi negatif. Situasi yang dihadapi mereka sangatlah kompleks. Mereka merasakan gejala fisik, gejala psikologis dan gejala yang berhubungan dengan perilaku. Mereka merasa kepercayaan mereka diuji. Mereka melihat pengalaman tersebut sebagai pengalaman di mana mereka merasa kesulitan karena terhalang oleh perasaan takut membuat kesalahan dan pikiran negatif mereka terutama pikiran negatif bahwa mereka tidak mampu untuk mengatasi keadaan pada saat itu. Mereka menarik nafas dan menghilangkan pikiran negatif dengan cara berpikir positif bahwa mereka mampu mengatasi situasi pada saat itu. Satu partisipan melakukan persiapan sebelum presentasi. Untuk mengatasi kecemasan terhadap evaluasi negatif oleh teman kelas, para partisipan berusaha untuk mengabaikan pikiran bahwa mereka akan dievaluasi negatif oleh teman kelas. Motivasi nampaknya memiliki peran penting dalam membantu para partisipan dalam mengatasi kecemasan berkomunikasi dan kecemasan terhadap evaluasi negatif. Hal tersebut terlihat dari alasan-alasan mereka dalam memilih strategi untuk mengatasi kecemasan mereka. Pengalaman-pengalaman yang dialami membawa dampak positif terhadap salah satu partisipan sedangkan terhadap partisipan lainnya membawa dampak positif sekaligus dampak negatif.
Hasil dari penelitian ini diharapkan mampu memberikan keuntungan saintifik, praktis dan humanistik. Secara saintifik, hasil penelitian ini memberikan kontribusi terhadap ilmu pengetahuan di dalam lingkup Kajian Bahasa Inggris. Dalam prakteknya, hasil dari penelitian ini mengindikasikan bahwa pendidik dan mahasiswa seharusnya sadar akan adanya kecemasan berkomunikasi dan kecemasan terhadap penilaian negatif di dalam proses belajar mengajar. Selanjutnya, pendidik diharapkan mampu membantu mahasiswa dalam mengatasi hal-hal tersebut misalnya dengan cara membantu mahasiswa untuk menyadari keyakinan dalam belajar bahasa Inggris, menyadari faktor-faktor yang berasal dari pendidik yang mampu menyebabkan kecemasan mahasiswa, memastikan bahwa setiap mahasiswa memiliki tujuan dalam belajar dan memberikan penghargaan jika dibutuhkan. Secara humanistik, hasil dari penelitian ini diharapkan mampu menciptakan pemahaman empati dan selanjutnya pemahaman empati ini diharapkan dapat mengarah pada aktualisasi diri.
i
THE HIGHLY-MOTIVATED STUDENTS’ LIVED EXPERIENCE OF COMMUNICATION APPREHENSION AND FEAR OF NEGATIVE
EVALUATION
A Thesis Presented to
The Graduate Program in English Language Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of
Magister Humaniora (M.Hum) in
English Language Studies
by Fika Apriliana
146332006
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost, I give glory and honor to Almighty God for His blessings, wisdom and guidance for enabling me to complete my master thesis and my study in ELS.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude and deep appreciation to my thesis advisor, F.X. Mukarto, Ph.D., for his helpful, warm encouragement as well as his insightful suggestions on my work from the beginning to the end of my thesis. I would like to thank my thesis reviewers who are also my thesis examiners, Dr. J. Bismoko, Dr. E. Sunarto, M.Hum and Dr. B.B. Dwijatmoko., M.A., for their invaluable knowledge and suggestions to improve my thesis. I would like to thank Paulus Kuswandono, Ph.D., the head of ELESP, for the permission to obtain the data from ELESP students. I would also thank all lecturers in ELS for the invaluable knowledge that they shared through teaching and learning process.
I would like to thank my beloved parents, my brother and my sisters whose love and encouragement keep me warm and lead me to achieve this dream. To my beloved fiancé, Yohanus Fhani Purnama Adi, you have been a source of inspiration, and the completion of this degree would not have been achieved without your love, patience and support. I am also thankful to all my colleagues in ELS especially batch 2014 for their togetherness and inspiration.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ...i
APPROVAL PAGE ...ii
DEFENSE APPROVAL PAGE ...iii
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ...iv
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI...v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...vii
LIST OF TABLES ...xi
LIST OF FIGURES ...xii
LIST OF APPENDICES ...xiii
LIST OF ABBREVIATION ...xiv
ABSTRACT ...xv
ABSTRAK ...xvii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ...1
A.Background of the Study ...1
B.Problem Delimitation ...5
C.Research Formulation ...6
D.Research Goal ...7
E. Research Benefits ...7
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW ...9
A.Theoretical Review ...9
viii
a. Definition of Motivation ...10
b. Types of Motivation ...12
c. Highly-Motivated Students ...16
2. Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) ...16
a. Definition of FLA ...17
b. Types of FLA ...18
1) Communication Apprehension ...18
2) Fear of Negative Evaluation ...19
c. Causes of FLA ...20
1) Personal and Interpersonal Issues ...21
2) Learner’s Beliefs about Language Learning ...22
3) Teacher’s Beliefs about Language Learning ...22
4) Classroom Characteristics ...23
5) Classmates ...24
d. Manifestation of FLA ...24
e. Students’ Strategies to Cope with FLA ...25
f. Effects of FLA ...27
3. Relationship between Motivation and FLA ...27
4. Lived Experience ...29
B.Framework of Pre-Understanding ...35
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ...39
A.Research Method ...39
B.Nature and Source of Data ...40
ix
1. Questionnaire for Recruiting Participants ...41
2. Interview for Investigating Participants’ Lived Experience ...42
D.Data Collection ...45
E. Data Analysis ...47
1. Data Analysis for Questionnaire ...47
2. Text Description and Interpretation for In-Depth Interview ...48
F. Trustworthiness ...51
CHAPTER IV: DESCRIPTION AND INTERPRETATION...53
A.Description ...53
1. Venita’s Story ...54
2. Petra’s Story ...57
B.Interpretation ...60
1. Struggle with Communication Apprehension (CA) ...60
a. Causes of CA ...60
1) Classroom Activities ...61
2) Personal Traits ...63
3) Beliefs about Language Learning ...64
b. Manifestation of CA ...65
1) Physical, Psychological and Behavioral Symptoms ...65
2) Feeling of Incompetence ...67
3) Perfectionism ...68
c. Strategies to Cope with CA ...69
1) Relaxation ...70
x
3) Preparation ...71
2. Struggle with Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) ...72
a. Causes of FNE ...72
1) Lecturer’s Characteristics ...72
2) Classmates’ Characteristics ...73
b. Manifestation of FNE ...74
1) Physical Symptom ...74
2) Psychological Symptoms ...74
c. Strategies to Cope with FNE ...75
1) Relaxation ...75
