1
Junior High School Students
’
Speaking Anxiety in English Class
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Dinanti Yemima Lufi Sirait
112010116
ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SWCU
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2
Junior High School Students
’
Speaking Anxiety in English Class
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Dinanti Yemima Lufi Sirait
112010116
Supervisor Examiner
3
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in
any course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any
university. To the best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material
previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is
made in the text.
Copyright@ 2015. Dinanti Yemima L.S. and Elisabet Titik Murtisari, M.
TransStud.,Ph.D
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means
without the permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English
Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian
University, Salatiga.
4
PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION
As a member of the (SWCU) Satya Wacana Christian University academic community, I verify that:
Name : Dinanti Yemima Lufi Sirait Student ID Number : 112010116
Study Program : English Language Teaching
Faculty : Faculty of Language and Literature Kind of Work : Undergraduate Thesis
In developing my knowledge, I agree to provide SWCU with a non-exclusive royalty free right for my intellectual property and the contents therein entitled:
Junior High School Students’ Speaking Anxiety in English Class
With this non-exclusive royalty free right, SWCU maintains the right to copy, reproduce, print, publish, post, display, incorporate, store in or scan into a retrieval system or database, transmit, broadcast, barter or sell my intellectual property, in whole or in part without my express written permission, as long as my name is still included as the writer.
This declaration is made according to the best of my knowledge.
Made in : Salatiga Date : 04 Mei 2015 Verified by signee
Dinanti Yemima L. S. Approved by
Thesis Supervisor Thesis Examiner
5
TABLE OF CONTENT
ABSTRACT ... 1
A. INTRODUCTION ... 1
1. Statement of the Problem ... 3
2. Research Question ... 4
3. Significance of the Study ... 4
B. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ... 4
1. Anxiety ... 5
2. Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) ... 5
3. Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety ... 7
4. Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety in Classroom ... 8
4.a. Factors affecting foreign language speaking anxiety in classroom ... 9
4.b. Signs of anxiety: Psycho-physiological symptoms ... 10
5. Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) ... 10
5.a. Results of FLCAS ... 11
C. METHODOLOGY ... 12
1. Research Design ... 12
2. Sampling ... 13
3. Instrumentation ... 13
4. Data Collection and Analysis Procedure ... 14
D. Results and Discussion ... 15
1. The FLCAS Questionnaire ... 15
1.a. The levels of speaking anxiety among the students ... 15
2. The Factors Associated to FLCAS Questionnaire ... 17
2.a. Negative self perceptions and low self esteem ... 17
2.b. Fear of being less competent than other students ... 19
2.c. Fear of taking risks ... 19
2.d. Preparation ... 21
6
3. Psycho-physiological symptoms ... 22
E. CONCLUSION ... 24
F. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...27
G. REFERENCES ... 28
7
Junior High School Students’ Speaking
Anxiety in
English Class
Abstract
This study investigates the speaking anxiety experienced by grade 9 of Santa Maria Junior High School Sawangan in English Class. The study aims to answer the research question “What are the levels of speaking anxiety experienced by the
students in English class?”. Seventy three students from three classes of grade
nine were selected to be the participants in a survey using Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale questionnaire developed by Horwits et al. (1986). The result of this study shows that anxiety in speaking English experienced by almost all of the students. Based on FLCAS questionnaire, negative self perception and low self esteem, fear of being less competent than other students, fear of taking risks, preparation, and peers opinion were found out to be some of the factors that appeared to students‟ speaking anxiety. Some psycho-physiological symptoms of anxiety such as heart pounding, tremble, nervous and confused when speaking in English also appeared as some indicators of students who suffer from anxiety.
Keywords: speaking, anxiety, indicators of speaking anxiety, psycho-physiological symptoms.
A.INTRODUCTION
The indicator of the successful language learning and acquisition is
through the product of the language which is the use of the language in
communication. There are two types of communication, written communication
and oral communication. Out of the oral type, speaking has an important function
as a crucial skill for communication (Florez, 1999). Since English nowadays have
become a genuine lingua franca, that is a language that being used by people who
do not speak the same (first or second) language as the tool of communication
(Harmer, 2007), English also has made an expansion in Indonesia. Brown (2001)
states that English has been taught as a foreign language in countries where the
8
Indonesia government itself had decided to make English as a foreign language
that is taught in school and it is common to find students from an early age having
English language learning in their school.
