AN ANALYSIS OF SEVENTH-GRADE STUDENTSÂ’ ANXIETY IN ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASS AT SMP NEGERI 18 MALANG

i

AN ANALYSIS OF SEVENTH-

GRADE STUDENTS’ ANXIETY

IN ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASS AT SMP NEGERI 18

MALANG

THESIS

By:

MOHAMMAD RIDLO YUNANDA

(201210100311248)

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

2016

ii

AN ANALYSIS OF SEVENTH-

GRADE STUDENTS’

ANXIETY

IN ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASS AT SMP NEGERI 18

MALANG

THESIS

This thesis is submitted to meet one of the requirements to achieve Sarjana Degree in English Language Education

By:

MOHAMMAD RIDLO YUNANDA

(201210100311248)

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

2016

v

MOTTO AND DEDICATION

And Say: My lord, Increase me in knowledge –“Quran 20:114”

“Life throws challenges and every challenge comes with rainbows and lights to

conquer it.”

Ridlo

-This thesis is dedicated to: My beloved parents, Ayah and Ibu

My brother, my grandmother and my big family My beloved friends My great lecturers

vi

LETTER OF AUTHENTICITY

The undersigned below:

Name : Mohammad Ridlo Yunanda SIN : 201210100311248

Department : English Language Education Department Faculty : Faculty of Teacher Training and Education

Thesis Title : An Analysis of Seventh-Grade Students’ Anxiety in English Speaking Class at SMP Negeri 18 Malang

I hereby declare that in this thesis there is no any thesis or paper that have been proposed to receive a bachelor degree, and there is no ideas or notions written or published by another person, unless what has been written in this thesis and mentioned in the references.

Malang, 25th _{Oktober 2016}

vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Alhamdulillahirabbilalamin, in the name of Allah, The Most Gracious and The Most Merciful, The Lord of Universe. Because of Him, the writer could finish this graduating paper. Secondly, peace and salutation always be given to our prophet Muhammad SAW who has guided us from the darkness to the lightness.

Firstly, I present the best gratitude to Drs. Jarum, M.Ed as my first advisor for all his guidance, advice and support during conducting this thesis. He teaches me how to write a good thesis for completing my university study and reaching my bachelor degree. Then, I sincerely thank to Adityo, SS., MA as my second advisor who has helped me in finishing this thesis well. He guides me to correct it within his all sincere advice and suggestions that are very helpful to make this thesis better. For both of them, thank you for your best patience in guiding me very well.

Thanks also for Estu Mahanani S.Pd as the homeroom of 7 TB class of SMPN 18 Malang for her very valuable opportunity and time to collect the data in the class. A lot of thanks to my beloved friends Gilang, Linda, Malika, Nike, Indri, Uswatun, Ledy, Laila, Pandu, and Kharisma who always support me in finishing this thesis.

Finally, all the love and pray from my parents, brother and my grandmother are very important for me, so thank you so much. Hopefully, kindness always goes to us. Finally, thank you for everyone who has helped me. May Allah SWT reward all of us with His best.

Malang, October 25th, 2016

viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPROVAL ………….………..………. iii

MOTTO AND DEDICATION………... v

LETTER OF AUTHENTICITY……… vi

ABSTRACT………. vii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……….. viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS……… ix

LIST OF TABLES………... xi

LIST OF APPENDIXES………. xii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of Study……… 1

1.2 Statement of the Problem...……….………. 5

1.3 Purpose of the Study……….... 5

1.4 Significance of the Study...………... 5

1.5 Scope and Limitations……….. 6

1.6 Definition of Key Terms……… 6

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 Speaking………..….. 8

2.2 Learning Speaking……… 9

2.2.1 The Problem of Learning Speaking ……….. 10

2.3 Language Learning Anxiety………. 12

2.3.1 Language Anxiety………..……… 12

2.3.2 Types of Anxiety…………..………. 13

ix

2.3.4 Strategies to Reduce Anxiety in Language Learning…….…... 15 2.3.4.1 Teachers’ Strategies to Reduce Students’ Anxiety in

Language Learning ……….……….……….………. 15

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Design……… 19 3.2 Research Subjects………...… 20 3.3 Data Collection……….. 21 3.3.1 Observation ……….……….……….……….……….………. 21 3.3.2 Questionnaire ……….……….……….……….……….…….. 22 3.3.3 Interview ……….……….……….……….……….……….… 23 3.4 Data Analysis……… 24

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Research Findings………. 25 4.1.1 The Factors Which Caused Students’ Anxiety in English

Speaking Class……….……….……….……….……….. 25 4.1.2 Teachers’ Strategies to Reduce Students’ Anxiety in English

