STUDENTS` SPEAKING ANXIETY AT ENGLISH CLASSROOM:
SMP ADHYAKSA 1 KOTA JAMBI
A THESIS
Written By:
Nurul Ain A1B219080
ENGLISH EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
JAMBI UNIVERSITY
2022/2023
i APPROVAL
This Thesis entitled “STUDENT'S SPEAKING ANXIETY AT ENGLISH CLASSROOM : SMP ADHYAKSA 1 KOTA JAMBI” written by Nurul Ain, student’s number A1B219080 has been corrected and approved to be tested in front of the board examiners.
Jambi, 22nd December 2022 First Supervisor
Dr.RD. M. ALI, S.Pd, M.Pd.
NIP. 197407172006041003
Jambi, 22nd December 2022 Second Supervisor
DUTI VOLYA, S.Pd., M.Pd.
NIP. 197812082008012015
ii
LETTER OF RATIFICATION
This thesis in entitled “Students` Speaking Anxiety in English Classroom”, written by Nurul Ain, Students Number A1B219080, had been defended in front of the broad of examiners on January 30, 2023 and was declared acceptable.
The Broad of Examiners
1. Dr.RD. M. ALI, S.Pd, M.Pd.
NIP. 197407172006041003
1. DUTI VOLYA, S.Pd., M.Pd.
NIP. 197812082008012015
iii
DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY
I, Nurul Ain, (A1B219080) declare that Students` Speaking Anxiety at English Classroom: SMP Adhyaksa 1 Kota Jambi is my own work, that has not been submitted before for any degree or examination in any other university, and that all the sources I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledge as complete references.
Jambi, December 2022
Nurul Ain A1B219080
iv
DEDICATION
This research paper dedicated for:
1. My self, another part of myself that always eager for challenges in life.
2. My beloved parents, Mr. Samsudin and Mrs.Pauziah (Almh), who always give me their best prayer, support, sacrifice, motivation, strength, and so many things that I cannot count of all.
3. All of my friends in English department especially for class R003 2019 who always support and praying each other`s.
4. I am thankful for those people who prayed and supported me during time and I did not have the strength to do it for myself without them all.
v
MOTTO
“The Best Way To Get Started Is To Quit Talking And Begin Doing.”
– Walt Disney
vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
In the name of Allah SWT the Almighty and Merciful Praise is only to Allah for all his abundant blessing, mercies and guidance, so that the writer is able to complete this paper. Sholawat and Salam may be given to our prophet Muhammad SAW who has brought people from the darkness to the lightness as we can feel right now.
Alhamdulillahirobbil‟alamin, in blessing to Allah, the Almighty and the lord of the universe, who has bestowed upon the researcher in complementing this paper entitled “Students` Speaking Anxiety at English Classroom: SMP Adhyaksa 1 Jambi” as one of requirements for achieving the graduated degree in Jambi University.
The writer is fully aware that this paper cannot be completed and finished without other people‟s help. Therefore, in this opportunity the writer would like to express his big thanks and deep gratitude to:
1. The principal of SMP Adhyaksa 1 Kota Jambi, for the permission to the researcher to conduct the research at the school.
2. For all of my friends in English education department 2019 especially R003, who always support in making this research paper through discussion or share something.
3. My parents and my family who always give motivation and pushing so that become the power for the writer in completing and making this paper research until the end.
Finally the writer realizes that this paper is still far from being perfect.
Therefore, constructive suggestion is needed for the progress of the next study.
The writer hopes that this research will give an important contribution the development of English education. May god bless us in the right path, Aamiin.
vii ABSTRACT
This research aims to investigate students' speaking anxiety at English classroom at the first grade of SMP Adhyaksa 1 Jambi. Spesifically, it ought to investigate the factors affecting students' speaking anxiety and the strategies to minimize their anxiety based on what the students have experienced. Ten participants were selected as the participants using purposive sampling method.
The researcher used descriptive qualitative method, with phenomenology approach by conducting interviews with students who had anxiety in speaking English.
The result of the research showed in two factors, they are internal factors (shyness, lack of self -confident, and fear of making mistakes, and the external factors (limited vocabulary, and friends/classmates). And there were five strategies showed in this research (preparation, relaxation, positive thinking, concentration and peer seeking).
Keywords: speaking anxiety.
viii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1 Theme and Subtheme of Students Speaking Anxiety ...26 Table 2.1 interview for participants ...39
ix
LIST OF PICTURES
Pictures 1.1 Interview ...65
1 TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER
THESIS APPROVAL ... i
LETTER OF RATIFICATION... ii
DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY ... iii
DEDICATION ... iv
MOTTO ... v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ... vi
ABSTRACT ...vii
LIST OF PICTURES ... viii
LIST OF TABLE ... ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... 1
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ...4
1.1 Background ...4
1.2 Research Questions ...5
1.3 objective of the research ...5
1.4 limitation of the research ...5
1.5 Significant of the research ...6
1.6 Definition of Key Terms...6
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ...8
2.1 Speaking ...8
2.1.1 Types of Speaking ...9
2.1.2 Problem in Speaking English ...10
2
2.2 Learning Speaking in Junior High School Students...12
2.3 Anxiety ...13
2.3.1 Characteristics of Anxiety ...14
2.3.2 Factors of Anxiety ...15
2.3.3 Types of Anxiety ...17
2.4The Strategies in Reducing Speaking Anxiety ...19
2.5 Previous Researchs ...21
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD ...23
3.1 Research Design ...23
3.2 Research site and access ...23
3.3 Subject of the Research ...24
3.4 Research Instrument ...24
3.5 Techniques of Data Collection ...25
3.6 Technique of Data Analysis ...25
3.7 Trustworthiness ...27
CHAPTER IV FINDING AND DISCUSSION ...28
4.1 Findings ...28
4.1.1 Factors Affecting Students` Speaking Anxiety ...28
4.1.2 Strategies in Reducing Students` Speaking Anxiety ...33
4.2 Discussion ...37
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ...40
5.1 Conclusion ...40
5.2 Suggestion ...40
REFERRENCES ...42
3 APPENDICES ...44
4 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Research
English is the most spoken language in the world. English is used by almost all the people from many countries around the world. Speaking skill is a crucial issue in term of communication. As one of the four English skills being developed, speaking is pivotal for students (Bright & McGregor, 1970) There are four of basic skills that student should master in language: they are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. English speaking skill is the most important skill that student should master.