Having a communication in a foreign language can be a stressful activity
for the learners since they have to speak the language that is not their first or
mother tongue. Horwitz et al. (1986) state that “speaking in the target language
seems to be threatening aspect of foreign language learning ...”. Some studies that
have been done by experts also show persistently similar results that speaking is
the greatest activity that stimulates anxiety by most of foreign language learners
(MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991). Since the status of English in Indonesia is a foreign
language, it probably makes the learners feel unfamiliar in vocabulary, structure,
and rules in English. They also have a small opportunity to practice English
outside the classroom because English is neither their mother tongue nor first
language. Moreover, there is a limited time to learn English in school, it makes
most of the learners have a little exposure and higher possibility to feel anxious in
English language learning, especially in speaking regarding the small chances to
practice it.
The factors that cause learners‟ anxiety also become an interesting area for
researchers to observe. Some factors such as lack of proficiency, lack of practice,
competition, and task difficulty can influence learners to be anxious (Liu, 2007).
Based on Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) proposed by
Horwitz et al. (1986) the major aspects of factors that contribute to foreign
9
performance, and test anxiety. For speaking anxiety, some factors such as negative
self perception and low self esteem, fear of being less competent than other
students, fear of taking risks, preparation, and peers opinion found out to trigger
anxiety for the students.
Foreign language anxiety is a common phenomenon for foreign language
learners. Thus, I believe that it is important to observe the speaking anxiety
experienced by students in English class since speaking is an activity that
contributes the greatest anxiety for foreign language learners (Phillips, 1999; cited
in Dalkilic, 2013).
1. Statement of the Problem
Since verbal language is a tool for communication, the indicator of
successful English learning is through the communication products, one of them is
speaking. As the status of English is a foreign language, students practice English
especially speaking in classroom only. But unfortunately students usually do not
use this opportunity maximally to build up their speaking skill. Moreover, beside
the national examination that being held for junior high school students, the school
practicum examination nowadays demands the students to have an English
speaking fluency.
I believe that this study is important since most of the previous studies of
speaking anxiety focused on college students (Occhipinti, 2009; Cheng, 2009;
Deyuan, 2011, Yaikhong &Usaha, 2012) and high school students level
10
is more relevant to language learning among adults” (MacIntyre & Gardner,
1991).
2. Research Question
For the purpose of this study, the following question was addressed “What
are the levels of speaking anxiety based on Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety
Scale experienced by students in English classroom? “.
3. Significance of the Study
This study is expected to provide more reference to future studies on
speaking anxiety especially that experienced by junior high school students. From
this study, teachers and researchers will understand more how to find out the
levels of anxiety experienced by the students. Hopefully this study will be useful
to teachers to understand better their students‟ anxiety and can help them to
overcome their anxiety so that it will improve the teaching and learning quality.
B. Review of Literature
This section will discuss some issues associated with this study. Five issues
that related to this study are: “anxiety”, “foreign language anxiety”, “foreign
language speaking anxiety”, “foreign language anxiety in classroom”, and
“Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale”. Some basic concepts and studies
that had been done before related to this study were discussed in this section.
1. Anxiety
The term “anxiety” often refers to the psychological condition of a person
that includes the feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry that
11
Harber (1960, cited in Zeidner, 1998) divided anxiety into two kinds, facilitating
anxiety and debilitating anxiety. Facilitating anxiety refers to the anxiety that
improved the performance, it means that this type of anxiety will not hinder
learners‟ achievement; it even might become a support of learners‟ success.
Whereas debilitating anxiety refers to the anxiety that weakened the performance,
this type of anxiety will hinder and might be a barrier to the learners‟ achievement.
Based on Alpert and Harber‟s theory we can conclude that not all types of
anxiety can damage learners‟ performance. However, we should not deny the
possibility observation of facilitating and debilitating that are actually the same
anxiety continuity with different ends (Hembree, 1988). By knowing the two kinds
of anxiety, it will help us to identify the reasons of factors causes to the students‟
of high level anxiety (debilitating anxiety) as well as the strategies to deal with it.
2. Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA)
Foreign language learning might be a challenging activity for the learners
especially those who live in EFL environment. Since English is used not as their
first or second language, there is a high possibility that the learners are not fluent
in the target language experience and cannot express the use of the foreign
language maximally and that what is called by foreign language anxiety. Because
foreign language anxiety related to the psychological and emotion aspect, the early
findings of these studies did not show consistent results.
However, more researchers “have expanded the research perspectives from
psychology and personality theory to learning and perception” (Spielberger, 1966).
12
trait and state anxiety theory. State anxiety refers to the type of anxiety that might
occur repeatedly and regularly in different situations while trait anxiety refers to
type of anxiety that last permanently in individual and could not easily change by
time. But there is a limited of that theory, “the source of the reported response is
not specified very clearly by the respondent” (Cheng, 2009). This theory is based
on the assumption of the respondent.
Since state and trait anxiety could not answer all questions related to the
study of FLA, Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986) formed a concept of FLA
which they called as a “type of situation specific anxiety”. Situation specific
anxiety refers to the possibility to be anxious in a specific situation such as having
a test, giving a speech, or using a foreign language. The levels of anxious could be
different depends on the context. The assumption of the respondents is apparently
decreased so this theory is more varied comparing from the previous theory and
the centralisation of the areas seem to show persistent result (MarcIntyre &
Gardner, 1991). Since this theory was introduced, more researchers have begun to
use this theory and showing the consistent results.
Occhipinti (2009) in his study said that learning a foreign language is “a
complex process, which implies the study of a new grammar, pronunciation,
memorization of new words; but first and foremost it tests the learners‟ ability in
terms of his flexibility to take risks and making mistakes in front of other people”.
The factors that showing those processes are: linguistic factor such as grammar or
syntax and extra-linguistic factor such as socio-contextual (Schuman, 1978).
13
activity for some learners (Hewitt & Stephenson, 2011, cited in Khodaday &
Khajavy, 2012).
Horwitz et al. (1986) concluded that FLA usually appears in listening and
speaking activities, testing situations, over studying, certain beliefs and so on.
They also classify three types of foreign language anxiety: communication
anxiety, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation. Communication anxiety is
defined as “a type of shyness characterized by fear of or anxiety about
communicating with people” (Horwitz, et al., 1986); and fear of negative
evaluation is defined as “apprehension about others‟ evaluative situations,
avoidance of evaluative situations, and the expectation that others would evaluate
oneself negatively” (Watson & Friend, 1969, cited in Occhipinti, 2009). Test
anxiety is defined as “a type of performance anxiety stemming from a fear of
failure” (Horwitz et al, 1986). It means that when someone feels others evaluated
him/her, this type of anxiety will occur.
3. Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety (FLSA)
Brown (2001) states that people who have a successful achievement of
language showing the ability of two-way communications with the other language
speaker whether it is in monologue or dialogue. Therefore we could say that this
two-way communication is not successful if one language speaker could not
understand what other language speaker trying to say. This failure could be due to
many factors, one of them is the anxious feeling in speaking experienced by the
language speaker. Foreign language speaking anxiety can be described as an
14
in Deyuan, 2011). Some studies in this area have been conducted and shown that
even a person that active in oral communication using her/his L1 might become
ashamed and reluctant when communicating using foreign language (Horwitz et
al. 1986). It is because the language learners not only have to learn the foreign
language but also to perform the language (Foss & Reitzel, 1988, cited in Cheng,
2009). They might have this FLSA because they had to perceive the language. As
Aida (1994) states that “[...] people experience anxiety and reluctance in
communicating with other people or in expressing themselves in foreign language
in which they do not have a full competence”.
4. Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety in Classroom
Speaking in foreign language in classroom is usually difficult for the anxious
students even when they were asked to answer a task or give a speech that they
have prepared (Cheng, 2009). Horwitz et al. (1991) pointed out that listening and
speaking in the classrooms are where the foreign language anxiety mostly
happened. Phillips (1992) also supported Horwitz‟ statement by saying that based
on the studies about FLA, it was reported that students generally having their
highest level of anxiety in speaking in foreign language classroom. High levels of
anxious student usually avoid the foreign language class or remove the courses
that having a communication requirement (Phillips, 1992). They also feel reluctant
to volunteer answers and being involved in activities that speaking was required in
15
4.a. Factors affecting foreign language speaking anxiety in classroom
Young (1991; cited in Vognild, 2013) classified six possible causes of
language anxiety in classroom: “1) personal and interpersonal anxieties, 2) learner
beliefs about language learning, 3) instructor beliefs about language learning, 4)
instructor – learner interactions, 5) classroom procedures, and 6) language
testing”. Personal anxieties could happen because some factors, one of them is a
negative self perception and low self esteem towards themselves. Self perceptions
or popular as self concept in psychology studies is how one person identify
him/herself (Shavelson & Bolus, 1981) this perception might be highly influenced
by his/her environment (Shavelson, 1976; cited in Shavelson & Bolus, 1981).