2) Positive Thinking ...75
3) Ignoring ...75
3. Reasons for Choosing the Coping Strategies ...76
4. Impacts of the Experience ...78
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...81
A.Conclusions ...81
B.Implications ...85
C.Recommendations ...86
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...88
xi
LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1. List of Questions as the Interview Guideline ... 43 Table 3.2. Table for Positive and Negative Statements of Motivation, CA and
xii
LIST OF FIGURES
xiii
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix 1. Adapted Questionnaire ...96
Appendix 2. Invitation for Interview ...99
Appendix 3. Surat Permohonan Ijin Penelitian ...100
Appendix 4. Questionnaire (Venita) ...101
Appendix 5. Questionnaire (Petra) ...103
Appendix 6. Consent Form (Venita) ...105
Appendix 7. Consent Form (Petra) ...106
Appendix 8. In-Depth Interview Transcript 1 (Venita) ...107
Appendix 9. In-Depth Interview Transcript 2 (Venita) ...118
Appendix 10. In-Depth Interview Transcript 3 (Venita) ...121
Appendix 11. In-Depth Interview Transcript 1 (Petra) ...123
Appendix 12. In-Depth Interview Transcript 2 (Petra) ...132
xiv
LIST OF ABBREVIATION
CA : Communication Apprehension EM : Extrinsic Motivation
ELS : English Language Studies
FL : Foreign Language
FLA : Foreign Language Anxiety
FLCAS : Foreign Language Learning Anxiety Scale FNE : Fear of Negative Evaluation
IM : Intrinsic Motivation INTRVW : Interview
xv ABSTRACT
Fika Apriliana. 2016. The Highly-Motivated Students’ Lived Experience of Communication Apprehension and Fear of Negative Evaluation. Yogyakarta: The Graduate Program in English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
A series of research undertaken have revealed some interesting aspects regarding the importance of motivation and the existence of Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) which can hinder students to learn foreign languages. Previous research has been done showing that the number of students who experience FLA is amazing. Students with high motivation are not the exception. In the foreign language learning, it is highly likely that they also experience FLA. It is interesting to find out how students who are closely associated with language achievement and considered as successful learners experience FLA handle it and give meaning to it. In this study, the type of FLA was delimited into Communication Apprehension (CA) and Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) since they are factors contributing to students’ oral communication in the classroom. Therefore, this study was conducted to find the scientific truth of the highly-motivated students’ lived experience of CA and FNE specifically by describing and interpreting their lived experience of CA and FNE.
This study was a hermeneutic phenomenological study since it was an interpretive study of the highly-motivated students’ lived experience of CA and FNE. The data gathered for completing the study was in the form of texts including anecdotes. The texts represented the participants’ lived experience and their reflection on their experience. The texts were obtained from two second-year ELESP students through in-depth interviews. The texts were interpreted thematically by using van Manen’s (1990) approach named selective reading approach. The trustworthiness of the study was supported by the suitability of the participants’ criteria with the criteria set for the study, the validity of the instruments and member checking.
xvi
deep breath. They also made effort to turn their negative thoughts into the positive ones by believing their own competence. Further, one participant made preparations before her presentation. Interestingly, both participants tried to ignore the thought that they would be negatively evaluated by their classmates. Motivation seemed to have important roles in helping the participants cope with CA and FNE in that their reasons of chosing coping strategies were related to their motivation. About the impacts of the experience, the experience brought positive impacts to one participant. For the other participant, the experience brought a positive impact as well as a negative impact.
This study provided scientific, practical and humanistic benefits. Scientifically, the findings of the study contributed to the body of knowledge in English Language Studies (ELS). Practically, the findings of the study implied that educators and students should be aware of the existence of CA and FNE in teaching and learning process. Thus, educators were expected to help students cope with anxiety-provoking situations for example by helping students recognize their beliefs, being aware of factors related to educators that could trigger students’ FNE, reassuring that their students had learning goals and giving extrinsic reward if it was necessary. Humanistically, the study presented findings that were expected to promote empathic understanding of participants’ lived experience of CA and FNE. Moreover, this understanding was expected to lead to self-actualization which occurs when people realize their own maximum potential and capabilities.
xvii ABSTRAK
Fika Apriliana. 2016. Pengalaman Hidup Mahasiswa dengan Motivasi Tinggi dalam Menghadapi Kecemasan Berkomunikasi dan Kecemasan terhadap Evaluasi Negatif. Yogyakarta: Program Kajian Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Penelitian-penelitian yang telah dilakukan menunjukkan beberapa aspek menarik berkaitan dengan pentingnya motivasi and keberadaan kecemasan berbahasa asing yang dapat mengganggu mahasiswa dalam belajar bahasa asing. Penelitian-penelitian yang telah dilakukan sebelumnya menunjukkan bahwa jumlah mahasiswa yang mengalami kecemasan dalam berbahasa asing sangatlah menakjubkan. Mahasiswa yang mempunyai motivasi tinggi tidak luput dari hal ini. Di dalam kelas bahasa asing, mereka juga cenderung mengalami kecemasan dalam berbahasa asing. Akan sangat menarik jika dapat mengetahui bagaimana mereka mengalami, menghadapi dan memaknai kecemasan mereka. Dalam penelitian ini, tipe kecemasan berbahasa asing hanya difokuskan pada kecemasan dalam berkomunikasi dan kecemasan terhadap evaluasi negatif karena tipe-tipe kecemasan tersebut adalah tipe-tipe kecemasan yang erat kaitannya dengan komunikasi lisan di dalam kelas. Untuk itu penelitian ini dilakukan untuk menemukan kebenaran saintifik tentang pengalaman hidup mahasiswa dengan motivasi tinggi dalam menghadapi kecemasan berbahasa asing khususnya dengan mendeskripsikan dan menginterpretasikan pengalaman hidup mereka dalam menghadapi kecemasan berbahasa asing.
Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian fenomenologi hermeneutika karena penelitian ini merupakan penelitian interpretasi tentang pengalaman hidup mahasiswa dengan motivasi tinggi dalam menghadapi kecemasan dalam berkomunikasi dan kecemasan terhadap evaluasi negatif. Data didapatkan dalam bentuk teks termasuk anekdot. Teks merepresentasikan pengalaman partisipan dan refleksi mereka terhadap pengalaman yang telah mereka lalui. Partisipan merupakan dua mahasiswa Program Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Universitas Sanata Dharma. Teks didapat melalui wawancara mendalam antara peneliti dan partisipan. Selanjutnya teks diinterpretasikan dengan menggunakan analisa yang berfokus pada tema. Data di dalam penelitian ini dapat diyakini kebenarannya karena didukung oleh kecocokan partisipan dengan kriteria penelitian, validitas instrumen penelitian dan konfirmasi ulang kepada partisipan.
xviii
teman kelas merupakan faktor-faktor yang menyebabkan kecemasan terhadap evaluasi negatif. Situasi yang dihadapi mereka sangatlah kompleks. Mereka merasakan gejala fisik, gejala psikologis dan gejala yang berhubungan dengan perilaku. Mereka merasa kepercayaan mereka diuji. Mereka melihat pengalaman tersebut sebagai pengalaman di mana mereka merasa kesulitan karena terhalang oleh perasaan takut membuat kesalahan dan pikiran negatif mereka terutama pikiran negatif bahwa mereka tidak mampu untuk mengatasi keadaan pada saat itu. Mereka menarik nafas dan menghilangkan pikiran negatif dengan cara berpikir positif bahwa mereka mampu mengatasi situasi pada saat itu. Satu partisipan melakukan persiapan sebelum presentasi. Untuk mengatasi kecemasan terhadap evaluasi negatif oleh teman kelas, para partisipan berusaha untuk mengabaikan pikiran bahwa mereka akan dievaluasi negatif oleh teman kelas. Motivasi nampaknya memiliki peran penting dalam membantu para partisipan dalam mengatasi kecemasan berkomunikasi dan kecemasan terhadap evaluasi negatif. Hal tersebut terlihat dari alasan-alasan mereka dalam memilih strategi untuk mengatasi kecemasan mereka. Pengalaman-pengalaman yang dialami membawa dampak positif terhadap salah satu partisipan sedangkan terhadap partisipan lainnya membawa dampak positif sekaligus dampak negatif.
Hasil dari penelitian ini diharapkan mampu memberikan keuntungan saintifik, praktis dan humanistik. Secara saintifik, hasil penelitian ini memberikan kontribusi terhadap ilmu pengetahuan di dalam lingkup Kajian Bahasa Inggris. Dalam prakteknya, hasil dari penelitian ini mengindikasikan bahwa pendidik dan mahasiswa seharusnya sadar akan adanya kecemasan berkomunikasi dan kecemasan terhadap penilaian negatif di dalam proses belajar mengajar. Selanjutnya, pendidik diharapkan mampu membantu mahasiswa dalam mengatasi hal-hal tersebut misalnya dengan cara membantu mahasiswa untuk menyadari keyakinan dalam belajar bahasa Inggris, menyadari faktor-faktor yang berasal dari pendidik yang mampu menyebabkan kecemasan mahasiswa, memastikan bahwa setiap mahasiswa memiliki tujuan dalam belajar dan memberikan penghargaan jika dibutuhkan. Secara humanistik, hasil dari penelitian ini diharapkan mampu menciptakan pemahaman empati dan selanjutnya pemahaman empati ini diharapkan dapat mengarah pada aktualisasi diri.
1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This introductory chapter consists of background of the study, problem delimitation, problem formulation, research goal and research benefits. The background section contains the underlying information of the research which shows the readers the importance of the issues under study. The scope of the study should be delimited and therefore is stated in the problem delimitation. The research question which is the focus of this research is formulated and can be found in the problem formulation section. The next section is research goal which is closely related to the research question. In the end of this chapter, the research benefits section describes the scientific and practical benefits of the study.
A. Background of the Study
2
This fight in mind happened not in one course only. In another course, my lecturer asked me and my friends to actively participate in every group discussion. Moreover, in this course, my lecturer employed participation grade. He would give additional grades for the students who shared their ideas. One day, the discussion was on what we would do if our beliefs as a teacher were different with the beliefs of institution where we worked. I thought about the answer then formulated good statements to represent my ideas. Again and again, I was a little bit hesitant to speak out my ideas. I was not confident enough and afraid of what others would think of my ideas. My heart beat faster, but then I was eager for participating in the group discussions because of the grade I would get. I took a deep breath, then finally I raised my hand and spoke out my ideas.
My struggles above were two-real examples of situations when I experienced language anxiety. In my first story, my anxiety caused me to remain silent in the class. I was failed in handling my anxiety. However, sometimes like in my second story, I could cope with my anxiety successfully. At that time, I was motivated by the grade I could get. I am quite sure that these kinds of struggle not only happened to me but also happened to the most students. Unfortunately, Oxford (1999) states the idea that my first reaction–being silent or giving up–is more frequent than my second reaction found in mostly students when they experienced language anxiety.
Anxiety can be simply defined as “worrying or fear feeling.” Many people
3
classroom because they feel worry. Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986, p. 124) define anxiety as “the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness
and worry associated with the arousal of the nervous system.” A study from Worde (1998) in Zheng (2008) showed that one third to a half of students examined were reported to experience high levels of language anxiety. It shows that the number of students who report that they are anxious language learners is amazing. In addition, according to McCroskey (1984), even at higher levels of proficiency, many students may experience some level of fear and anxiety when asked to communicate, especially in public. According to Horwitz et al. (1986, p. 126), in the foreign language context, “anxiety centers on the two basic task requirements: listening and speaking, and difficulty in speaking in class is probably the most frequently cited concern of the anxious foreign language students.” Some researchers have revealed that anxiety can impede foreign language production and achievement (Horwitz et al., 1986; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991, 1994). Specifically, MacIntyre & Gardner (1991, p. 86) claim that “language anxiety is experienced by learners of both foreign and second language and causes potential problem as it can interfere with the acquisition, retention and production of the new language.”