According to (Horwitz et al., 1986), Speaking in the target language is a threatening aspect of foreign language learning. English is not the student first language or mother tongue, speaking English can be a stressful activity for the student. (Al-Saraj, 2014), state that in an English classroom, students don’t feel comfortable to speak in front of others. Students tend to be silent if they are asked by their teacher in the classroom. Many times they keep silence even if they understand the questions and could actually answer the questions from their teacher.
Most of the students become more anxious when they are asked to speak in front of the classroom. (Sinaga et al., 2020), found that students feel afraid and embarrassed to speak in front of the class, because they think that other students will laugh at them when they try are speak in front of the class. This might make the student still stay silent instead of speaking.
5 This phenomenon happens because of many factors and anxiety is one of the most influencing factors. Anxiety is the main problem of learning process in foreign language especially in speaking English. As suggested by (Horwitz et al., 1986), teachers and also students feel strongly that anxiety is the main factor of obstacle to speak another language especially English.Speaking is an activity that makes students anxious while in class, many students are highly anxious because they participate in speaking activities. Speaking in front of the class is the biggest cause of anxiety that faced by the students. Speaking in front of the class is one of the factors that cause anxiety in speaking English that makes students feel anxious when they make mistakes in speaking English.
There are some reasons why the researcher chose the students of SMP Adhyaksa 1 in first grade as the participants:
1. The researcher observes the learning activities in classroom, and found several problems that related to speaking anxiety. The researcher observes the sign of language anxiety experienced by the students to find out which students feel anxious when speaking in front of the classroom based on the three characteristic of anxiety illustrated by nevid et al., (2005), such as physically, behaviorally, and cognitively.
2. Pengenalan Lingkungan Persekolahan (PLP)
3. The similar research has been never conducted in this school.
Based on the phenomenon above, the researcher could identify the factors or situations that make students feel anxious when they speak English in an English classroom and the strategies to minimize students‟ anxiety in speaking English in the classrooms to understand the issue of anxiety in learning English more deeply.
6 1.2 Research Questions
1. What are the factors affecting students' speaking anxiety in English classroom?
2. What are the strategies to minimize students' speaking anxiety in English classroom?
1.3 Objective of the Research
1. To identify the factors or situations that make students feel anxious when they speak English in an EFL classroom.
2. To find out and describe the strategies to minimize anxiety for the students.
1.4 Limitation of the Research
This research focuses on the factors that cause anxiety and strategies to reduce students' anxiety in speaking English at first grade students of SMP Adhyaksa 1 Jambi.
1.5 Significant of the Research
This study is expected to give more contribution in students’ speaking ability.
The information could help educators or teachers to understand more information about factors that trigger students’ anxiety or situations that make students feel anxious when they speak especially in English and also to finding out the strategy to help them in reducing students’ anxiety and feel more relax when studying in the classroom. This study is expected to help students to find out ways to overcome their anxiety problem when speaking English.
1.6 Definition of Key Terms
In order to clarify the key terms used in this study, some definitions are put forward:
7 1. Speaking
Nunan (2003), stated that speaking is the productive oral skill. Speaking is the process of conveying information, express thoughts and sharing meaning using words in spoken language. Speaking is the way we utter words or articulate sounds with the ordinary voice.
2. Anxiety
According to Ormrod (2011), anxiety is a feeling of uneasiness and apprehension concerning a situation with an uncertainoutcome”. Anxiety is feeling of fear or worry about everyday situations characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes like increased blood pressure, sweat, feel restless and tense, and have a rapid heartbeat.
8 CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Speaking
Speaking is the way to use language to communicate each other. (Nunan, 2003), stated that speaking is the productive oral skill. Speaking is one of skills in learning English. Speaking is a way to show the Intention or opinion through spoken words. It is productive skill in learning language. The most significant the process of learning any language is speaking. Speaking is a fundamental and very efficient form of human communication. It is a process through which people exchange ideas, views, opinions and all other information. It consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning.
In learning a language such as English, there are four skills studied by the students such as listening, reading, writing, and speaking. They are requiring the learners to produce something. All of these skills have integrated relation in learning English. Speaking is the most important skill or element for students when their learning language, especially English. Speaking is a process of constructing meaning that involves producing and processing the information (Brown, 1994).The form and meaning of speaking are depend on the context in which it occurs, including the participants the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking.
Speaking becomes an essential thing because one of the purposes of learning a language is to be able to use the language especially in oral communication.
Speaking is also a tool for communication with other people. In teaching and
9 learning process, the English teachers often speak English in classroom in order to make the students familiar with English and accustomed to using English.
2.1.1 Types of speaking
There are many speaking activities that can be applied by the teacher to improve students’ motivation and to improve their speaking skills. According to (Brown, 2001) there some type of classroom speaking performance, they are:
1) Imitative
The first type is imitation speech. Imitative speaking is the human ability to simply repeat or parrot back a word or phrase or perhaps a sentence. The process of imitation allows students to focus on certain elements of language form such as the phonetic, lexical, and grammatical properties of the language. Learners practice an intonation and try to find a certain vowel sound.
2) Intensive
Intensive speaking is actually the next step after the process of imitative speaking. In this type of oral production, students are expected to produce short sentences and demonstrate speaking competence in grammatical, phrasal, lexical, semantic, and phonological relationships. Furthermore, intensive speaking can be started in pair work activities to provide opportunities for students to practice.
3) Responsive
Responsive speaking occurs when the teacher can provide short answers and students ask questions or comments. It usually takes the form of very short conversations, greetings and small talk, simple requests, and comments. This kind of speech can be meaningful and authentic.
10 4) Transactional (Dialog)
The purpose of this type is to exchange certain information or convey a message. It is an extended form of responsive language. This process includes multiple exchanges and/or multiple participants. Teachers can do this type of speaking show using group work.
5) Interpersonal (Dialog)
Interpersonal exchange is carried out more for the purpose of maintaining social relations than for the transmission of information. Oral production can become more complex with the need to speak in a casual style and use colloquialism, slang, humor, and other aspects of sociolinguistics.