Meanwhile self esteem is a concept of how one person treats him/herself, their
attitude toward him/herself based on how he/she judges him/herself based on
his/her self perceptions toward him/herself (Sigelman, 1999; cited in Bailey,
2003).
A study by Liu (2007) shows that low English proficiency, lack of practice,
difficulty of the task, lack of confidence, and fear of making mistakes are the
factors that contribute to foreign language speaking anxiety for China learners.
Horwitz et al (1986) remarked three major factors that contribute to foreign
language speaking anxiety in his FLCAS: communication anxiety, test anxiety,
and fear of negative evaluation.
Mak (2009) conducted a study about FLSA with Chinese EFL learners using
FLCAS and the results show that beside the three factors, some other factors such
16
English class, fear for failing the class, asked to make impromptu speech, being
corrected when speaking, insufficient time for preparation, and the prohibition of
L1 use in class. A result of FLSA in English classroom by Keramida (2009) also
show that students in the third grade of lower secondary school in Greece
experienced FLSA because they were afraid that their peers will evaluate them
negatively and consider them as a low ability students. They also believed that
“they should produce faultless sentences”. Mayangta (2013) in her study of FLSA
with Indonesian junior high school found out that “personal and interpersonal
anxieties, students‟ beliefs about language learning, instructor-learner interactions,
classroom procedures and perceived levels of English proficiency” are factors that
contributed to students‟ speaking anxiety in classroom.
4.b. Signs of anxiety: Psycho-physiological symptoms
Psycho-physiological symptoms also found in FLCAS Qustionnaire.
Psycho-physiological symptoms is “deeply associated with feelings and emotions
of human beings” (Yoon, 2012). It is a feeling of fear, uneasiness, worry, dread,
sweat, and have palpations that are experienced by the anxious students (Horwitz
et. al, 1986). A study of elementary and intermediate female Iranian EFL learners
from Hayatdavoudi & Kassaian (2013) revealed that students who suffered a high
level of language anxiety reported to experience the higher psycho-physiological
tensions in speaking performance.
5. Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS)
Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) was developed by
17
individuals‟ response to the specific stimulus of language learning.” (Dalkilic,
2001).
FLCAS is an instrument that consists of 33 items with scale 1-5 from
strongly agree into strongly disagree. Those 33 items measure three dimension of
languange learning anxiety; (1) fear of negative evaluation, (2) communication
apprehension, and (3) test anxiety. It also measure the anxiety based on four major
skills in language learning: speaking, writing, reading, and listening. The
participants‟ answer then calculated and being divided into five levels of anxiety:
(1) Very Anxious. (2) Anxious, (3) Mildly Anxious, (4) Relaxed, (5) Very
Relaxed.
5.a. Results of FLCAS
Since this instrument was introduced, nowadays this instrument is
commonly used by researchers to investigate the levels of anxiety experienced by
the learners. Liu (2007) in her study about anxiety in oral English classroom found
out that twenty-four university students in Beijing experienced anxiety in English
classroom. FLCAS was used to measure their anxiety and the results show that
54,1% students agreed with statements in the FLCAS that indicate their fear of
taking risk to perform their foreign language speaking ability in front of others. In
the next evaluation items, 66,7% students show their lack of communication
apprehension by choosing the items showing fear if they could not understand
instruction or feedback from their teacher. Another indicator to notice the anxious
18
indicating fear of negative evaluation by peers and 70,8% students agree that they
fear their teacher will pointed out their mistakes.
Mak (2009) found out that “students‟ negative attitudes towards the
language class can contribute to their overall levels of second/foreign language
anxiety”. The result shows that the important aspect that influences students‟
speaking anxiety in classroom is fear of negative evaluation. A similar result
showed by a study of foreign language anxiety on Malaysian university students
by Abdullah & Rahman (2010). This study reveals that the high anxiety level
experienced by the students because they feel reluctant to speak in foreign
language in front of others. The communication apprehension aspect contributes to
moderate levels of anxiety.