Investigating further into my second experience, I could find another variable which was motivation in my process of making the decision. At that time, I was motivated by the participation grade employed by my lecturer. Grade actually was also one form of motivation. Richard (1994, p. 4) states that “motivation is concerned with one’s reasons for learning the language, the
4
to sustain that effort.” Motivation has frequently been reported to be the most critical factor for success in the language learning process. Motivation has been widely accepted by teachers and researchers as one of the key factors influencing the success of language learning (Ely, 1986; Dornyei, 1994; Williams & Burden, 1997 in Li & Pan, 2005). Brown (2007) states that motivation is a star player in the cast of characters connected to language learning around the world. It plays an important role of success and failure.
According to the Affective Filter hypothesis proposed by Krashen (1987), both motivation and anxiety are important affective variables that may function as affective filter and influence comprehensible input in the process of acquiring a language. Affective factors are defined as “those that deal with the emotional response and motivations of the learner” (Scovel, 1978 in Tanveer, 2007). It is
well established that second or foreign language learning is often associated with affective factors, among which the constructs of anxiety and motivation have been recognized as important predictors of second or foreign language achievement. Learning more about the affective factors that may influence the process of language acquisition and lead to ineffectual learning is crucial to prevent an atmosphere that not only frustrates the teachers, but also causes anxiety for students.
5
anxiety. Clement, Dornyei and Noels (1994) found that learners who are more motivated to learn are usually less anxious learners who have better previous experiences, who evaluate their own proficiency more highly, and who consider the learning tasks as less difficult. According to Noels, Clement and Pelletier (2001), the more learners feel amotivated, the less effort they will expand and the more anxiety they will feel. However, it should not be the end of the investigation. The important point is to explore the role of these affective filters altogether in teaching and learning process.
As a language learner who had experienced anxious feelings aroused by language learning situations and as a future teacher of English, I had always been interested in exploring the role of affective factors in general and of motivation and anxiety in particular. In this study, I went deeper exploring the motivated students’ lived experience of anxiety and the meaning of the experience to them. To the best of my knowledge, no published study had been yet conducted to explore the issue. Since it was the study of lived experience, the study was a phenomenological study in nature.
B. Problem Delimitation
self-6
reflection and guideline for other students who had similar problem and still found out the best way to be successful in language learning.
Considering that the study was conducted in the foreign language context, I specified the kind of anxiety into what is so-called Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA). Horwitz et al. (1986, p. 128) define FLA as “a distinct set of beliefs, perceptions, and feelings in response to foreign language learning in the classroom and not merely a composite of other anxieties.” FLA is unique since it happened in foreign language classroom which requires the learners to communicate or use a language which they have not mastered perfectly (Keramida, 2009).
Furthermore, Horwitz et al. (1986) and Cubukcu (2007) identify three main types of FLA. The three types are communication apprehension (CA), test anxiety (TA) and fear of negative evaluation (FNE). Cubukcu (2007, p. 128) defines CA as “a type of shyness characterized by fear of and anxiety about communicating with people”. TA refers to “a type of performance anxiety stemming from a fear of failure” (Horwitz et al., 1986, p. 127). FNE is defined as “apprehension about others’ evaluations, avoidance of evaluative situations and the expectation that
others will evaluate them negatively” (Horwitz et al., 1986, p. 128). In this study, I focused on CA and FNE since they are factors influencing to students’ oral communication in the classroom.
C. Problem Formulation
7
What is the highly-motivated students’ lived experience of communication
apprehension and fear of negative evaluation?
D. Research Goal
The research goal of this study was closely related to the research question of this study. By conducting this study, I aimed at finding the scientific truth of the highly-motivated students’ lived experience of communication apprehension (CA) and fear of negative evaluation (FNE) specifically by describing and interpreting their lived experience of CA and FNE.
E. Research Benefits
My study of the highly-motivated students’ lived experience of CA and FNE was expected to provide scientific, practical and humanistic benefits. Scientifically, the description and interpretation of the result would contribute to the body of knowledge in English Language Studies (ELS). The scientific contribution would lead to practical benefits which was related to efficiency or productivity.
Practically, the finding of this study might help English-medium institution such as ELS to understand the individual difference, to understand the psychological process of learning foreign language and to come up with effective teaching methods to control students’ affective filter. Therefore, these practical benefits would promote equity in the classroom. Learning equity was highly needed to ensure that language learners got a fair opportunity at learning.
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9 CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter will be divided into two sections. The first section is the theoretical review which will provide a comprehensive knowledge of the field of this study. By reviewing the related theories, the construct map can be theoretically generated. The construct map serves as the basis for the framework of pre-understanding which will be provided in the second section of this chapter. The framework of pre-understanding functions as the rationale to predict the relationships among variables of this study and to describe this study in the whole picture.
A. Theoretical Review
This section presents my review of published information of some relevant theories and previous studies related to the topic of my study. In this section, I review the theories and previous studies’ findings of: (1) motivation, (2) foreign
language anxiety (FLA) including communication apprehension (CA) and fear of negative evaluation (FNE), (3) relationship between motivation and FLA and (4) lived experience.
1. Motivation
10 a. Definition of Motivation
“Motivation is concerned with one’s reasons for learning the language, the
strategies used to achieve these goals, the effort put into learning and one’s ability to sustain that effort” (Richards, 1994, p. 4). Motivation has frequently been reported to be the most critical factor for success in the language learning process. Motivation has been widely accepted by teachers and researchers as one of the key factors influencing the success of language learning (Ely, 1986; Dornyei, 1994; Williams & Burden, 1997 in Li & Pan, 2005). Brown (2007) states that motivation is a star player in the cast of characters connected to language learning around the world. It plays an important role of success and failure.
Motivation helps students get started. Sometimes, it will be hard for students to start learning new knowledge and new skills of language through new subjects in a new semester. Many questions will appear in students’ mind. Motivation helps students get started because motivation involves the student’s reason for attempting to acquire the language (Schumann, 1986). Therefore, realizing the reason can help students to set the goal and plan strategies to achieve the goal.