6) Extensive (Monolog)
The language used in this type is more formal. Teachers can give several assignments such as speeches, presentations, summaries, and storytelling for students at intermediate or advanced levels. The teacher can implement some activities to increase students' motivation to speak English well. This activity is also expected to provide more opportunities for students to practice using the language.
2.1.2 Problems in Speaking English 1) Lack of Confidence
One of the most common reasons why students cannot speak English is lack of self-confidence. (Nunan, 1999), said that students who lack confidence about themselves and also their English skills must experience communication fear. Another cause of the lack of self-confidence of students is also related to the lack of encouragement from the teacher. Building students' self-confidence is an
11 important part that teachers must pay attention to. Students are not confident in speaking English in front of the class. Usually, the teacher does not encourage or motivate them to speak in class or in front of large crowds especially speaking English. They learn English but they don't learn how to speak.
2) Shyness in Speaking English Language
Shyness is also one of the biggest factors why students cannot speak English. Feelings of shame make the students mind go blank and they will forget what to say. He & Chen (2010), explained that students feel shy and do not confident because most of them speak English in front of their friends and teachers. They are afraid of being laughed by their friends because of their speaking skills. They do not want to talk in front of the teacher and their friends, because they can't say about what they think and what they want to say. The student cannot remember the correct grammar and vocabulary rules while speaking English.
3) Fear of Making Mistakes
Fear of making mistakes in speaking English is also one of the big problems of students in speaking. (Aftat, 2008), added that this fear was caused by negative corrections and evaluations from teachers and classmates. In addition, students are also afraid of being laughed at by other students or criticized by the teacher. Students are afraid of making mistakes because they are worried that their friends will laugh at them and receive negative criticism from their classmates if they make mistakes in speaking English. Students don't want to look stupid in front of the class. The fear of making mistakes is a failure to speak English with other people.
12 4) Lack of Motivation
(Nunan, 1999), said that motivation is very important, because it can affect students' reluctance to speak in English. Lack of motivation is one of the reasons why students cannot speak English. Self-motivation is very important for students, because this motivation will inspire students to stay enthusiastic in learning, especially to learn how to speak in English. Motivation plays a very important role in speaking English. Students' learning motivation can be provided by teachers, classmates, and also their parents. Lack of motivation makes students not interested in speaking English.
2.2 Learning Speaking in Junior High School Students.
English has important roles in Indonesia. Nowadays, English becomes one of subject that examined in the Final Examination of secondary school. It means Indonesian Government has a high awareness to the needs of English for students in this country. Indonesian government believes that students should be able to speak English so that they would be ready to compete globally. Junior high school students constructed knowledge by actively interacting with their environment in developmental stages. This is very difficult for students due to the fact that English is not their first language or mother tongue.
Indonesian government has applies Merdeka Belajar Curriculum which in teching English at Junior High School. The curriculum is an interactive process developed among learners, teachers, materials, and the environment (Luckett & Shay, 2020). Teachers are required to teach the students fit with their needs. Merdeka Belajar Curriculum is a new curriculum.
13 Merdeka Belajar curriculum is a learning method that refers to students' talents and interests. Students can choose what subjects they want to learn according to their passion.This kind of curriculum requires students to be more independent to find out their problemand how to solve their own problems. Although English is not the new thing for junior high school students, in fact they still have many difficulties in studying English.
2.3 Anxiety
Commonly anxiety can be identified as a feeling of being threatened, Feeling nervous, panic feeling like the world is speeding up or slowing down, feeling like other people are looking at you.Anxiety may be caused by a mental condition or a physical condition. Anxiety is a feeling of fear, dread, and uneasiness. It might cause sweat, feel restless and tense, and have a rapid heartbeat. It can be a normal reaction to stress.
Anxiety negatively influences language learning, Anxiety has long been a potential problem in speaking classroom. Anxious student will have difficulty in their speaking According to (Ormrod, 2011), “Anxiety can interfere with several aspects of cognition in speaking process. Anxious student may be disturbed in paying attention to what needs to be learned, process in information effectively, retrieving information, and demonstrating skill that have previously been learned”. In other words, speaking anxiety belongs to debilitating anxiety because it can hinder language learning.
(MacIntyre, 1999) found that anxiety had an effect on emotions, cognition, and behavior. Someone with anxiety tend to perceive an unpleasant feeling even above a minimal level of anxiety. If students' anxiety is increasing in language
14 class, especially in English classroom, it can affect students' motivation to learn English.
According to (Horwitz et al., 1986), there are three components of language anxiety: communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation. People with communication fear are shy about communicating with friends or others and also have difficulty speaking in public and listening to spoken messages. In language classes, students are required to communicate with each other and are sometimes asked to speak in groups. Students with communication anxiety tend to develop language.
2.3.1 Characteristic of Anxiety
(Nevid et al., 2005) there are three characteristics of anxiety that occurs in the student that is:
1) Physically, include nervousness, arms and limbs that vibrate or tremble, sweat, mouth or throat feels dry, difficulty speaking, difficulty breathing, heart palpitations or tight-knit, dizziness, feeling weak or numb, frequent urination , feeling sensitive, or irritable.
2) Behaviorally, includes avoidance behavior, attachment and dependent behavior, shaken behavior.
3) Cognitively covering worry about something, feelings of disturbance or fear of something happening in the future, the belief that something terrible will happen soon without a clear explanation, fear of losing control, fear of inability to overcome problems, thinking that everything can no longer be controlled, finds it difficult to focus and concentrate.
15 2.3.2 Factors of Anxiety
(Ernawati & Fatma, 2012) there are two factors influence the students’ anxiety that is the internal and external factor.
1. The external factors a) Lack of preparation
Many research studies state that preparation is one of the main factors that make students anxious. Preparation is at the top of the list of how to deal with anxiety. Therefore, it is clear that lack of preparation is one of the problems that occurs and contributes to students' anxiety in speaking class.
b) Limited vocabularies
Those sentences showed one’s difficulty in regarding vocabulary. However limited vocabulary night hindered the process of learning a language. Thus limited vocabulary should be noted as one of factors contributing anxiety.
c) Friends/classmates
Classmates are having important role in learning language. Friends often make anxious situation makes learners feel nervous and uncomfortable when they speak. Feeling uncomfortable when being stared at by other students while speaking is one of anxiety sources which commonly experienced by students. Fear of negative evaluation from peers was common factor appeared in language learning. Yet, even it was a natural sense; classmates still become factors contributing student’s anxiety in learning process.