In Indonesia, a study was conducted by Mayangta (2013) who investigated
the levels anxiety experienced by second grade students of junior high school in
Bandung. The result shows that “most of the students are mildly anxious anxiety
levels with no relaxed students”.
C. METHODOLOGY
This section discusses on how this study was conducted to answers the
research questions proposed in this study.
1. Research Design
This study focused on quantitative study which means that the data presented
19
2. Sampling
The participants of this study were junior high school students grade IX. The
reason why I chose those participants was because comparing with students in
grade VII and VIII who possibility have a lower English proficiency than grade
IX, students in grade IX have already learnt English longer and they might have
more exposure to English, therefore it was more interesting to explore the
speaking anxiety experienced by IX graders.
3. Instrument
The instrument used in this study was adapted from Foreign Language
Classroom Anxiety Scale proposed by Horwitz et al. (1983). This instrument
consists of 33 questions about anxiety in classroom. This instrument was chosen
because “it employs a situation specific approach, an approach which has yielded
more meaningful and consistent results than other approaches in second language
speaking anxiety studies” (Mak, 2009). This instrument has been used by some
researchers in previous studies such as Aida (1994), Liu (2007), Occhipinti (2009),
Sugiharti (2009), Ariani (2010),Tianjian (2010), Usaha & Yaikhong (2012). The
results of those previous study show it has high reliability and validity. The
answers in this recent study ranged from 1-5, the lower scores that the participants
get, the higher anxiety that they experienced. Since this study focused on speaking
anxiety, some items were dropped and only items that were relevant to this study
were selected. To measure the validity index of the items, I used SPSS 20. Based
on Pearson Product Moment correlation (Azwar, 2000a; cited in Mustamu, 2011)
20
4. Data Collection and Analysis Procedure
Data collection and analysis were needed in order to answer the research
questions and meet the purposes of this study. This section discussed how the data
were collected and analyzed to know the level of students‟ anxiety.
FLCAS was used to measure the level of anxiety of the students. FLCAS
consist of 33 closed-ended questions related to students‟ anxiety in classroom.
This questionnaire was adapted and translated in Bahasa Indonesia to make the
students understand what the questions were about. However, since this study
focused in speaking anxiety in English classroom, the items that were used were
items which focused on this issue, those were items number 1, 3, 9, 13, 18, 20, 23,
24, 27, 31. Based on the validity test, all items were valid and could be included in
this study.
Using a five- point Likert scale, the answers ranged from 1-5 with answer
“Strongly agree” to “Strongly disagree”. To get the range of the score of each
class, I used interval formula which is commonly used to measure the
psychological phennomena happened in society (Riduwan, 2009):
Since the questionnaire consists of 10 items with maximal point of 5 for
each item, so the maximal score for all items was 50. The minimal score of each
� � ���
=
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item is 1,thus the minimal score of all items was 10. From the formula above, the
class intervals were:
10 ≤ x < 18 : very anxious 34 ≤ x < 42: relaxed
18 ≤ x < 26 : anxious 42 ≤ x < 50 : very relaxed
26 ≤ x < 34 : mildly anxious
The indicators of speaking anxiety were basically taken from items
selected from FLCAS which then classified into some categories.
D. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The section below present data analysis obtained from the questionnaire.
1. The FLCAS Questionnaire
1.a. The Levels of speaking anxiety among the students
FLCAS developed by Horwits et. al. consists of an indicator for every
dominant skills of foreign language acquisition. Those skills are: reading, writing,
listening, and speaking. In relevance to this study, I had only selected items that
were related to speaking skills.
After adapting the FLCAS questionnaire developed by Horwits et. al.
