FACTORS LEADING TO SPEAKING ANXIETY AND
STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME THE ANXIETY
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
SarjanaPendidikan
Andreas Triko Danang Pamungkas
112013079
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS
UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN SATYA WACANA
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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 belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright @2017: Andreas Triko Danang Pamungkas and Gita Hastuti, M.A.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the prior written permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Language Education Program of Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana Salatiga.
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Factors Leading to Speaking Anxiety ... 4
Strategies to Cope with Anxiety ... 9
Previous Studies on Anxiety ... 11
THE STUDY ... 12
The Context of the Study ... 12
Participants... 13
Instruments of Data Collection ... 14
Data Collection Procedure ... 15
Data Analysis ... 16
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ... 17
Overall Factors Leading to Speaking Anxiety ... 17
Most Common Factors Leading to Speaking Anxiety ... 19
Most Common Participants’ Strategies to Reduce Anxiety. ... 26
CONCLUSION ... 30
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ... 35
APPENDIX ... 36
LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Overall Factors Leading to Speaking Anxiety………... 18
Figure 2. Low self-perception of linguistic competence... 19
Figure 3. Negative attitudes toward classroom variables... 20
Figure 4. Fear of failing tests……… 22
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FACTORS LEADING TO SPEAKING ANXIETY AND
STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME THE ANXIETY
ANDREAS TRIKO DANANG PAMUNGKAS
112013079
ABSTRACT
This study addressed the speaking anxiety issue experienced by students of Faculty of Language and Arts (FLA) of Satya Wacana Christian University. This study attempted to answer the research question: ‘What factors are responsible for students’ speaking anxiety?’ and ‘What do students do to overcome their anxiety?’ The participants of this study were 92 students from English Language Education program of FLA. They were asked to fill in a questionnaire related to speaking classes and their anxieties. Through qualitative-descriptive analysis, it was found that there were four most common speaking anxieties: low self-perception of linguistic competence, followed by negative attitudes toward classroom variables, fear of failing tests, and being aware of mistakes. The findings also indicated four most common and most effective strategies to reduce anxiety: preparing the outline before delivering a speech, practicing the speech over and over again, using positive self-talk, and taking a deep breath to gain comfortable feeling. This study could give insight and understanding of different factors causing anxiety, and how to cope with students’ anxiety in speaking classes.
Key word: speaking anxiety, factors, strategies, speaking class
INTRODUCTION
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of Language and Arts of Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana to help improve students’
communicative skills. In this course, students will have numerous roles as an English speaker in various situations. A wide range of activities have been prepared to boost students’ confidence in pairs, groups, or direct discussions with the teacher. The
students speaking skills will be assessed through diverse forms of assessment which include the speaking test, graded role play, talking at a party, speaking at the English Fair, participation in all class activities and speaking reflection. Students are expected to fulfill several aspects of speaking such as fluency, pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary (Speaking for Social Purposes syllabus Semester 1 – 2016/2017). Those aspects are required for the first year students in learning speaking. Yet, it may not be easy for the students who are taking the speaking class.
Passive students in language learning have become an issue for the teacher. Snell (1999) stated that students avoid interaction using English and tend to ignore the teacher. He also stated that students choose to remain silent if the teacher asked questions, even if they know the answers. As this study focuses on this problem, it is necessary to define the term “anxiety”. According to Zhanadilov & Zhanadilova (2013) anxiety is “a state of apprehension, a vague fear that is only indirectly
associated with an object” (p.20). Similarly, Arnold (2006, as cited in Bozavli &
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When I was a first year student, I got anxious every time I thought about speaking in front of other people and talking to the teachers. This feeling made me skip classes and always come unprepared for presentations. Because English is a foreign language to me, it made me tend to be unresponsive and passive during classes. Anxiety became my main problem in speaking classes. Based on my experience above, I am interested to find the answer to my research questions:
1. What factors are responsible for students’ speaking anxiety? 2. What do students do to overcome their anxiety?
Furthermore, the purpose of this study is to identify the factors that are responsible for students’ speaking anxiety in the language learning process. The second purpose of this research is to reveal students’ strategies to cope with anxiety
problems. By reading this paper, students are hoped to find out ways to relieve their anxious feeling in speaking classes. This study hopefully can also help the teachers in his/her Speaking for Social Purposes class. The information could give insight and understanding of different factors and how to cope with students’ anxiety in speaking classes.