16 2. The internal factors
a) Lack of self confidence
Anxious students will fail in learning a foreign language. In other words, those who excel in language classes are those who have low anxiety. This means that a lack of self-confidence is one of the important factors that need to be considered, because it really determines the success of learning.
b) Shyness
Shyness is an emotional thing that many students experience when they are asked to speak in English class. In learning activities in the classroom, shyness can be a source of problems for students, especially in speaking classes. Speaking in front of people is one of the most common phobias encountered by students, and that feeling of shame makes their minds go blank or they will forget what to say. Their inability to demonstrate their ability to speak is also much influenced by their shyness. Shyness plays an important role in students' speaking performance.\
c) Motivation
Motivation is the key to student learning success. Regarding the problem of motivation in learning, (Nunan, 1999) explains that motivation is an important thing that affects students' reluctance to speak in English. Motivation is the main thing in determining the readiness of students to communicate. No matter what kind of motivation the students propose, it will increase their interest in learning.
It has been proven in many studies that students with strong success motivation can persist in learning and get better grades than those with weaker success motivation which shows that it builds student motivation.
17 d) Fear of Mistake
(Aftat, 2008), adds that this fear is linked to the issue of correction and negative evaluation.Generally, students don't want to make mistakes and are embarrassed if they look bad in front of their classmates. But this actually hinders the learning process, especially when speaking in a foreign language. Psychologically, people don't want to look bad. Instead of speaking, students tend to be silent.
e) Lack of Exposure
Exposure refers to the contact that the learner has with the language that they are trying to learn, either generally or with specific language points. Referring to the language in general, it often refers to contact outside the classroom.Learning a new language can be difficult, and it takes a lot of time and practice.one of the main reason why we difficult to learn a new language is we do not have enough exposure to them. Exposure to language can be defined as the contact that the learners have with the target language that they are attempting to learn. It should be emphasized that exposure can directly improve a target language so that language proficiency may be a result of social interaction with speakers of the target language. (Peregoy & Boyle, 2005). when we are exposed to a language, we have the opportunity to hear it spoken and to hear it written. This exposure helps us to learn the correct pronunciation of words and to understand the grammar and structure of a language. Without exposure, it is much more difficult to learn a new language.
2.3.3 Types of Anxiety
According to (Ellis, 1994), anxiety is divided into three types. They are trait anxiety, state anxiety, and situation specific anxiety
18 1. Trait Anxiety
According to (Horwitz & Young, 2011), trait anxiety is pattern of responding with anxiety even in non-threatening situations. Such anxiety is part of a person's character. People with anxiety traits tend to worry more than most people and feel inappropriately threatened by some things in around them. It can be said that it is an aspect of personality or character. In this type of anxiety students usually feel insecure, they tend to be nervous and feel very worried, even afraid when they speak in front of their friends, especially if they are asked to speak in front of the class. Some students are often so worried and nervous in any situation or class.
2. State Anxiety
Most people experience state anxiety which is also known as normal anxiety. Anxiety is a temporary feeling of anxiety caused by a threatening situation (Horwitz & Young, 2011). State anxiety is the fear experienced at a certain point in time in response to a particular situation. It is nervousness or tension at any given moment. This type of anxiety arises in certain situations or in stressful and non-permanent events. In other words, it is the feeling of situational anxiety that goes away when the threatening situation also goes away. It is a combination of situation-specific nature and anxiety. This can happen when students are asked by the lecturer to speak automatically or only give time to prepare for a few minutes.
3. Specific Situation Anxiety
Specific situation anxiety refers to the persistent and variable nature of anxiety. This occurs because of a certain type of situation or event, such as public speaking, exams, or class participation. In this type, students are anxious in certain
19 times and situations. Situation-specific anxiety such as when they face exams.
When undergoing the mid test for role play, they tend to relax even though they feel nervous because there are several friends who collaborate with them in performance. Nevertheless, they are very nervous and very difficult to solve when they have to perform individually or in monologues
2.4 The Strategies in Reducing Speaking Anxiety
(He, 2017), states that the strategies may help reduce anxiety in speaking, there are; strategies concerning error correction, creating relaxed atmosphere, trying to use English more, reducing the fear in making mistakes, trying to remind oneself to relax, prepare in well, using more body language, being brave to speak English ,and trying to use simple words.
According to (Kondo & Ying-Ling, 2004), there are several strategies to reducing language anxiety in speaking English.
1. Relaxation
Relaxation is a state in which a person is free from tension and anxiety.
Relaxation is the process of reducing the effects of stress on our minds and bodies. Relaxing can be an effective stress reliever and can help benefit our mind, body, and spirit. Typical relaxation items are: take a deep breath, calm down, close your eyes, shake your body, touch your hair, play with your hands, look at your watch, etc. Relaxation can reduce stress and anxiety hormones and can also increase blood flow to the brain.
2. Preparation
Preparation is the action or process of getting ready for some occasion, test, or duty. Preparation is the process of getting ready for some opportunity, test,
20 or assignment. The preparation can be to reduce the uncertainty the speaker may feel about the upcoming performance, thereby reducing speaking anxiety. Typical preparation items are: Try to use English, study hard, ask friends for help, check the dictionary, ask the teacher some questions, listen carefully to what the teacher says, try to perform better, try to get into the habit of studying English every day , prepare better, try to read carefully, concentrate on class, search for material from Google, and so on.
3. Positive Thinking
Positive thinking may reflect our outlook on life and our attitude toward our self. Positive thinking means that the speaker is trying to divert his mind from negative thoughts that can hinder performance, especially in speaking performance. Thinking positively means think the best is going to happen, not the worst. Positive thinking items are: be confident, enjoy the lesson, believe in yourself, calm down, tell yourself that we can do it, pray, not to think about the consequences, tell our self that we are not anxious, enjoying English, thinking of jokes, imagining that we are giving a great performance, using anxiety to motivate ourselves, not taking it seriously and etc.