(1986) into a shorter version, I divided the items into 2 categories: Unfavorable
items and Favorable items. Unfavorable items consisted of items number 1, 2, 3,
4, 6, 7, 8, 9,10. Favorable item consisted of item number 5. Unfavorable items
consisted of negative statements with score 1 for Strongly Agree – 5 for Strongly
Disagree while Favorable item consisted of positive statement with score 5 for
Strongly Agree – 1 for Strongly Disagree. The score results from FLCAS
22
are: 1) Very anxious, 2) Anxious, 3) Mildly Anxious, 4) Relaxed, 5) Very
Relaxed. To find out the interval of each class, I used Interval formula, which was
commonly used to measure the interval class range of psychological phenomena
that happened in society:
\Figure 1: Anxiety Levels of students in grade 9
Figure 1 shows that from total of 73 students, 8 students (10%) were in
the very anxious level. 30 students (41%) were in the anxious level. 21 students
(32%) were in the mildly anxious level. 9 students (13%) were in the relaxed level
and only 5 students (2%) were in very relaxed level. Almost a half from the total
students were in the anxious level, it shows that the majority of the students
experienced anxiety, only one fifteenth of the students felt very relaxed.
2. The Factors Associated to FLCAS Questionnaire
There are a lot of factors that affect anxiety in speaking foreign language
in classroom as discussed in Literature Review. However, this section will discuss
10%
41%
32%
13%
2% 0%
5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Very Anxious Anxious Mildly Anxious Relaxed Very Relaxed
Anxiety Levels
Students
� � ���
=
��� � � −�� � �23
some indicators of speaking anxiety among the students based on FLCAS
Questionnaire. I attempted to divide the items into several categories. It is
important to note that the categories may overlap with each other, and thus not
mutually exclusive.
2.a. Negative self perceptions & low self esteem
One common indicator of anxiety among the learners is negative self
perceptions and low self esteem. As mentioned in literature review, self
perceptions or popular as self concept in psychology studies is how one person
knows about her/himself (Shavelson & Bolus, 1981). Meanwhile self esteem is a
concept of how one person treats her/himself, their attitude toward themselves
(Sigelman, 1999; cited in Bailey, 2003).
Figure 2: Level of negative self perception & low self esteem
From the data above, the majority of the students agreed or strongly
agreed that they felt they had no self-confidence when they were speaking in their
English classroom. 55% of the students agreed with statement „I never feel quite
3% 3%
55%
13% 18% 18%
15%
55%
8% 10% Q1. I never feel quite sure of
myself when I am speaking in my English class
Q5. I feel confident when I speak in English class
24
sure of myself when I am speaking in my English class, 3% of the students
strongly agreed, other students (18%) were not really sure if they had
self-confidence in speaking English in their classroom, 15% of the students disagreed
with this statement, and 8% students strongly disagreed with this statement. On
the other hand, when they were asked to answer the reverse item, 10% of the
students strongly disagreed with statement “I feel confident when I speak in
English class”, 55% of the students disagreed with this statement, 18% in neutral
position, 13% of the students agreed with this statements and only 3% of the
students strongly agreed with this statement.
2.b. Fear of being less competent than other students
Figure 3: Level of fear of being less competent than other students
Students reported their fear of being less competent than the other
students. The data shows that 14% of the students strongly agreed and 39% of the
sudents agreed that they felt their schoolmates spoke English better than them,
12% students were in neutral position, other 32% of the students disagreed and
14% 39%
12% 32%
2% 0%
5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Q7. I always feel that the other students speak English better
than I do
25
2% strongly disagreed with this statement. This level might indicate a
considerable level of anxiety among the students. Liu (2007) reported that
students that feared being less competent tend to compare her/himself with other
students ability and that could trigger the feeling of anxiety.
2.c. Fear of taking risks
Figure 4: Level of fear of taking risks
Drawing on the students responses, fear of taking risks turned out to be
one of a significant level among the students. The data shows that answers
questions voluntary in class was reported to be one of the serious indication of
anxiety among the students based on FLCAS by Horwitz. As many as 11% of the
students strongly agreed with statement “It embarasses me to volunteer answers in
my English class”, 49% agreed with this statement, 11% students were in neutral
positions, other 19% of the students disagreed and 9% of the students strongly
disagreed with this statement. It means that more than a half of the students (60%)
endorsed this statements. Another serious indicator of anxiety was that the
11% 12% 49%
47%
11%
8% 19% 18%
9%
14% 0%
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Q4. It embarrasses me to volunteer answers in my
English class
Q10. I am afraid that the other students will laugh at me when
I speak English
26
students were afraid that the other students will laugh at their performance. As
many as 12% of the students strongly agreed with statemet “I am afraid that the
other students will laugh at me when I speak English”, 47% of the students agreed
with this statement, only 8% of the students chose neutral position, the rest 18%
of the students disagreed this item and 14% strongly disagreed with this item.