LITERATURE REVIEW Definition of Anxiety
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(as sweating, tension, and increased pulse), by doubt concerning the reality and nature of the threat, and by self-doubt about one's capacity to cope with it”. Hashemi & Abbasi (2013), in their study, stated that when anxiety occurred during learners’
second or foreign language learning process, it is known as ‘second/foreign language
anxiety’ (p. 640).
Chowdhury (2014) stated that “language anxiety is a complicated
psychological negative feelings, attitudes and beliefs of human being that may arouse in learners based on different issues when they learn or use a language”
(p.10).Specifically, Gardner & MacIntyre (1993, p.5) viewed language anxiety as “the apprehension experienced when a situation requires the use of a second
language with which the individual is not fully proficient”. Broadly speaking, anxiety
is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease when interacting with others in a group.
Factors Leading to Speaking Anxiety
The most provoking factor of anxiety for many learners is speaking in a foreign language (Zhang & Zhong, 2012,). Factors that may cause speaking anxiety are as follows:
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he/she will become anxious about this experience (as cited in Kayaoğlu & Sağlamel,
2013, p. 149). Akkakoson (2016) explained in his study that at the time students did not know what they are saying, they arise worry feeling of being insulted by his/her friends. He added that students prefer to remain silent in order not to seem foolish in the eyes of his/her peers.
Gregerson (2003, as cited in Zhang &Zhong, 2012, p.29) also pointed out that when speaking in the target language, a nervous student is afraid of being ridiculed by others in a conversation. This is in line with a study by Jones (2004) where he stated that students in language learning feel fear of appearing awkward, foolish and incompetent in front of his/her classmates (as cited in Hashemi & Abbasi, 2013, p.642). Therefore, inferior feeling as a result of making mistakes in front of others may induce anxiety.
Low self-perception of linguistic competence. MacIntyre (1999) stated that sometimes grammar of the target language becomes responsible for creating anxiety. According to him, when learners face problems understanding the grammar they become anxious (as cited in Kayaoğlu & Sağlamel, 2013, p. 149). Kayaoğlu &
Sağlamel (2013) also added that students are becoming anxious if they lack
grammatical knowledge and do not use it regularly.
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student uncomfortable to continue their speech. In addition, Kayaoğlu & Sağlamel
(2013) found from their study that vocabulary had great effects in language anxiety. They added that many students feel frustrated because they lack knowledge in vocabulary when they speak. They suggested that the students also feel nervous if they cannot remember the right words to use.
Kayaoğlu & Sağlamel (2013) believed that pronunciation is another factor
that affects students’ anxiety. Participants in their study stated that poor or absurd
pronunciation occurs during speaking. Therefore, it makes them uncomfortable and nervous. Similarly, Hashemi & Abbasi (2013) stated that strict and formal language used in the classroom is a significant cause of anxiety. Thus, students grow nervous feeling when they encounter difficulties on linguistic components such as grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation when they are speaking a foreign language.
According to Zhang & Zhong (2012) low rating of peer assessment and comparing themselves to others creates ‘low self-perception of competence’ (p.28).
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(2016) also suggested that speaking anxiety was developed from the students’ worries of being prominent in front of others.
Akkakoson (2016) revealed that the participants are aware that they need to speak using the target language. However, they are still lack of confidence to speak in English. According to Peirce (1995), lack of confidence makes the students feel inferior and afraid to interact with someone having full command of the language, e.g. native speaker (as cited in Hashemi & Abbasi, 2013, p.642). In his study, Melouah (2013) also suggested that students’ anxiety can be caused by less
competent feeling when they compared themselves with native speakers of English. In non native speaker class, students will become more comfortable and less self-conscious if they are speaking in front of people they recognized (Bozavli & Gulmez, 2012, p.1042). Thus, it can be said that low self-esteem is responsible for creating foreign language anxiety.