4. Concentration
Concentration refers to the action or power of focusing one's attention.
This strategy aims at giving good performances so as to minimize opportunities for mistakes that can be raised even further the anxiety the speaker experiences.
This strategy aims to give a good appearance to minimize the chance of making mistakes that can cause anxiety experienced by the speaker. The general ones are:
try to speak slowly and concentrate on what the student has to do
21 5. Peer Seeking
Peer seeking is distinguished from students' willingness to seek out other students who appear to have difficulty understanding the class and/or controlling their anxiety. For anxious students, the awareness that others have the same problem can serve as a source of emotional regulation through social comparison.
Typical items for peer seeking are: try to ignore the other students, telling ourselves that a problem that is difficult for us is also difficult for others, telling ourselves that others should be anxious, looking for others who have difficulty understanding class, talking to friends in the classroom and etc.
2.5 Previous researches
Many people have investigated the issue of foreign language anxiety. Those researches have find strategies that are more efficient, interesting and easier in teaching learn process. The results of the researchers are cited bellow:
1. (Sinaga et al., 2020), found that most of the students feel anxious when they speak individually in front of the English class and evaluated by the teacher.
The students are afraid to speak because they think that other students will laugh at them when they try to speak in front of the class. This can cause students' speaking anxiety and make them more silent than speaking.
However, the fear of negative evaluation is the most common factor causing speaking anxiety for students. This might make the student’s speaking anxiety arise and make them to stay silent instead of speaking. But fear of negative evaluation is the most factors that cause speaking anxiety for the students.
2. (Rajitha & C, 2020), found that the anxiety factors that causing student speaking anxiety are lack of knowledge of grammar, pronunciation, stage fear,
22 lack of confidence, shyness, and peer factor. The students are all well aware of their difficulties and they do try to overcome the affecting factors as well.
3. (Atef-Vahid & Kashani, 2011), in their journal, “The Effect of English Language Achievement”, the aim of their study was to explore English language learning anxiety among third grade middle school students in an English class and its relationship to overall English achievement with students who had less English anxiety.
Based on the previous findings above, the researcher explains that their research is same from Sinaga and Rajita’s findings. Sinaga’s and Rajita’s findings to concern to factors that causing student speaking anxiety their aims to overcome the affecting factors of language anxiety in speaking classes.
This research has different from Kashani’s finding. They try to find the effect of English learning anxiety on student’s language achievement to explore English language learning anxiety. While this research try to find or explore the factors influencing the students’ anx iety English and how to minimize them.
23 CHAPTER III
METHOD
3.1 Research Design
In this research, the researcher used descriptive qualitative with phenomenology approach as a concern with developing explanations of social Phenomena. (Creswell, 2012), states that a qualitative research is typically used to establish the importance of the central idea and to explore the problem and develop an understanding of small individuals in social problem. A qualitative research used to explore the phenomenon in order to understand the practice and behavior in real social situation for small individuals’ problem. Therefore, this research will use a descriptive method to reveal the phenomenon of speaking anxiety in junior high school students.
Phenomenology approach is an approach that tries to describe the essence of a phenomenon by exploring it from the perspective of those who have experienced
it (Teherani et al., 2015). This approach investigates human everyday experiences while suspending the researchers' assumptions about the
phenomenon. The aim of Phenomenology approach is to describe the meaning of the experience in terms of what and how it was experienced. This approach identifies a phenomenon as perceived by the individual in a situation. It can also be used to study similarities in the behavior of a group of people.
3.2 Research Site and Access
This research was conducted in the first grade of SMP Adhyaksa 1 Kota Jambi.
24 3.3 Subject of the Research
The subject of this research was a number of SMP Adhyaksa 1 students in class 7 B, who feel anxiety when speaking in English classroom. The participants were selected using purposive sampling method. According to (Arikunto, 2002), purposive sampling technique is sampling technique which is done because limited time and finding. Purposive is used because there are criteria for participants, Criteria here mean students who feel anxiety when speaking in English classroombased on the characteristics of anxiety described in chapter 2.
The participants are involved as subject and they are students in class 7B who feel anxiety when speaking in fron the classroom.
3.4 Research Instrument
In this study, the researcher used guideline interview as the research instrument. Interview is collection information by asking a number of questions orally to be answered orally also. The researcher used in-depth interview.
According to (Bungin, 2017), in-depth interview is a process to get the information by face to face questioning between the interviewer and informant.
In the interview, the tool used is an interview guide. The interview guide was adapted from price (1991) focusing foreign language anxiety. In his research, he investigate the experienced of foreign language anxiety and interview with highly anxious students. The researcher Make sure the interview question was clear. And the researcher developed a check list of the questions to be asked during the interview. The researcher has interviewed some of the student to know his/her opinion referring material and the activity. It took 5 to 10 minutes to interview each participant to answer all questions.
25 3.5 Technique of Data Collection
3.5.1 Recording
In the interview session, the researcher gave several questions based on the interview guide that related to speaking anxiety to the student or participant. The researcher used camera and voice recorder on cellphone torecord each part of the interview.The researcher started the interview by asking several questions to the participants based on the interview guide and letting them speak freely. The researcher noted the answer from the participants
1.5.2 Transcription
The taped interviews were transcribed verbatim by the researcher. The researcher noted the answer from the participants. The transcriptions of the interviews were analyzed according to basic categories developed from the interview questions.
3.6 Technique of Data Analysis
After collecting the data, the researcher analyzed the data. The data was analyzed descriptively to answer research questions. All data obtained from the two data collection were analyzed gradually. The data from interview were transcribed and subsequently categorized and interpreted to answer the research questions.
According to (Sugiyono, 2008), there are three activities to analyze data.
Those are data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing/verification. The steps in analyzing the data are:
26 (1) Data reduction
Data reduction refers to the process of selecting, focusing, simplifying and transforming the data. In reducing the data, the researcher has chosen which aspect of the data appeared in observation and interview transcriptions, should be emphasized or minimized for the purpose of the research. And then the researcher added code on each meaningful unit (coding).