2.d. Preparation
Figure 5: Level of preparation
According to the data above, speaking performance without preparation
was an activity that could trigger anxiety the most. A total 76% of the students
endorsed statement “ I start to panic when I have to speak without preparation in
English class”. This might be a really serious problem that the students faced.
31% of the students strongly agreed with this statement, 45% of the students
agreed, 11% students were in neutral positions and other 12% of the students
disagreed or strongly disagreed with this statement. This result endorsed by Liu‟s
31% 45%
11% 9%
3% 0%
5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
Q3. I start to panic when I have to speak without preparation in
English class
27
study revealed that 70% of Chinese learners also experienced nervousness in
speaking activity because “their brain went blank when speaking in English class,
especially when they were not prepared”. This might happened because students
have to speak in language that they do not have full competence and the lack of
vocabulary or exposure to the English language.
2.e. Peers‟ Opinions
Figure 6: Level of peers’ opinions
The data showed that students seemed to be concerned about what their
peers‟ thought about her/his ability. 11% of the students strongly agreed that they
feel shy to speak English in front of their peers, 43% of the students agreed with
the statement. It means that 55% of the students endorsed this statement. 18%
students in neutral positions, 20% of the students disagreed with this statement
and only 7% of the students strongly disagreed with this statement. This finding
also in line with Abdullah & Rahman (2010) study that shows the high anxiety
11% 43%
18%20% 7% Q8. I feel very
self-conscious about speaking English in front
of the other students
28
level experienced by the students because they felt reluctant to speak in foreign
language in front of others.
3. Psycho-physiological Symptoms
Psychological and physiological symptoms of anxiety were commonly
experienced by anxious students. As mentioned in literature review, students that
feel anxious experience fear, uneasiness, worry, dread, sweat, and have palpations
(Horwitz et. al, 1986). Items no 2, 6, and 9 refer to psycho-physiological
[image:30.595.103.548.219.608.2]symptoms that become signs of anxiety.
Figure 7: Level of psycho-physiological symptoms
The results show that more than half of the students (47%) felt that they
trembled when they were asked to speak English. 7% of the students strongly
agreed with statement “ I tremble when I know that I‟m going to be called to
speak in my English class”, 40% of the students agreed, 13% students chose
neutral, 26% of the students disagreed, and only 8% of the students strongly
disagreed with this statement. A higher precentage of the students (62%) endorsed
7% 15% 8% 40% 47% 38% 18% 12% 23% 26% 15% 22% 8% 10% 8% Q2. I tremble when I
k ow that I’ goi g to
be called to speak in my English class
Q6. I can feel my heart
pou di g whe I’
going to be called to speak in front of my
English class
Q9. I get nervous and confused when I am speaking in my English
class
29
item “I can feel my heart pounding when I‟m going to be called to speak in front
of my English class”. 15% of the students strongly agreed, 47% of the students
agreed, 12% chose neutral. Only 25% of the students rejected this statement, 15%
of the students disagreed with this item and 10% of the students strongly
disagreed with this item. Students‟ responses also showed that almost half of
them felt nervous and confused, 8% of the students responded strongly agreed and
38% of the students responded agreed with this statement. 23% of the students
chose neutral, 22% of the students disagreed that they felt nervous and confused,
and only 8% of the students strongly disagreed.
E. CONCLUSION
This research aimed to investigate the speaking anxiety faced by junior
high school students of grade 9 in SMP Santa Maria Sawangan year 2014 - 2015.
To examine the speaking anxiety experienced by the students, FLCAS
questionnaire developed by Horwits et. al. (1986) was used to measure the level
of speaking anxiety among the students. This questionnaire was widely used
across countries to measure the anxiety for foreign language learners. The result
of this study revealed that from a total 73 students, 10% of the students felt very
anxious, almost half of the students (41%) felt anxious, 32% of the students were
in mildly anxious level, 13% of the students felt relaxed and only 5 students (2%)
felt very relaxed. This finding proved that most students experienced speaking
anxiety.
Drawing on the descriptive data, the relatively high level of indicator of
30
students agreed or strongly agreed that they feel that they started to panic when
they had to speak without preparation in English class. This finding was also in
line with a study by Liu (2007) and Mak (2009) which showed speaking in
foreign language without preparation was the most provoking anxiety in class
activity.