Negative attitudes toward classroom variables. Zhang & Zhong (2012)
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speaks too fast. She also added that students have difficulties to grasp the rules and vocabulary because the class moved so quickly and they do not have sufficient time.
Bailey (1991) indicated that students with higher proficiency feel great peer pressure because their linguistic superiority over others may cause hard feeling and jealousy from their peers. Thus, they may intentionally make an error, yet by which teachers probably find fault with them, or simply withdraw from the classroom interaction as a way out of their problem (as cited in Zhang & Zhong, 2012). Therefore, anxiety can be stemmed from teachers and peers’ attitude, style, role and their choice of keeping classroom environment.
Fear of failing tests. Kayaoğlu & Sağlamel (2013), in his study, stated that
failing in the tests was one of the students’ sources of fear. They also added that
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person who has it become unable to remember anything. She suggested that throughout the language learning process, anxiety might keep the withdrawal memories of earlier prepared material from happening.
Strategies to Cope with Anxiety
Language learner has obligation to relieve his/her worry about speaking. The learner should know the strategies or how to deal with his/her speaking anxiety. The following are various scholars’ recommendations for helping students to overcome
their anxiety:
Doing some preparation and practice. Demir (2015) suggested that
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Relaxation. Bryan (2001, as cited in Saidi, 2015) stated that there are many ways for students to gain comfortable feeling such as taking a deep breath and loosening the muscles. He also added that imagining ourselves to become a presenter who enjoys our job was a great way to reduce anxiety. Saidi (2015) added that talking and motivating ourselves by saying, “I am good, I always relax,”. will calm us down. By using these techniques, students shall be able to control and decrease their speaking anxiety. This is in line with a study by Demir (2015) where he stated that self-talk was a good strategy to reduce anxiety and fear.
Creating positive atmosphere. Positive minds help students to reach their goals and encourage them to become successful (Swan, 2011, as cited in Akkakoson, 2015, p.77). Positive thinking could relieve stress and sharpen students’ focus and
concentration during the course. Positive mind makes students think carefully so they would avoid mistakes that should not happen. Demir (2015) pointed out that this strategy is intended to replace frustrated or anxious feelings into a positive situation. He also explained that students can diminish anxiety by bringing out small or fascinating topics and distract attention from a tense circumstance to positive and pleasant cues.
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and become a good role model for others. In addition, Saidi (2015) agreed that instead of becoming a drawback, making mistakes are an important step for learning. He insisted that students do not have to feel anxious while transferring the information in language learning. He also pointed out that making mistakes are a normal part of a human nature.
Previous Studies on Anxiety
Here (2012) carried out a study to investigate factors causing anxiety problems for English Department students on Interpersonal Speaking Class in Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana Salatiga. The subjects were 40 students who were randomly chosen among students of Batch 2011. The result showed that nervousness is described as the main factor of anxiety followed by speech anxiety and fear of negative evaluation, while self-awareness is the third factor. These results suggested that educators needed to encourage students and help them in coping with anxiety by creating a fun atmosphere.
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preparation, an inferior feeling and reactions of other students. The results implied that language teachers should be aware of the existence of student anxiety and always consider the probability that it may affect student behavior and performance.
Both of these studies share the same goal: to identify speaking anxiety factors. This present study also investigated speaking anxiety. The context is designed for FLA of SWCU students from 2016 cohort. The goal of this present study is to identify responsible factors of anxiety and how to deal with it. The instrument used was FLCAS questionnaire which has previously been adapted.
THE STUDY
This study was conducted to explore the tendency of anxiety in Speaking for Social Purposes classes in ELEP, FLA of Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana. The study used qualitative-descriptive manner as it attempted to answer the following research questions:
1. What factors are responsible for students’ speaking anxiety? 2. What do students do to overcome their anxiety?
The Context of the Study
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English Language Education. The first-year students were required to take Speaking for Social Purposes course in the new curriculum. This course prepared students to talk with people in various situations using the English language in a clear and acceptable way without trepidation. The course was designed using a mixed of function-based and task-based approach to allowed students to practice various English language functions in everyday communication tasks. The purpose of this course was to build up their confidence in facing different situations using the English language. Moreover, students would master the knowledge of constructing elements of English communication. This course would also challenge the students to improve their vocabulary and pronunciation through various games and speaking tasks (Speaking for Social Purposes syllabus semester 1 – 2016/2017).