In this research, the researcher has reduced the whole data collected and got more suitable data that would be analyzed. To get specific information, the researcher focused on important data and avoids unimportant data from the result of observation and interview.
(2) Data display
After selecting the data, the researcher displayed those data into good sentences. This phase provides an organized and compressed assembly of information that permits for conclusion drawing. The researcher displayed the data that have been reduced in order to facilitate for data interpretation. Therefore, in this study researcher presented data in a narrative way. This is because in this study the present of data is a description, descriptive means giving or showing about the description of the situation.
(3) Conclusion
After displaying data, the conclusion is drawn. Conclusion drawing involves stepping back to consider what analyzed data mean and to assess their implication for the research question. In this phase, the researcher drew meaning from the data in a display.Therefore, in this study after copying the data into a written transcription, the researcher identified, selected, and classified it based on the
27 analysis needs related to the research topic. Then, the researchers matched the data with the research questions to answer questions number one and two and the researchers concluded.
3.7 Trustworthiness
In qualitative research, trustworthiness of a research is important to evaluate its worth. The researcher determines the credibility of the findings to make sure the findings and interpretations are accurate through member checking. According to Sugiyono (2016), member check is the process of checking data obtained by researcher to data providers. This aims to test the credibility or validity of the data. In this research, after collecting data the researcher conducted a member check to the participants that had examined previously. Its aim to check the data was valid or not. The researcher showed the data from the interview that has been transcribed to the participants to ensure that what they have said in the interview is in accordance with what the researcher has transcribed.
28 CHAPTER VI
FINDING AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Findings
The researchers did the research and got the data from interview. This chapter contains the research findings that answered the two research questions, the factors affecting students` speaking anxiety and how to minimize them. Data were collected through interviews with ten participants who were considered anxious in English classroom.
The following is a table of research themes and sub-themes based on the data from the interviews with participants:
Table 1Theme and Subtheme of Students Speaking Anxiety
Factors 1. Internal Factors
2. External Factors
Strategies 1. Relaxation
2. Preparation 3. Positive Thinking 4. Concentration 5. Peer Seeking
4.1.1 Factors Affecting Student`s Speaking Anxiety
There were two factors influence the students’ anxiety that affecting students speaking anxiety based on the participants answer. There were internal and external factor.
29 4.1.1.1 Internal Factors
There were 3 factors affecting the students’ anxiety in internal factor based on the data from interview with the participants.
4.1.1.1.1 Shyness
Shyness is one part of factors that influencing students’ anxiety that focused on from internal factors. Based on the interview, seven students reported that shyness was one of the reasons they did not want to speak in front of the class. As P 2 reports;
“Saya merasa malu dan gugup buk jika disuruh berbicara bahasa Inggris didepan kelas saya tidak mau lagi.” (P2)
The statement above showed that that they felt shy and worry when their teacher asked them to speak in front of the classroom. The statement above is in line with the result of interview that has been conducted with P2. As P1 reports;
“Saya merasa malu dilihat banyak teman bu, saya jadi lupa bu apa yang mau saya katakan, karena siswa lain juga selalu tertawa dan menjelekkan ketika saya berbicara bahasa Inggris.” (P1)
The statement above showedthe participant felt uncomfortable because all the student pay attention to them and that feeling of shame makes their minds go blank or they will forget what to say. The statement above is in line with the result of interview that has been conducted with P1. As P4 reports;
“Saya merasa malu disuruh berbicara di depan kelas bu, karena siswa lain selalu tertawa ketika saya, saya sering lupa kosa kata karena gugup bu berbicara bahasa Inggris. Tapi ada juga siswa yang membantu saya membenarkan pengucapan saya yang salah buk.” (P4)
The statement above showed that speaking in front of people is one of the more common phobias students encounter, and shyness make their minds go blank or they did not know what to say. In other words, it can be said that shyness plays an important role in students' speaking performances.
30 4.1.1.1.2 Lack of self-confidence
Lack of self-confidence is one part of factors that influencing students’ anxiety that focused on from internal factors. Based the interview, two students reported that lack of self-confidence was one of the factor she did not want to speak in front of the class. As two participants report;
“Saya juga merasa tidak percaya diri pada saat berbicara di depan kelas buk, karena bahasa inggris saya tidak bagus.” (P10)
The statement above showed that the student have low self-confidence; she thought that she is not good at speaking English. The statement above is in line with the result of interview that has been conducted with P10. As P8 reports;
“Saya merasa malu dan takut salah, takut ada yang kurang adalam bahasa inggris dan sedikit cemas atau grogi buk.” (P8)
The statement above showed that student felt embarrassed and worried because he is not very good in English. Lack of confidence is a moderate factor affecting students' anxiety to speak English. So, the lack of self-confidence is one of the important factors that need attention.
4.1.1.1.3 Fear of making mistakes
Fear of making mistakes is one of the factors that influences students’
anxiety and is focused on internal factors. Based on the interview, all participants reported that the fear of making mistakes was one of the reasons why they did not want to speak English. As P1 reports;
“Saya cemas kalau disuruh maju kedepan, karena saya takut salah bicara bahasa inggris dan gemetar (gugup) badan saya bu kalo bicara di depan kelas.” (P1)
The statement above showed that the participants have a fear of making mistakes when speaking in front of the class. The statement above is in line with the result of interview that has been conducted with P1. As P6 reports;
31
"Saya merasa cemas, karena saya takut salah mengucapkan kosa katanya." (P6)
The statement above showed that the participants also have a fear of making mistakes. She worried because she could not pronounce the word correctly.The statement above is in line with the result of interview that has been conducted with P6. As P7 reports;
“Takut salah, takut ada yang kurang adalam bahasa inggris dan Saya takut ditertawakan ketika saya salah berbicara bahasa Inggris.” (P7)
The statement above showed that the participants have a fear of making mistakes when speaking in front of the class. They were worried because they could not pronounce the word correctly. Fear of making mistakes is one of the main factors in students' reluctance to speak English in the classroom.
4.1.1.2 External Factors
There are 3 factors affecting the students’ anxiety in external factor based on the data from interview with the participants.