Speaking Class ……….……….……….……….……….…… 29 4.1.2.1 Creating Relaxed Atmosphere ……….……….…… 29 4.1.2.2 Making Group Work ……….……….……….….… 29 4.1.2.3 Varying Speaking Activities ……….……….……… 30 4.2 Discussions……… 30

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

5.1 Conclusions ……….……….……….……….……….……….……….… 35 5.2 Suggestions ……….……….……….……….……….……….……….… 36

REFERENCES………. 38 APPENDIXES……… 44

x

LIST OF TABLES

xi

LIST OF APPENDIXES

APPENDIX I: Observation Notes ………...… 44 APPENDIX II: Questionnaire Sheet………. 45 APPENDIX III: Interview Transcript ……….……….……….……….…..…. 48 APPENDIX IV: Documentations ………...…... 52 APPENDIX V: Letter of Research Permission ………...……. 55

xii

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Bahrani, Taher and Soltani, Rahmatollah. (2012). How to Teach Speaking Skill. Iran: Islamic Azad University.

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Chan D.Y. & Wu, G.C. (2004). A Study of Foreign Language Anxiety of EFL Elementary School Students in Taipei Country. Journal of National Taipei Teacher Collage, 17(2), 287-320.

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Chen, C-M., Lee, T-H. (2011). Emotion Recognition and Communication for Reducing Second-Language Speaking Anxiety in a Web-Based One-to-One Synchronous Learning Environment. British Journal of Educational Technology.

Chowdury, Sabrina. (2014). Learners’ Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety: A Tertiary Level Scenario in EFL Class. Bangladesh: BRAC University Clarke, Priscilla. (2009). Supporting Children Learning English as a Second

Language in the Early Years. Australia: Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority.

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Frankel, Fred and J.Wood, Jeffrey. (2011). Social Skills Success for Students with Autism/Asperger’s. San Fransisco: John Willey & Sons, Inc.

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Harmer, Jeremy. (2007). How to Teach English 2nd Edition. England: Pearson Education Limited.

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He, Summer X & Chen, Amanda J.Y. (2010). How to Improve Spoken English.

Available:http://sites.google.com/site/languagejournal/Home/how-to-improvespoken-English

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Horwitz, E.K., Horwitz, M.B. and Cope, J. (1986) Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70:2, 125-132.

Hosni, Al Samira. (2014). Speaking Difficulties Encountered by Young EFL Learners. Oman: International Journal on Studies in English Language andLiterature (IJSELL).

Itkoen, Totti. (2010). Spoken Language Proficiency Assessment. Helsinki: University of Helsinki Johnston,

Joni E. Johnston (2006). Controlling Anxiety: Keep Your Fears And Worries at Bay. USA: Alpha, A Member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Jones, J. F. (2004). “A Cultural Context for Language Anxiety”, EA (English Australia) Journal, Vol. 21 (2), pp. 30-39

Kavaliauskienė, G. (2006). Good Practice in teaching ESP presentations.

Liu, Meihua (2007). “Anxiety in Oral English Classrooms: A Case Study in China.” Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching.

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Margono. (2007). Metodologi Penelitian Pendidikan. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta.

Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. B. (2006). Designing Qualitative Research (4th edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

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Oda, Ala’ Hussain. (2011). The Effect of Anxiety on Learnin English as a Foreign Language. Basrah: University of Basrah.

Oxford, Rebecca L. (1999) "Anxiety and the Language Learner: New insights." Affect in Language Learning. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 58-67.

Pribadi, Eka Ayu Derisma. (2014). Language Anxiety in Learning Speaking Skill: A Descriptive Study on The English Department Students. Malang: University of Muhammadiyah Malang.

Riggenbach, H. 1998. Evaluating Learner Interactional Skills: Conversation at the Macro Level. In R. Young & A. Weiyun He (eds.): Talking and Testing: Discourse Approaches to the Assessment of Oral Proficiency. Studies in Bilingualism, vol. 14. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. 53-67. Rofiatulumah. (2014). A Descriptive Analysis of Students’ Anxiety on Presentation

Performance in Teaching-Learning Process. Salatiga: State Islamic Studies Institute (STAIN).

Ruffin, P. (2007). A Real Fear: It's More Than Stage Fright Math Anxiety can Derail Academic or Professional Success. But Some Scholars are Working to Help Students Get Over It.

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Schab, Lisa M. (2008). The Anxiety Workbook for Teens: Activities to Help You Deal with Anxiety & Worry. Canada: Instant Help Books, A Division of New Harbinger Publications Inc.

Siniscalco, M. T., & Auriat, N. (2005). Questionnaire design. Quantitative research methods in educational planning. Paris: International Institute for Educational Planning/UNESCO.