Participants
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Instruments of Data Collection
The researcher preferred to use a set of mixed-questionnaire to collect the data required for this study. There were some considerations why the researcher used questionnaire. At first, a large number of data from lots of participants could be collected in a short period of time, distributing questionnaire could limit affect to its validity and reliability. Second, besides the participants were more familiar with the questionnaire form, the collected data were more objective. Third, it helped the researcher to make sure that the responses were detailed and accurate. The questionnaire was used to know the students’ anxiety sources.
This questionnaire was adapted from Here (2012) to fit the present research context. The original questionnaire was from Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986) Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), which consisted of 33 items Likert-type with five possible responses in the English language. The scale had demonstrated internal reliability, achieving an alpha coefficient of .93 with all items producing significant corrected item-total scale correlations. The items of the questionnaire presented were reflective of communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation. Trang (2012) stated Horwitz et al.’s theory of foreign language anxiety “has been widely accepted with subsequent research
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The study used a mixed-type questionnaire. It consisted of 29 closed-ended questions translated into Indonesian. The items were categorized into several factors including (1)Being aware of mistakes, (2)Low self-perception of linguistic competence, (3)Negative attitudes toward classroom variables, and (4)Fear of failing tests. The responses to the closed-ended questions were divided into four: ‘sangat setuju’ (strongly agree), ‘setuju’ (agree), ‘tidak setuju’ (disagree), and ‘sangat tidak
setuju’ (strongly disagree). ‘Neutral’ is excluded in order to get more reliable data. In
addition, participants would answer the open-ended questions in the provided space. The questionnaire was piloted to 20 participants (25% of the total participants) before it was used for the main study. After doing some revision, the questionnaire was distributed to all 92 participants excluding the pilot participants.
Data Collection Procedure
First, the researcher asked for the participants’ permission to distribute the
questionnaire in Speaking for Social Purposes class. Second, the participants were informed that this questionnaire would not affect their grade and the researcher guaranteed them anonymity. Before distributing the questionnaire, the researcher revealed the purpose of the study and asked for the participants’ honest answers. This
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completed. Then, the questionnaire was collected and analyzed in a qualitative-descriptive manner.
Data Analysis
After collecting the entire questionnaires, the researcher read and started inputting the data to Microsoft Excel. The researcher also coded and categorized the data based on some important keywords. The researcher coded the close-ended data based on 4 alternative answers: ‘sangat setuju’ (strongly agree), ‘setuju’ (agree), ‘tidak setuju’ (disagree), and ‘sangat tidak setuju’ (strongly disagree), and grouped
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FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The research questions asked, “What factors are responsible for students’ speaking anxiety?” and “What do students do to overcome their anxiety?”. Based on
categories of problems that caused anxiety, the researcher found four factors that caused anxiety in Speaking for Social Purposes class. The four factors were being aware of mistakes, low self-perception of linguistic competence, negative attitudes toward classroom variables, and fear of failing tests. The researcher managed to combine the data to three subheadings. They were the overall factors leading to speaking anxiety, most common factors leading to speaking anxiety, and most common participants’ strategy to reduce anxiety.
Overall Factors Leading to Speaking Anxiety
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Figure 1. Overall Factors Leading to Speaking Anxiety
According to Figure 1, the factors that caused speaking anxiety the most are those under the category ‘low self-perception of linguistic competence’ (M=2.72),
followed by ‘negative attitudes toward classroom variables’ (M=2.65), ‘fear of
failing tests’ (M=2.56), and ‘being aware of mistakes’ (M=2.34). This indicated that
the participants felt anxious mostly because they had low self-esteem in speaking a foreign language. The finding also showed that the participant had several negative attitudes toward English speaking classes which easily caused anxiety. Meanwhile, the participants were also quite afraid of failing tests and quite aware of their making mistakes, but those were not the most contributing factors to their anxiety. The finding implied a very contrasting result with what Here (2012) found. In her study, ‘negative attitudes toward classroom variables’ did not contribute too much to the
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of failing tests’ which indicated that it has enough influence to make the participants
anxious. The discussion on each category is provided below.