4.1.1.2.1 Limited vocabulary
Limited vocabulary is one of the factors that affect student anxiety, which is focused on external factors. Based on the interview, all students reported that limited vocabulary is one of the reasons why it is difficult for them to speak English. As three participants report:
“Saya susah mengerti buk, saya juga banyak tidak tau arti kata kata dalam bahasa inggris. Saya takut kalau disuruh bicara bahasa inggris bu, saya tidak bisa.” (P3)
The statement above showed that the participants have limited vocabulary;
it was difficult for them to remember the words. The statement above is in line with the result of interview that has been conducted with P3. As P7 reports;
32 “Saya sulit menghapal dan mengingat kosakata, dan saya juga
sulit mengucapkan kosa katanya. “ (P7)
The statement above showed thatthestudent find it difficult to remember the English Vocabulary and to pronounce it. The statement above is in line with the result of interview that has been conducted with P7. As P9 reports;
“Saya sulit menghapal dan mengingat kosakata, dan saya juga sulit mengucapkan kosa katanya dan butuh banyak latihan agar bisa mengucapkannya dengan mudah.” (P9)
. The statements above showed that the participants have limited vocabulary; it was difficult for them to remember the words. The other students also reported that English vocabulary is very difficult to remember and pronounce. Limited vocabulary must be considered one of the factors causing anxiety.
4.1.1.2.2 Friends/classmate
Friends and classmates are one of the factors that influence student anxiety, which is focused on external factors. Based on the interview, all students reported that their classmates were the main reason they did not want to speak in front of the class. As three participants report;
“Tidak suka, karena saya tidak mengerti bahasa inggris bu, saya tidak tahu apa yang mau dikatakan. merasa cemas dan takut teman teman kelas tertawa bu.” (P1)
The statements above showed that the participants did not want to speak because the other students laugh when they make mistakes when speaking in front of the class. The statement above is in line with the result of interview that has been conducted with P1. As P2 reports;
“Kalau saya bicara bahasa inggris bu, misalkan bicara di depan kelas, dan saya ada yang salah, teman teman saya tertawa bu, itu yang mengganngu saya.”(P2)
33 The statements above showed that the student also thought that people in the classroom would laugh at him if he made a mistake. The statement above is in line with the result of interview that has been conducted with P2. As P10 reports;
“Siswa lain selalu menertawakan dan mengejek saya ketika saya salah berbicara bahasa inggris.” (P10)
The statements above showed that the participants did not want to speak because the other students laugh when they make mistakes when speaking in front of the class. They admitted that their classmates often ridiculed or even shouted at them if they made mistakes. It means that friends and classmates are one of the factors that sufficiently influence students' anxiety to speak English.
4.1.2 Strategies in reducing Student`s speaking Anxiety
There are several strategies for reducing language anxiety when speaking English. The researcher analyzed the answers of the participants based on the interview results. Here were the results:
4.1.2.1 Relaxation.
Relaxation is the process of reducing the effects of stress on our minds and bodies. In the interview session, four students answered that relaxing can be an effective strategy to overcome their anxiety when speaking English in front of the class. The data was taken from the results of an interview or transcription that was conducted with the participants. As P1 reports;
“Saya berusaha tenang, dengan tarik napas dalam dalam sebelum berbicara di depan kelas bu.” (P1)
The statements above showed that the student take a deep breath before speaking in front of the class to help them to reduce their anxiety. The statement
34 above is in line with the result of interview that has been conducted with P1. As P3 reports;
“Sebelum bicara saya narik nafas dulu buk, pelan pelan bicaranya.rasanya gugup sekali bu kalau lihat muka teman dan saya juga mengecilkan suara saya bu, kalau salah, teman teman tidak dengar, nanti mereka tertawa bu kalau saya ada yang salah.”(P3)
The statements above showed that the student tried to calm downand take a deep breath to reduce his anxiety. The statement above is in line with the result of interview that has been conducted with P2. As P10 reports;
“Tarik napas dalam dalam bu, supaya relax bu. Saya melihat ke langit-langit ruangan sambil berbicara bahasa Inggris agar tidak melihat siswa lain tertawa.” (P10)
The statements above showed that the student tried to calm down and take a deep breath before speaking in front of the class because it really helps them reduce their anxiety when speaking.
4.1.2.2 Preparation
Preparation is the process of getting ready for some opportunity, test, or assignment. In the interview session, five students reported that preparation can be an effective strategy to overcome their anxiety when speaking English in front of the class. The data was taken from the results of interviews or transcriptions that were conducted with the participants. As P2 reports;
“Saya biasanya belajar sendiri dirumah bu, membaca buku bahasa inggris atau menghapal kosa kata bahasa inggris setiap hari.”
(P2)
The statements above showed that the student study hard at home as a preparation before learning English at school. The statement above is in line with the result of interview that has been conducted with P2. As P8 reports;
35
“Saya sering berlatih berbicara bahasa ingris dirumah bu, saya sering menonton cara mengucapkan bahasa inggris di youtube.”(P8)
The statements above showed that the student try to perform better, habit by searching the material on Google, watching YouTube, and so on.The statement above is in line with the result of interview that has been conducted with P8. As P4 reports;
“Saya belajar bahasa Inggris dulu dirumah bu, dan pada saat saya bicara di depan kelas, saya menggangap semua teman teman tidak ada, jadi bisa fokus”.(P4)
The statements above showed that the student try to use English in daily situation, study hard at home, and try to perform better by searching the material from Google, watching YouTube, and so on.
4.1.2.3 Positive Thinking
Positive thinking means that the speaker is trying to divert his mind from negative thoughts that can hinder performance, especially in speaking. Based on the interview, 3 students reported that positive thinking can be an effective strategy to overcome their anxiety. The data was taken from the results of an interview that was conducted with the participants. As three participants report;
“Saya melakukannya dengan percaya diri agar tidak takut untuk berbicara.” (P7)
The statements above showed that the student tried to divert his mind from negative thoughts and he tried to be confident when speaking in front of the classroom. The statement above is in line with the result of interview that has been conducted with P7. As P8 reports;
“Saya melakukannya dengan percaya diri, saya yakin saya pasti bisa, agar tidak takut untuk berbicara” (P8)
36 The statements above showed that the student tried to enjoy the lesson, and believe in himself.The statement above is in line with the result of interview that has been conducted with P8. As P9 reports;
“Saya meyakinkan diri saya, bahwa saya pasti bisa. Saya mengingat sesuat yang lebih menakutkan daripada saat berbicara di depan kelas, dan menganggap semua orang tidak ada di dalam kelas saat saya bicara” (P9)
The statements above showed that the student always thought positively.