Motivation helps students keep moving in language learning process. Since motivated students have an effort put into learning and also have ability to sustain that effort, the students can face difficulties and challenges in the process of learning. Moreover, Hedge (2000, p. 23) emphasizes that “motivation is crucial in the classroom, whether learners arrive with it or whether they acquire it through classroom experience.” Motivation escorts the process of learning.
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students will do better and more than necessary. The students will explore and use all their knowledge and skills in language learning process. Reece and Walker (1997) express that a less capable student who is highly motivated can achieve a greater success than the more intelligent student who is not well motivated.
Motivation makes the journey fun. Students who do not have motivation might think that the journey to succeed is long and difficult. Differently, students who are motivated will see the long journey as an enjoyable travel. Donald (2008) argues that motivation enables students to endure such difficult times. A motivated individual will enjoy learning the language and will strive to learn the language (Gardner, 1985).
In language learning, “motivation determines the extent of active, personal involvement in language learning” (Oxford & Shearin, 1994, p. 121). Motivation leads the students to be self-directed. A highly-motivated student begins to want a greater responsibility for their own learning. “Self-directed students gradually gain greater involvement and proficiency” (Oxford, 1990, p. 10).
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participating in class discussions, which resulted in their getting higher marks in tests and examination.
b. Types of Motivation
Harmer (1998) mentions that motivation can be separated into two main types: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are two major types with which college students are engaged in the process of learning language. Intrinsic motivation basically comes from the students themselves such as their own goals and the needs to learn (e.g. I have direction and goals in learning English, I want my study provides me with opportunities to develop my knowledge and skills in English). If you are motivated intrinsically, it means that you are doing something because you want to do it or because you make your own choice to do it. Deci and Ryan (2000, p. 56) state that “intrinsic motivation is defined as the doing of an activity for inherent satisfactions rather than for some separable consequences.” Dev (1997) views that student who are intrinsically motivated will not need any type of reward or incentive to complete a task. This type of student is more likely to complete the chosen task and triggered by the challenging nature of an activity.
While extrinsic motivation comes from outside of the students such as parents, environment and class condition. “Extrinsic motivation is a construct that pertains whenever an activity is done in order to attain some separable outcome”
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while good academic reputation, praise and recognition from others were regarded as intangible reward.
Ormrod (2008) says that both types of motivation may not have exactly the same effect on student learning and performance at the college level. Deci and Ryan (1985) claim that learners who are intrinsically motivated rather than extrinsically motivated are likely to become more successful and effective learners. Students who are intrinsically motivated to learn are still believed to be more persistent in language learning, and this persistence contributes to students’
achievement. According to Ushioda (1996), students who are intrinsically motivated can experience greater pleasure and emotional involvement because the rewards generated from intrinsic motivation are usually positive feelings such as enjoyment, pleasure, satisfaction, and self-indulgence and students can be always motivated by those internal rewards from the learning itself to persist learning. While for students who are extrinsically motivated, they “may work efficiently in the short term in response to external rewards and incentives, but their motivation is unlikely to sustain itself autonomously if the learning experience does not generate internal or intrinsic rewards” (ibid, p. 22). Those students who work for extrinsic rewards are comparatively passive because if the external reinforcement is not available, they have no reason to do it and they may remain stagnant. Even, these students may give up learning once the external pressure no longer exists (Noels, Clement & Pelletier, 2001).
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regarded as intangible rewards. Students who are perceived as having a good academic reputation may often be asked for academic help and are associated with students who excel (Gest et al., 2008). Deci and Ryan (1985) found that using rewards in an academic setting resulted in a significant improvement in students’
motivational levels. Moneta and Spada (2009) suggest that individuals who are extrinsically motivated by an expected reward increase their effort to complete the task and earn an incentive.
Besides the controversy of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, Lumsden and Linda (1994) investigated that passion to learn seemed to shrink as children grew. As children grow, learning sometimes becomes compulsion than pleasure. The similar idea is revealed by Goldberg (1994) in Broussard (2002), who points out that an intrinsic orientation toward education switches to a more extrinsic orientation as children increase in age. On the contrary, Zemke and Zemke (1988) argue that there is transition from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation in the college classroom. The students need to come to class to learn because learning is intrinsically motivating, rewarding, exciting and of real benefit to the students. Research on adult learners indicated that learners are most motivated when they see relevance to their learning, engage in the learning process and feel that they can meet their interests and needs (ibid).
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Gottfried, 1985, 1990; Harter & Connell, 1984; Henderlong & Lepper, 1997; Lloyd & Barenblatt, 1984). Afzal, Ali, Khan and Hamid (2010) found that students who were intrinsically motivated performed much better academically than students who were extrinsically motivated. Extrinsically motivated students might perform very well in one semester or quiz to achieve a certain reward or goal and then next semester might show poor performance because the reward did not exist anymore. Their performance did not remain constant as a result. While, intrinsically motivated students were truly interested in learning and in achieving high goals. Their overall performance was consistent. On the other hand, recent research conducted to with college-student populations revealed that students who had high extrinsic motivation had positive achievement (Barron & Harrackiewicz, 2001; Elliot & McGregor, 2001; Harackiewicz, Barron, Pintrich, Elliot, & Trash, 2002 in Lepper, Corpus & Iyengar, 2005). Students who were particularly focused on the extrinsic consequences of their behaviors did particularly well on objective indicators of performance.
A study conducted amongst students in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, found that factors leading to academic achievement occurred interactively (Dass-Brailsford, 2005). For example, family pressure might contribute to a decrease in students’ motivational levels. However, students who were highly intrinsically
16 c. Highly-Motivated Students
Previously, I have presented the definition of motivation by Richard (1994). Richard (1994, p. 4) states that “motivation is concerned with one’s reasons for learning the language, the strategies used to achieve these goals, the effort put into learning and one’s ability to sustain that effort.” From this definition, it can be inferred that highly-motivated students have their own reasons or goals in language learning, employ some strategies used to achieve their goals and put a big effort to achieve their goals.