Most Common Factors Leading to Speaking Anxiety
Figure 2. Low self-perception of linguistic competence.
Low self-perception of linguistic competence. In this category, Statement 5(M=2.98) showed that the participants felt very self-conscious about speaking English in front of other students. They tended to regard themselves negatively by thinking they were not that good at speaking English. Although the participants felt quite confident (S8,M=2.70 & S9,M=2.28), they still considered and thought that
S6.I keep thinking that the other students are better at languages than I am. S7.I always feel that the other students
speak English better than I do. S8.I feel confident when I speak in
Speaking class.
S9.I feel less confident when I speak using English.
STS
TS
S
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their friends’ skills in speaking English were better compared to themselves
(S6,M=2.83 & S7,M=2.86). This finding was in line with a study by Zhang & Zhong (2012) which found that low rating of peer assessment and comparing themselves to others creates ‘low self-perception of competence’(p.28). The students who likely
considered their peers superior compared to themselves might become anxious. Figure 3. Negative attitudes toward classroom variables.
S10.I feel worry of failing the class. S11.It embarrasses me to volunteer
answers in Speaking class. S12.I am afraid that the other students
will laugh at me when I speak English. S13.It frightens me when I do not understand what the teacher saying in
English.
S14.I start to panic when I have to speak without preparation in Speaking class. S15.I worry about getting left behind in
Speaking class.
S16.I feel overwhelmed by the number of rules you have to learn to speak English.
STS
TS
S
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Negative attitudes toward classroom variables. Under this category, the finding revealed that the most responsible factor for students’ anxiety was the worry of failing speaking class (S10,M=3.27). Other statements in this category might function as the reasons why they felt worried about failing the class. The three most contributing reasons were worried about getting left behind (S15,M=3.17),panic when they had to speak without preparation in a language class (S14,M=2.79), and fear of failing to understand what the teacher was saying in English (S13,M=2.55). In regard to the category negative attitudes toward classroom variables, Zhang & Zhong (2012) argued that classroom variables were closely related to instructions, peers, and classroom practice. However, the findings in this study showed that the main factors leading to students’ anxiety were more related to
instructions and self-perception of linguistic competence.
The result was in line with what Worde (2003) stated. He proposed that students might be unable to keep up and feel left behind because the teacher or lecturer speaks too fast for the students to understand and it made them feel left behind. Likewise, the participants in this study might feel afraid of being left behind (S15) and of failing to understand what the teacher was saying in English (S13) because the teachers spoke so fast that students found difficulties in understanding the explanations or instructions.
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spontaneously (S14). They might not feel confident of their competence in grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation (Kayaoğlu & Sağlamel, 2013) or regarded themselves
inferior as compared to their peers (Zhang & Zhong, 2012).
Meanwhile, classroom practice like providing voluntary responses (S11, M=2.38) as well as memorizing and obeying classroom rules (S16, M=2.32), and peer factor like the fear that other students would laugh in response to one’s English
(S12, M=2.12) did not seem to contribute too much to the students’ speaking anxiety.
Figure 4. Fear of failing tests.
S17.The more I study for an English test, the more I get confused. S18.I feel pressured because of fear of
failing the tests.
S19.I get nervous when I cannot remember things I have prepared in
advance.
S20.I feel nervous anytime there is a speaking test.
STS
TS
S
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Fear of failing tests. Nervousness due to the inability to remember things prepared in advance (S19,M=2.96) was the most problematic factor for students’ fear
of failing tests. It turned out that the fear of failing the tests somehow caused some of them to feel depressed (S18,M=2.61), and with similar average, some of the participants felt nervous anytime there was a speaking test (S20,M=2.60). Meanwhile, the participants did not really agree with Statement 17 that says, ‘The more I study for an English test, the more I get confused’ (M=2.09). It could be
inferred that studying for an English test did not make them confused, but it helped them prepare for the test.
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Figure 5. Being aware of mistakes.
Being aware of mistakes. The mean of this category is 2.34, which indicated
that although it existed, the awareness of one’s own mistakes did not really
contribute to his/her speaking anxiety. The highest mean under this category was gained by Statement 3, which highlighted the upset feeling when one could not understand what the teacher was correcting (S3, M=2.43). However, this might mean that they did not really feel that upset if they did not understand teachers’ feedback.