The participants tried to divert their mind from negative thoughts, the tried to be confident, enjoy the lesson, and believe in them self. The participants must be self-assured and believe in their abilities.
4.1.2.4 Concentration
Concentration refers to the action or power of focusing one's attention.
This strategy aims to give a good appearance to minimize the chance of making mistakes that can cause anxiety for the speaker. In the interview session, two students reported that concentration can be an effective strategy to overcome their anxiety. As P3 report;
“Sebelum bicara saya narik nafas dulu buk, pelan pelan bicaranya. Rasanya gugup sekali bu kalau lihat muka teman dan saya juga mengecilkan suara saya bu, kalau salah, teman teman tidak dengar, nanti mereka tertawa bu kalau saya ada yang salah.”(P3)
The statements above showed that the student tried to speak slowly to keep concentration while speaking. The statement above is in line with the result of interview that has been conducted with P6. As P7 reports;
“Tarik napas dalam dalam bu, supaya relax bu. Saya melihat ke langit-langit ruangan, supaya tetap bisa konsen sambil berbicara bahasa Inggris agar tidak melihat siswa lain tertawa.” (P7)
37 The statements above showed that the student tried to speak slowly and focus on surrounding objects, looking at the walls or looking up at the ceiling of the classroom to keep concentrate while speaking.
4.1.2.5 Peer Seeking
Peer seeking is distinguished from students' willingness to seek out other students who appear to have difficulty understanding the class and/or controlling their anxiety. In the interview session, three students reported that peer seeking can be an effective strategy to overcome their anxiety. As P4 reports;
“Saya belajar bahasa Inggris dulu dirumah bu, dan pada saat saya bicara di depan kelas, saya menggangap semua teman teman tidak ada, jadi bisa fokus.” (P4)
The statements above showed that the participant tried to ignore the other students to keep focus on their speaking.The statement above is in line with the result of interview that has been conducted with P4. As P5 reports;
“Saya mencoba untuk mengabaikan siswa lain yang tertawa ketika saya berbicara bahasa Inggris.saya mersa bahwa mereka pasti juga tidak bisa jika disuruh berbicara bahasa inggris di depan kelas seperti saya.”(P5)
The statement above showed that the participant tried to ignore the other students who laughed at them. The participants told themselves that problems that are difficult for them are also difficult for others.
4.2 Discussion
From the result of interview, it showed the factors affecting students‟
speaking anxiety in English classroom. There are two factors affecting the students’ speaking anxiety foun in this research; internal and external factors.
There are three internal factors found in this research. First, fear of making mistakes, the participants were worried because they could not pronounce the
38 word correctly. They felt negatively evaluated by the teacher or classmates.
Second, shyness, they frequently answered that they felt shy and worry when their teacher asked them to speak in front of the classroom. Moreover, the participants said that they felt uncomfortable because all the student pay attention to them and that feeling of shame makes their minds go blank or they will forget what to say.
And the last one is lack of confident, most the students have low self-confidence;
they thought that they were not good at speaking. They also felt less competence than the other student.
There are two external factors found in this research. First, limited vocabulary, most of the participants have limited vocabulary; it was difficult for them to remember the words. The participants reported that English vocabulary is very difficult to remember and pronounce. Second, friends/classmates,all students thought that people in their classroom would laugh at them if they made a mistake. They stated that their classmates often ridiculed or even shouted at them if they make a mistake.
The research findings on factors affecting student`s speaking anxiety were the same as Ernawati & Fatma, (2012), they classify the two factors causing students’
speaking anxiety as: (1) Internal Factors such as lack of confidence, shyness, motivation, and fear of making mistake, (2) External Factors such as lack of preparation, limited vocabulary, friends or classmates, and embarrassment.
The result of the interview also answered the research question about the strategies to minimize students' speaking anxiety. There are five strategies to minimize students` speaking anxiety found in this research. First, relaxation, the participants tried to calm down and take a deep breath before speaking in front of
39 the class because it really helps them reduce their anxiety when speaking. Second, preparation, the participant study at home, try to perform better, try to make learning English a habit by searching the material on Google, watching YouTube, and so on. Third, positive thinking, the participants tried to divert their mind from negative thoughts, the tried to be confident, enjoy the lesson, and believe in them self. Fourth, concentration, the student tried to speak slowly and focus on surrounding objects, looking at the walls or looking up at the ceiling of the classroom. The last one is peer seeking, the participant tried to ignore the other students who laughed at them.
The research findings were the same as the research conducted by Kondo and Ying-Ling (2004) in Japan, who designed a typology of techniques to reduce students’ anxiety consisting of preparation, relaxation, positive thinking, peer seeking, and resignation types to overcome language anxiety. Based on the data, the researcher did not need to omit or reduced the data of interview with the English teacher the data is appropriate with the theory.
40 CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
After collecting the data and analyzing the result of the research, the researcher drew some conclusions and suggestions. This chapter presents conclusions of the research. These conclusions of the study are built up based on the data analysis, which was discussed in Chapter 4 of this research report.
5.1 Conclusion
This research focuses on the seventh grade of SMP Adhyaksa 1 Jambi and provides clear and convincing evidence of the factors affecting students speaking anxiety and the strategies to minimize them. Based on the interview with the participants, there were various factors that affecting their anxiety. There are at least five factors which found in this research, they are lack of vocabulary, friends/classmates, fear of making mistakes, shyness, and lack of confident. The sources of these factors are from the students as the participants. The result of the interview also answered the research question about the strategies to minimize student`s speaking anxiety, it shows that relaxation, preparation, positive thinking, concentration, and peer seeking are the strategies to minimize their anxiety.
The experiences of the students provide a great deal of information about the students' anxiety about speaking English. In other words, students can provide valuable information about their anxiety about speaking English.
5.2 Suggestion
Although this research was carried out with a small number of participants within a short period of time, the findings provide some useful information that