In addition, this questionnaire also measured the perceived levels of some
psycho-physiological anxiety symptoms that occurred among students. As the
name suggest, these anxiety indicators consist of emotional and physical
indications such as trembling, heart pounding, nervousness, and confusion. Most
students (62%) agreed or strongly agreed that they experienced heart pounding
when speaking in English. 61% students agreed or strongly agreed that they
trembled when they were asked to be called to speak English. 46% of the students
agreed or strongly agreed that they felt nervous and confused when they were
speaking in English.
To reduce the anxiety faced by the students, teachers should understand
their students better and know what factors that may give rise to their anxiety. In
this context, since preparation appears to be the most provoking anxiety factor, the
teachers could give students enough time to them to prepare before performing
their speaking tasks. Some other strategies could be made by teacher such as
praising them to encourage students to have positive self perception towards their
English speaking ability, conducted a conducive competitive situation in class,
encourage them to participate actively in class discussion, and convince them to
31
The results of this descriptive study are expected to be useful to teachers to
understand more about foreign language speaking anxiety among their students.
The results could also make the students more aware of negative feeling when
learning a foreign language, especially in speaking, and understand some
indicators of anxiety in speaking that are experienced by the learners. Due to the
small number of respondents, the results of this study could not be generalized to
other similar studies. For further studies, some follow-up questions could be done
to the students to understand deeper about the factors that contribute to their
32
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, I would like to thank my Jesus Christ for His grace towards me. Without His guidance, I could not complete this thesis.
During this thesis writing, I have been encouraged and assisted by many people. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to all of the following people for their help. First to my mom and my dad for always understanding me in any condition of my study. My gratitude goes to Dr. Elisabet Titik Murtisari, M.TransStud who helped me from the beginning until the end of my thesis. I could not complete this thesis without your guidance. My next gratitudes goes to my examiner, Prof. DR. Gusti Astika, M.A for his help, correction, and also the useful suggestions. Also my advisor, Bu Suzana Maria for all of your solutions when I found difficulties during SIASAT.
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37 Appendix
1. FLCAS Questionnaire
Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui level dan faktor yang mempengaruhi tingkat kecemasan dalam berbicara Bahasa Inggris yang dialami oleh siswa SMP kelas 9. Angket ini terdiri dari 11 pertanyaan tentang pengalaman Anda saat mengikuti pelajaran Bahasa Inggris. Jawaban Anda tidak akan mempengaruhi nilai Anda dalam mata pelajaran Bahasa Inggris. Jika ada yang tidak jelas, dipersilahkan untuk bertanya. Terimakasih.
Berilah tanda centang (V) di kolom yang Anda rasa benar. No
Pernyataan
Sangat setuju
Setuju Ragu - Ragu Tidak setuju Sangat Tidak setuju 1 Saya merasa tidak percaya diri
ketika berbicara di kelas Bahasa Inggris
2 Saya takut jika guru menunjuk saya untuk berbicara dalam bahasa Inggris
3 Saya merasa panik jika guru saya menyuruh saya berbicara dalam Bahasa Inggris tanpa persiapan apapun sebelumnya
4 Walaupun saya tahu jawabannya, saya malu untuk menjawab pertanyaan yang diberikan guru di kelas Bahasa Inggris
5 Saya merasa percaya diri berbicara Bahasa Inggris saat pelajaran Bahasa Inggris
6 Saya merasa gugup saat guru Bahasa Inggris saya memanggil saya untuk maju berbicara ke
Data Demograf
Nama : ... Jenis kelamin : L / P
38 depan kelas
7 Saya selalu merasa murid - murid lain berbicara Bahasa Inggris lebih baik daripada saya
8 Saya merasa canggung berbicara Bahasa Inggris di depan murid – murid lain
9 Saya merasa gugup dan bingung ketika berbicara Bahasa Inggris saat pelajaran
10 Saya takut jika murid-murid yang lain menertawakan saya ketika saya berbicara Bahasa Inggris
Forum Kesediaan
Apakah Anda bersedia untuk diwawancara? YA / TIDAK Jika bersedia, mohon isi data dibawah ini:
No telepon : ... E-mail : ...