The participants did not really agree if they did not feel worried about making mistakes in class (S1,M=2.42), which might be inferred that they actually did feel worried about making mistakes in class to some extent.
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S1.I do not worry about making mistakes in Speaking class.
S2.I feel afraid when the teacher corrects every mistake that I made’ . S3.I get upset when I do not understand
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The mean for Statement 2 ‘I feel afraid when the teacher corrects every mistake that I made’ is 2.28, which is indicative that the participants did not really
felt afraid of the correction. As for Statement 4 ‘I am afraid of speaking English because I often make mistakes’, the participants did not really agree with it
(M=2.25), perhaps because they thought they did not make mistakes that often, or because they were not really afraid of making mistakes, so they just spoke English anyway.
The findings under this category showed that although students were worried about making mistakes in class, they still tended to try to speak English anyway, without worrying too much about teacher’s correction/feedback. These students
might know that, as Saidi (2015) stated, making mistakes was a normal part of a human nature.
The data from the questionnaire showed that speaking using English might be a terrifying situation inducing nervousness. The researcher’s attempt to find the factors responsible for students’ speaking anxiety has resulted in three leading factors and one minor factor. Three major factor leading to speaking anxiety were ‘low
self-perception of linguistic competence’ (M=2.72), ‘negative attitudes toward classroom variables’ (M=2.65), and ‘fear of failing tests’ (M=2.65). The minor factor causing
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Most Common Participants’ Strategies to Reduce Anxiety.
Now that the factors leading to speaking anxiety have been revealed, this section aimed to answer the second research question, ‘What do students do to overcome their anxiety?’. The discussion was based on the results of the second part
of the questionnaire, which consisted of 9 closed-ended questions regarding the students’ possible strategies to overcome anxiety as recommended by various
scholars. Table 1 showed the summary of the participants’ responses to the questionnaire.
Table 1. Participants’ strategies to reduce anxiety
No Statement
Used Succeed
Yes No Yes No
1 I have prepared the outline before delivering a speech.
78 14 78 0
2 I practice my speech over and over again 80 12 72 8 3 I take a deep breath to gain comfortable feeling.
84 8 59 25
4 I calm myself by relaxing my muscles. 37 55 11 26 5
I imagine myself as a presenter who is enjoying the performance to reduce
anxiety. 18 74 5 13
6 I motivate myself by sayingI am relaxed, I can handle this”. , “I can do this,
87 5 69 18
7 I use fascinating topics in order not to feel nervous.
74 18 67 7
8 I diminish the nervousness by making jokes.
73 13 63 10
9 I am not worried about making mistakes because it is natural.
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According to Table 1, participants used four most common strategies to reduce anxiety: Statement 6 (I motivate myself by saying, “I can do this, I am
relaxed, I can handle this”.), Statement 3 (I take a deep breath to gain comfortable feeling), Statement 2 (I practice my speech over and over again), and Statement 1 (I have prepared the outline before delivering a speech). The discussion about these findings would be explained below. However, in terms of the effectiveness of the strategy used, the sequence became Statement 1 (I have prepared the outline before delivering a speech), Statement 2 (I practice my speech over and over again), Statement 6 (I motivate myself by saying, “I can do this, I am relaxed, I can handle
this”), and Statement 3 (I take a deep breath to gain comfortable feeling). The detailed discussion would follow the order of the effectiveness level of the undertaken strategy.
I have prepared the outline before delivering a speech. There were 78
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overcome their anxiety by making an outline in order to improve students’ proficiency in the language.
I practice my speech over and over again. There were 80 participants who
agreed and 72 participants who reduce their anxiety by practicing their speech over and over again. According to the statistics, 90% of the participants reported that practicing repeatedly was the second most effective strategy. It implied that the participants succeeded to overcome anxiety by practicing what they want to say more than once. It might be because they thought that practicing had improved their confidence and proficiency. This was in line with what Saidi (2015) had stated previously that with minimal practice once or twice before presenting, it would develop students’ confidence. He also explained that speaking proficiency could be
improved with good practice and preparation. That was probably why students practiced their speech over and over again and prepared themselves well to improve their communication proficiency during the language learning process.