A highly-motivated student wants a greater responsibility for their own learning (Oxford, 1990). Self-directed students gradually gain greater involvement and proficiency. Motivation has strong effect on students’ achievement in numerous studies. Bank and Finlapson (1980) concluded that successful students were found to have significantly higher motivation for achievement than unsuccessful students did. Gottfried (1985) explains that students who were reported to have high academic intrinsic motivation had significantly high school achievement. Also, some previous research on college-student populations uncovered that students who had high extrinsic motivation had positive achievement (Barron & Harrackiewicz, 2001; Elliot & McGregor, 2001; Harackiewicz, Barron, Pintrich, Elliot, & Trash, 2002 in Lepper, Corpus & Iyengar, 2005).
2. Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA)
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FLA, (c) causes of FLA, (d) manifestation of FLA, (e) students’ strategies to cope with FLA and (f) effects of FLA.
a. Definition of FLA
Teachers and students generally feel that anxiety is a major obstacle to overcome in learning to speak another language. In order to understand FLA, it is important to first consider the definition of FLA. Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986) were the first to treat FLA as a separate and distinct phenomenon particular to language learning. According to Horwitz et al. (1986, p. 128), FLA is “a distinct complex of self-perceptions, feelings and behaviors related to classroom learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process.”. In a
similar vein, Oh (1992) in Wang (2005, p. 16) perceives FLA as a situation-specific anxiety students experience in the classroom, which is characterized by “negative self-centered thoughts, feelings of inadequacy, fear of failure, and emotional reactions.”
Batumlu and Erden (2007) in Worku (2008, p. 10) add that “FLA is different from all kinds of anxiety because it is a distinct complex of self-perceptions, feelings and behaviors related to language learning process.” Here, the students who feel anxious are caused by the foreign language learning process. Moreover, “foreign language learning process is seen as a unique process because
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because English is something new for them. They have to use or communicate using English that they have not mastered perfectly.
b. Types of FLA
Horwitz et al. (1986) identified three related performance anxieties. They are communication apprehension (CA), test anxiety (TA) and fear of negative evaluation (FNE), which are believed to “provide useful conceptual building
blocks for a description of foreign language anxiety” (Horwitz et al., 1986, p. 128). In the following part, I review two types of FLA used in this study.
1) Communication Apprehension (CA)
McCroskey (1977, p. 28) defines CA as “an individual’s level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons.” Meanwhile, Cubukcu (2007, p. 128) defines CA as “a type of shyness characterized by fear of and anxiety about communicating with people.” Horwitz et al. (1986, p. 127) state that “difficulty in speaking in dyads or groups (oral communication anxiety) or in public (“stage fright”) or in listening to or
learning a spoken message (receiver anxiety) are all manifestation of CA.” Gregersen and Horwitz (2002, p. 562) elaborate more by saying
people whose typical CA is high tend to encounter even greater difficulty communicating in a foreign language class where they have little control of the communicative situation; there exists a disparity between learners’ mature thoughts and their immature foreign language proficiency, and their performance is constantly monitored.
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A study by Nor and Normazla (2008) found that the participants of their study experienced the highest level of CA when participating in meetings, interpersonal communication and public speaking. Their study also revealed that the major causes of CA were the personality trait of the students and their inability to pronounce English words correctly. Likewise, Pappamihiel (2002) in her paper wrote that students who come in with fewer language skills tend to be more nervous and anxious about learning the English language. Therefore, anxiety is viewed as a possible stumbling block to the language learning process of these students. Another study conducted in Puerto Rico by Lucas (1984) revealed that only 115 students were found to experience CA when speaking using their mother tongue, Spanish. However, these students were found to display high CA (43%) when speaking in English. A similar study conducted by McCroskey (1984) in Japan found that three-fourths of the samples were classified as having high levels of CA in both Japanese and English. Finally, in a study conducted by Shameem and Siti (2006) in Tom et al. (2013), the researchers found that more than half of their subjects were afraid of using English due to poor proficiency in the language. They also found that the subjects had high levels of CA when using the language to communicate. Similar to Nor and Normazla’s (2008) study, they also
discovered that one of the main factors causing CA was personality trait. 2) Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE)
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sensitive when they are evaluated by others because they are afraid of having negative evaluations. Consequently, learners who are highly concerned about the impressions of others form them to behave in ways that minimize the possibility of negative evaluations (Gregersen & Horwitz, 2002). In foreign language classrooms, students with FNE tend to "sit passively in the classroom, withdrawing from classroom activities that could otherwise enhance their improvement of the language skills" or even "cutting class to avoid anxiety situations" (Aida, 1994, p. 157).
Young (1991) found that anxious learners thought their skills in language were weaker than their peers’ and they were looking down at them. A study from Hilleson (1996) showed that the awareness of performing badly in English seemed to indicate a loss of self-esteem. The students were aware that their performance was being evaluated by their peers and teachers, which made them very anxious in learning.
c. Causes of FLA
21 1) Personal and Interpersonal Issues
Several other researchers argued that low competitiveness and self-esteem are the two significant sources of learner anxiety. Bailey (1983) studied the diary entries of 11 students and reported that competitiveness can lead to anxiety when language learners compare themselves to others or to an idealized self-image. Likewise, Price (1991) found that the majority of her subjects believed their language skills to be weaker than those of the others in class that they weren't doing a good job and that everyone else looked down on them.
As regards to self-esteem, Hembree (1988) in Linh (2011) implies that students who start out with a self-perceived low ability level in a foreign or second language are most likely to experience language anxiety. Krashen (1987) also suggests that anxiety can arise according to one's degree of self-esteem as those students tend to worry about what their peers or friends think, in fear of their negative responses or evaluation.
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2) Learner’s Beliefs about Language Learning
Learner’s beliefs about language learning can also be associated with anxiety (Horwitz et al., 1986; Horwitz, 1988, 1989; Price, 1991; Young, 1991). Horwitz's study (1988) in Young (1991, p. 428) revealed that the students:
(1) expressed great concern over the correctness of their utterances, (2) placed a great deal of stress on speaking with "an excellent accent", (3) supported the notion that language learning is primarily translating from English (4) believed that two years is enough time to become fluent in another language and (5) believed some people were more able to learn a foreign language than others. In addition, many students also believed that learning a second language primarily involved memorizing vocabulary words and grammatical rules.