Shams, A. (2006). The Use of Computerized Pronounciation Practice in the Reduction of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. The Florida State University

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Tsiplakides, Lakovos. (2009). “Helping Students Overcome Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety in the English Classroom: Theoretical Issues and Practical Recommendations”. International Educational Studies.

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Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages”. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

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1

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter explains background of study, statement of problems, purpose of study, significance of study, scope and limitation, and definition of the key terms.

1.1 Background of Study

In learning a foreign language, students should know how to express their feeling through speaking. Thus, students can increase their ability to speak in front of their teachers and classmates to communicate with each other. However, some students in a class may experience a feeling of being nervous or worried when they are speaking in foreign language in front of the class. This situation can make them to get upset because they can’t solve this issue or cure their nervous feeling by themselves as they do not have the right knowledge about it. According to Horwitz (2001:113), “ Anxiety is the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous

system ”. The statements shows that anxiety is an unpleasant feeling of fear or worry that happens in the nervous system. In addition, Ellis (In Atef-Vahid and Kashani, 2009) states that in many cases, students’ feeling of stress, anxiety or nervousness may impede their language learning and performance. Thus, this phenomena is considered as a big challenge for students in learning foreign language especially English.

2

According to Chowdury (2014), language anxiety is a common phenomenon that most of the language learners have though the level of anxiety varies from person to person. Learners usually become anxious when they are not the native speaker of a particular language but are required to learn or use the language. Language anxiety may refer to an obstacle between teacher and student. Thus, teacher difficult to understand why their students are not active to speak in the classroom. It may end up with the teacher give the students a lower grade in speaking than the other students. Besides, learning a second language is a bigger challenge for students that mostly they already speak in their mother tounge. Moreover, Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (in Vranketta, 2013) stated that a number of students believe nothing should be said in the foreign language until it can be said correctly and that is not okay to guess an uknown foreign language word. Nonetheless, they claim that they feel less anxious when the teacher does a drilling activity or when they learn a speech by heart to deliver it, in contrast to when it comes to an unexpected role-play exercise where they are asked to create sentences at the time of speaking.

Chen and Lee (in Camoglu, 2013) stated that anxiety a disturbing combination of emotion including fear, worry and difficulty and is usually

followed by physical reactions “such as high blood pressure, increased heart rate

and other body signals”(p.419). Therefore, Anxiety is related to self-focused, negative and anxious cognition during interaction. Highly anxious students often have relatively negative self-concepts, underestimating the quality of their speaking ability when compared with others (JALT Hokkaido Journal, 2004).

3

Based on the above definitions, the writer wants to convey the idea that students may have anxiety reaction which interfere their ability to perform successfully in a class. As what Horwitz (in Rofiatulumah, 2014) says, many people often said that speaking is an anxious activity especially when students should speak in front of the class and speaking is the most anxiety-provoking language skill in foreign language in learning situation.

Besides understanding the meaning of anxiety, a description between anxious language learners and non anxious learners is needed. MacIntyre and Gardner (in Souad, 2010) characterized an anxious student as “an individual who percieves the second language as an uncomfortable experience, who withdraws from voluntary participation, who feels social pressures not to make mistakes, and

who is less willing to try uncertain or novel linguistic forms”. On the other hand, a

non anxious student is usually a person who feels relaxed amd comfortable on the language learning class.

Furthermore, that occurence is also supported by two previous researchers. Rofiatulumah (2014), from State Islamic Studies Institue Salatiga, studied the factors that influence student’s anxiety on presentation in teaching-learning process. The finding showed that students experience anxiety by some factors, such as afraid of making mistake, unconfident, and difficulties to speak in English. There are also some students who feel anxious when presenting a paper that caused by personal and interpersonal anxiety, commonly they feel unconfident to speak in front of other and they feel afraid when they unprepared

4

the material well which is used in presentation. And there is one student who feel anxious when meet the teacher that give criticism.

Another study from Pribadi (2014), from University of Muhammadiyah Malang, studied the language anxiety in learning speaking skill: a descriptive study on the English department students. The finding showed that students experience different kind of anxiety such as trait anxiety, test anxiety and situation-specific anxiety. Moreover, the students that face trait anxiety were caused by fear of negative response and lack of communication skill, another type such as state anxiety was caused by test anxiety and situation-specific anxiety was caused by fear of negative response. From the study, she found that students under investigation experience language anxiety.

Furthermore, the researcher realizes that language anxiety is one of the important factors which make students difficult in learning speaking especially in English. Thus, in a classroom, there are a lot of different individuals. A teacher surely hopes that the majority of them are outgoing and talkative since those are the characteristics of a good language learner. Thus, teachers should find ways to support students with this problem in their teaching and learning process such as giving a positive comments to the students and create a warm environment that students can enjoy the learning activity in the classroom to make them brave enough to speak in front of the class.