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finding was in line with a study by Saidi (2015) which found that talking and motivating oneself by saying, “I am good, I am relaxed, I can handle this”. would calm him/herself down. He added that by using these techniques, students should be able to control and decreased their speaking anxiety. Therefore, when they could motivate themselves, it helped them and would make them more relaxed.
I take a deep breath to gain comfortable feeling. There were 84 participants who tried taking a deep breath and 59 participants managed to reduce their anxiety. The results showed that 70% of the participants responded they had succeeded by breathing deeply. This trick was fourth most effective strategies to cope with anxiety. Although the usage frequency ranked the second highest, the rate of success was low compared to the other techniques. It showed that taking a deep breath might make them able to control their anxiety. As what had been stated by Bryan (2001), as cited in Saidi, 2015) taking a deep breath was one of the many ways to gain a comfortable feeling. That was probably why some of the participants needed to gain a comfortable feeling before speaking using English to help them reduce anxiety.
To sum up, the findings related to considerable strategies that could be taken to minimize students’ speaking anxieties and got a better performance appraisal include
preparing the outline before delivering a speech, practicing the speech over and over again, using positive self-talk, and taking a deep breath to gain comfortable feeling. The participants mostly applied 3 scholars’ recommendations of strategies to
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2015; Woodrow, 2006), creating positive atmosphere (Swan, 2011, as cited in Akkakoson, 2015, p.77; Demir, 2015), and relaxation (Saidi, 2015)
CONCLUSION
This study was conducted to identify the factors that were responsible for students’ speaking anxiety in the language learning process and to reveal students’
strategies to cope with anxiety problems at the ELEP in FLA of Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana. The speaking anxiety factors and students’ strategies to cope with anxiety experienced by 92 students were revealed via questionnaire.
There were four most common factors that were responsible to speaking anxieties experienced by the students. The result of the study clearly indicated that ‘low self-perception of linguistic competence’ (M=2.72) was the most problematic
for the students as they saw themselves inferior as compared to their peers. ‘Negative attitudes toward classroom variables’ (M=2.65) was the second leading factor to
anxiety, especially those related to instructions and low self-perception of linguistic competence. Then, ‘fear of failing tests’ (M=2.65) settled the third responsible factor of anxiety. Lastly, ‘being aware of mistakes’ (M=2.34) ranked the fourth and minor factor leading to speaking anxiety.
The findings of this research also revealed the students’ most effective
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delivering a speech was the most effective strategy to reduce anxiety followed by practicing their speech over and over again, while using positive self-talk settled the third, and taking a deep breath to gain comfortable feeling was found as the fourth most effective strategy.
The researcher would like to offer two suggestions to the teachers. First, the lecturers could help the students cope with anxiety, because most of the students were exposed to anxiety based on low self-perception of linguistic competence. It would be better for the lecturers to establish a good student-teacher relationship to increase the students’ self-confidence to speak in a classroom. The lecturers should
inform the students that they could learn from their friends whom they consider better to guide them, help to identify their drawback, and improve it by learning from their friends’ ability. Second, the suggestion was suitable with negative attitudes
toward classroom variables. The lecturers could facilitate the students to adjust their coziness in speaking class during the material explanation. For example, the lecturers needed to slow down the pace and give the students some time to digest the material. In addition, the lecturers needed to motivate them to study harder to build their confidence. The students needed to realize that they could always face any challenge if they try hard enough.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my gratitude to Jesus Christ, for His grace and love. My sincere thanks also goes to my parents and family for their selfless prayers, unconditional love, and unwavering belief in me.