According to Tallon (2008, p. 4), “when students’ unrealistic expectations about language learning are not met, the situation can lead to negative feelings about one’s intelligence and abilities.” Such unrealistic beliefs like what Horwitz (1988) found may make the students later become disappointed and frustrated. I conclude that unrealistic beliefs may make students have unrealistic expectations about language learning process, thus leading to anxiety. In addition, Palacios (1998) in Tallon (2008, p. 5) found that the following beliefs are associated with FLA. They are
(1) the feeling that mastering a language is an overwhelming task, (2) the feeling that one needs to go through a translation process in order to communicate in the target language, (3) the difficulty of keeping everything in one’s head and (4) the belief that learning a language is easier at an earlier age.
3) Teacher’s Beliefs about Language Teaching
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correspond to the student's needs or expectations toward him or her (Ohata, 2005 in Linh, 2011). Young (1991) identifies the following teacher beliefs which have been shown to evoke feelings of anxiety in students: (1) it is necessary for the teacher to be intimidating at times, (2) the instructor is supposed to correct every single mistake made by the students, (3) group or partner work is not appropriate because it can get out of control, (4) the teacher should do most of the talking and (5) the instructor’s role is that of a drill sergeant.
Besides, Palacios (1998) in Tallon (2008) found the following characteristics of the teacher to be associated with anxiety. They are absence of teacher support, unsympathetic personalities, lack of time for personal attention, favoritism, absence that the class does not provide students with the tools necessary to match up with the teacher’s expectations and the sense of being judged by the teacher or wanting to impress the teacher. A judgmental teaching attitude (Samimy, 1994 in Linh, 2011) and a harsh manner of teaching (Aida, 1994) are closely linked to student fear in the classroom. In addition, Ando (1999) in Linh (2011, p. 41) argues that “having a native speaker for a teacher can cause anxiety because the teacher may lack the sensitivity of the learning process or the teacher’s English may be hard for students to understand.”
4) Classroom Characteristics
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production, feelings of being put on the spot, the pace of the class, and the element of being evaluated (i.e., fear of negative evaluation) to be anxiety-producing to students.” Young (1999) emphasizes that putting the learner “on the spot” in front of their classmates without allowing adequate preparation is also
source of anxiety for many students. Moreover, Oxford (1999) emphasizes learning and teaching styles as a potential source of language anxiety. If the teacher’s teaching style and a student’s learning style are not compatible, “style wars” can trigger or heighten anxiety levels.
5) Classmates
According to Horwitz et al. (1986), anxiety especially FNE is triggered not only by the teacher as a fluent speaker but also the classmates. Koch and Terrell (1991) similarly state that speaking in front of the peers is another source of anxiety in learning a foreign language. In her study, Young (1990) investigated the students’ perspectives on anxiety and speaking. The result of her study
revealed that, in a language class, the students felt most anxious when they had to speak in front of their peers. Horwitz et al. (1986) suggest that language classrooms are threatening in part because students are often required to communicate in front of their peers in an unfamiliar language and are often publicly evaluated while doing so.
d. Manifestation of FLA
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perspiration. Psychological symptoms include feelings of helplessness, problems with concentration such as going blank and inability to concentrate, as well as memory difficulties such as poor memory recall and retention. Moreover, behavioral symptoms include physical actions such as squirming, fidgeting, playing with hair or clothing nervously touching objects, stuttering or stammering displaying jittery behavior, being unable to reproduce the sounds or intonation of the target language even after repeated practice. More importantly, behavioral symptoms of anxiety can be manifested in negative avoidance behaviors like inappropriate silence, monosyllabic or non-committal responses, lack of eye contact, unwillingness to participate, coming late, arriving unprepared, showing indifference, cutting class, and withdrawal from the course. In addition, other signs might reflect language anxiety depending on the culture. The symptoms are excessive study, perfectionism, hostility, excessive competitiveness, as well as excessive self-effacement and self-criticism (e.g. “I am so stupid”).
e. Students’ Strategies to Cope with FLA
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approaches provide the basis for the types of strategies students may use to tackle their language anxiety.
According to Kondo and Ying-Ling (2004), if students think that their cognition (worry, preoccupations, and concerns) creates anxiety, they may attempt to suppress or alter the thought processes related to language learning. Those who believe that somatic arousal (physical responses to anxiety) is the main concern may find ways to ease bodily reactions and tension. If students assume that anxiety arises because they lack the necessary academic skills, they may study harder. However, if students perceive that their anxieties are too much to cope with, they may not invest effort in reducing the anxiety. In their study which was designed to develop a typology of strategies that Japanese students use to cope with English language learning anxiety, Kondo and Ying-Ling (2004, p. 258) identified 70 basic tactics and put them into five strategy categories. Those include:
(1) Preparation (e.g. studying hard, trying to obtain good summaries of lecture notes), (2) Relaxation (e.g. taking a deep breath, trying to calm down), (3) Positive thinking (e.g. imagining oneself giving a great performance, trying to enjoy the tension), (4) Peer seeking (e.g. looking for others who are having difficulty controlling their anxieties, asking other students if they understand the class), and (5) Resignation (e.g. giving up, sleeping in class) (p. 47).
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to suppress or alter problematic thought processes related to language learning, and thus can be subsumed into cognitive strategies.
f. Effects of FLA
MacIntyre et al. (1998) lists five major effects of FLA in language learning and performance. First, academically, FLA is one of the best predictors of language proficiency since high levels of FLA are associated with low levels of academic achievement in foreign language learning. The second effect is the social effect. Students with high anxiety level are not interested to take part in interpersonal communication with others. Third, cognitively, FLA can occur at any stage of language acquisition. FLA can become an affective filters that prevents certain information from entering a student’s cognitive processing system. Fourth, FLA arousal influence the quality of communication output as the retrieval of information may be interrupted when students get anxious. Finally, personally, language learning experience could, under some circumstances, become a traumatic experience. This kind of unpleasant experience may dramatically disturb one’s self-esteem or self-confidence as a student.
3. Relationship between Motivation and FLA
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review the relationship between motivation and anxiety in terms of students’
English learning achievement.