I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my thesis supervisor, Gita Hastuti, whose selfless time and care were sometimes all that kept me going through the process of my thesis writing; and my thesis examiner, Frances Sinanu, for her support and guidance in all the time of research and writing of this thesis
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APPENDIX
Kuesioner
Kuesioner ini dibuat dengan tujuan penelitian untuk skripsi saya tentang kecemasan dalam kelas Speaking terutama pada kelas Speaking for Social Purposes yang dialami oleh mahasiswa Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni, Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana. Kecemasan adalah perasaan tegang dan khawatir khususnya berkaitan dengan konteks bahasa asing/bahasa kedua yang dipelajari, termasuk berbicara, mendengar, dan belajar (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994). Data dari kuesioner ini hanya akan digunakan untuk skripsi dan bukan kepentingan lain. Anda tidak perlu mencantumkan nama dan identitas lainnya. Kuesioner ini tidak akan mempengaruhi nilai Anda. Oleh sebab itu, saya sangat mengharapkan kejujuran Anda dalam menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang ada. Terima kasih atas bantuannya.
Andreas Triko Danang Pamungkas (112013079)
A. Lingkarilah salah satu angka (1-4) yang ada disebelah kolom pertanyaan.
Jika anda: 4 = Sangat Setuju (SS) 2 = Tidak Setuju (TS)
3 = Setuju (S) 1 = Sangat Tidak Setuju (STS)
No Pernyataan SS S TS STS
1. Saya merasa tidak khawatir jika melakukan kesalahan dalam kelas Speaking.
4 3 2 1
2. Saya merasa takut ketika dosen Speaking saya mengkoreksi setiap kesalahan yang saya buat.
4 3 2 1
3. Saya merasa jengkel ketika saya tidak
37 dosen.
4. Saya takut berbicara menggunakan bahasa inggris karena saya sering melakukan kesalahan
4 3 2 1
5. Saya benar-benar menyadari kemampuan saya ketika berada di depan teman-teman.
4 3 2 1
6. Saya terus berpikir bahwa teman-teman saya lebih baik dalam berbahasa Inggris dari pada saya.
4 3 2 1
7. Saya selalu merasa teman-teman lain berbicara Bahasa Inggris lebih baik dari saya.
4 3 2 1
8. Saya merasa percaya diri ketika saya
berbicara dalam kelas Speaking. 4 3 2 1
9. Saya merasa kurang percaya diri ketika
saya berbicara dalam Bahasa Inggris. 4 3 2 1 10. Saya merasa khawatir jika gagal dalam
kelas Speaking. 4 3 2 1
11. Saya merasa malu untuk menjawab pertanyaan secara suka rela dalam kelas Speaking.
4 3 2 1
12. Saya takut teman-teman akan
menertawakan saya ketika saya berbicara dalam Bahasa Inggris.
4 3 2 1
13. Saya merasa takut ketika saya tidak memahami apa yang disampaikan dosen dalam bahasa Inggris.
4 3 2 1
14. Saya mulai merasa panik ketika harus berbicara tanpa persiapan dalam kelas Speaking.
4 3 2 1
15. Saya takut ketinggalan materi dalam
kelas Speaking. 4 3 2 1
16. Saya merasa kesulitan karena banyak aturan yang harus dipelajari agar dapat berbicara dalam Bahasa Inggris.
4 3 2 1
17. Semakin banyak saya belajar untuk tes Bahasa Inggris, saya merasa semakin bingung.
4 3 2 1
18. Saya merasa tertekan karena saya takut
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19. Saya merasa cemas ketika saya tidak bisa mengingat apa yang telah saya
persiapkan.
4 3 2 1
20. Setiap kali ada tes Speaking, saya merasa
cemas. 4 3 2 1
No Usaha yang pernah dilakukan Pernah Berhasil
Ya Tidak Ya Tidak
1. Saya menyiapkan outline untuk apa yang akan saya sampaikan di kelas Speaking.
2. Saya berlatih berulang kali sebelum berbicara di kelas Speaking.
3. Saya menarik napas panjang agar merasa nyaman.
4. Saya menenangkan diri dengan melemaskan otot-otot saya. 5. Saya membayangkan diri saya
sebagai presenter yang menikmati pekerjaannya untuk mengurangi rasa cemas.
6. Saya memotivasi diri sendiri dengan berkata, “Saya bisa, saya tenang, saya mampu”.
7. Saya membicarakan topik yang saya sukai agar tidak merasa gugup.
8. Saya menghilangkan perasaan gugup dengan bercanda. 9. Saya tidak khawatir untuk
melakukan kesalahan karena hal itu wajar bagi saya.
Lainnya :
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