The relationship between language motivation and language anxiety has been investigated by some researchers. Language anxiety was found to be negatively related to motivation (Gardner et al., 1987; Hashimoto, 2002; Yang, Liu & Wu, 2010; Liu & Huang, 2011). Clement, Dornyei and Noels (1994) found that learners who are more motivated to learn language are usually less anxious learners who have better previous experiences, who evaluate their own proficiency more highly and who consider the learning tasks are less difficult. According to Noels, Clement and Pelletier (2001), the more learners feel amotivated, the less effort they will expand and the more anxiety they will feel. Another study conducted by Liu and Cheng (2014) also found that Taiwanese university freshmen’s anxiety levels were significantly lower when students had a higher degree of motivation. The finding of Liu and Cheng’s study also revealed that the combination of communication apprehension and fear of negative evaluation acted as primary source language anxiety in the Taiwanese EFL classroom.
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(AMTB). The results indicated that the majority of the participants experienced a mid to high level of language learning anxiety. Besides, it was found that the participants with lower levels of the language learning anxiety were more motivated to learn English while those with higher levels of the language learning anxiety were less motivated to learn English.
4. Lived Experience
“Lived experience is the starting point and end point of phenomenological research” (van Manen, 1990, p. 36). Van Manen (1990) points out eight important philosophical points of phenomenology research. First, “phenomenological research is the study of lived experience” (van Manen, 1990, p. 9). Langdridge (2007, p. 4) points out the same way that when doing phenomenological studies, “we aim to focus on people’s perceptions of the world in which they live and what
this means to them: a focus on people’s lived experience.” “Phenomenology is the study of the lifeworld–the world as we immediately experience it pre-reflectively rather than as we conceptualize, categorize or reflect on it” (Husserl, 1970; Schutz & Luckmann, 1973 in van Manen, 1990, p. 9). Van Manen (1990, p. 9) states that “phenomenology aims at gaining a deeper understanding of the nature or meaning
of our everyday experiences.” Phenomenology asks what this or that kind of experience is like. What I can highlight here is that, according to van Manen (1990), phenomenology bring us in more direct contact with the world instead of offering us the possibility of effective theory with which we can now explain and/or control the world.
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phenomenon comes from the Greek phaenesthai, to flare up, to show itself, to appear” (Moustakas, 1994, p. 26). Constructed from phaino, phenomenon means “to bring to light, to place in brightness, to show itself in itself, the totality of what
lies before us in the light of day” (Heidegger, 1997 in Moustakas, 1994, p. 26).
The phenomena can be explained after people have been aware of their experiences. In the other words, Langdridge (2007) explains that an object enters our reality only when we perceive it, when it is presented to consciousness. Langdridge (2007, p. 4) elaborates further by saying that “our perceptions varies according to the context, the position of the perceiver in the relation to the object and the mood of the perceiver, among other things.” Therefore, an experience may be differently meaningful to different people and even the same person in a different context. Going back to van Manen (1990, p. 9), he emphasizes that “consciousness is the only access human beings have to the world.” What I can highlight here is that, according to van Manen (1990, p. 10), “phenomenological reflection is not introspective but retrospective meaning that reflection on experiences that is already passed or lived through.”
Third, phenomenological research is the study of essences (van Manen, 1990, p. 10). Essence means “the structure and the internal meaning structure of lived experience” (van Manen, 1990, p. 10). Husserl (1931) in Moustakas (1994,
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we live them in our everyday existence. Fifth, phenomenological research is the human scientific study of phenomena (van Manen, 1990, p. 11). According to van Manen (1990, p. 11), “phenomenology claims to be scientific in a broad sense, since it is systematic, explicit, self-critical and intersubjective study of its subject matter, our lived experience.” Van Manen (1990, p. 11) also states that phenomenology is a human science since the subject matter of phenomenological research is always the structures of meaning of the lived human world. Sixth, “phenomenological research is the attentive practice of thoughtfulness” (van Manen, p. 12). According to Heidegger (1962) in van Manen (1990, p. 12), thoughtfulness is described as “a minding, a heeding, a caring attunement-a heedful, midful wondering about the project of life, of living, of what it means to live a life.” Seventh, phenomenological research is a search for what it means to be human (van Manen, 1990, p. 12). Van Manen (1990, p. 12) emphasizes that “phenomenological research, as its ultimate aim, the fulfillment of our human
nature: to become more fully who we are.” Eighth, “phenomenological research is a poetizing activity” (van Manen, 1990, p. 13). Van Manen (1990, p. 13) defines poetizing as “thinking on original experience and is thus speaking in a more primal sense.” Another aim of phenomenology stated by van Manen (1990, p. 36) is that “to transform lived experience into a textual expression of its essence–in such a way that the effect of the text is once a reflexive re-living and a reflective appropriation of something meaningful: a notion by which a reader is powerfully animated in his or her own lived experience.”
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of life: a reflexive or self-given awareness which is, as awareness, unaware of itself.
A lived experience does not confront me as something perceived or represented; it is not given to me, but the reality of lived experience is there-for-me because I have a reflective awareness of it, because I possess it immediately as belonging to me in some sense. Only in thought does it become objective.
Dithley (1985) in van Manen (1990, p. 36) also suggest that lived experience is to the soul what breath is to the body: “just as our body needs to
breathe, our soul requires the fulfillment and expansion of its existence in the reverberations of emotional life.” Gadamer (1975) in van Manen (1990, p. 37) observed that the word “experience” has a condensing and intensifying meaning:
“If something is called or considered an experience its meaning rounds it into the
unity of a significant whole.” According to Dithley (1985) in van Manen (1990, p. 37), “what makes the experience unique so that I can reflect on it and talk about it is the particular ‘structural nexus’, the motif, that gives this experience its particular quality (central idea or dominant theme).” “Structural nexus” here means as something that belong to a particular lived experience (something like a pattern or unit of meaning), which becomes part of a system of contextually related experience, explicated from it through a process of reflection on its meaning.
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Four factors related to the subjectivity of lived experience are ideology, historicity, intentionality and awareness. Ideology is related to set of beliefs characteristics of a social group or individual. Each individual has his or her own beliefs about a certain object or event, therefore the experience between one individual and the other is likely to be different and unique depending on the individual’s ideology. Ricoeur (1970) believes that people always occupy an ideological position even if they are unaware of it. Bunnin and Yu (2004) define historicity as