In this study, the writer chooses the seventh-grade students because this is the time when they are having a transition from Elementary School to Junior High

5

School which trigger them to speak in English more often. In this case, students should be brave enough to speak up in front of the classroom using English.

Furthermore, the writer will collect the data from the seventh-grade students at SMP Negeri 18 Malang to investigate the causes of anxiety especially in English speaking class and strategies used by the English teacher to overcome students’ anxiety in English speaking class.

1.2 Statement of The Probem

Related to the background of study above, the problems of the study are formulated as follows:

1. What are the causes of student’s anxiety in English speaking class at SMP Negeri 18 Malang?

2. What strategies are used by English teacher to overcome students anxiety in English speaking class at SMP Negeri 18 Malang?

1.3 Purpose of The Study

The purposes of this study are to find out the causes of anxiety of seventh-grade students at SMP Negeri 18 Malang and to figure out what strategies are used by english teacher to reduce the seventh-grades students’ anxiety at SMP Negeri 18 Malang in English speaking class.

1.4 Significance of The Study

The result of this study is expected to be used by English teachers to make them realize that there are so many reasons causing foreign language anxiety

6

especially in English class. Teachers must be aware and try to decrease students anxiety by knowing the cause of it so that their students will learn English without fears and stress anymore. Furthermore, the students are also expected to know this study because they can learn about their own anxiety. Thus, they can increase their excitement of learning foreign language to develop their speaking skills. Moreover, this study is really useful for researchers because they can develop their knowledge about anxiety and they will get more information about the causes of anxiety in English speaking class and what strategies used by English teacher to overcome students’ anxiety.

1.5 Scope and Limitation

Based on the statement of the problems above, this study is related to the

students’ anxiety in learning English speaking. This study is limited on the causes

which influence language anxiety and how the teacher overcome students’ anxiety experienced by the seventh-grade students at SMP Negeri 18 Malang.

1.6. Definition of The Key Terms

There are some terms that will be used in this study. To clarify the meaning of those terms, this research includes the clarification of those terms as following:

a) Anxiety is the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system (Horwitz, 2001). In this study, anxiety especially in learning speaking in

7

foreign language means a feeling that felt by students that make him/her nervous or worry when speak in front of the class.

b) Learning is a reflective activity which enables the learner to draw upon previous experience to understand and evaluate the present, so as to shape future action and formulate new knowledge (Watkins et al, 2002). In this study, learning is improving students knowledge and ability in speaking English.

c) Speaking is a productive skill, whose objective is to facilitate

communication, Kavaliauskienė (2006). Similarly, Fulcher, (in Itkonen,

2010) states that speaking is: “…the verbal use of the language to communicate with others”. Speaking not only means interacting with

people about different subjects in different places, speaking is also the resource through which people can reflect on their identity and their culture. In this study, speaking is an important skill to communicate with other people and it is used as media to show ideas, opinions, thoughts and feeling to other.

2

According to Chowdury (2014), language anxiety is a common phenomenon that most of the language learners have though the level of anxiety varies from person to person. Learners usually become anxious when they are not the native speaker of a particular language but are required to learn or use the language. Language anxiety may refer to an obstacle between teacher and student. Thus, teacher difficult to understand why their students are not active to speak in the classroom. It may end up with the teacher give the students a lower grade in speaking than the other students. Besides, learning a second language is a bigger challenge for students that mostly they already speak in their mother tounge. Moreover, Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (in Vranketta, 2013) stated that a number of students believe nothing should be said in the foreign language until it can be said correctly and that is not okay to guess an uknown foreign language word. Nonetheless, they claim that they feel less anxious when the teacher does a drilling activity or when they learn a speech by heart to deliver it, in contrast to when it comes to an unexpected role-play exercise where they are asked to create sentences at the time of speaking.

Chen and Lee (in Camoglu, 2013) stated that anxiety a disturbing combination of emotion including fear, worry and difficulty and is usually followed by physical reactions “such as high blood pressure, increased heart rate and other body signals”(p.419). Therefore, Anxiety is related to self-focused, negative and anxious cognition during interaction. Highly anxious students often have relatively negative self-concepts, underestimating the quality of their speaking ability when compared with others (JALT Hokkaido Journal, 2004).

3

Based on the above definitions, the writer wants to convey the idea that students may have anxiety reaction which interfere their ability to perform successfully in a class. As what Horwitz (in Rofiatulumah, 2014) says, many people often said that speaking is an anxious activity especially when students should speak in front of the class and speaking is the most anxiety-provoking language skill in foreign language in learning situation.

Besides understanding the meaning of anxiety, a description between anxious language learners and non anxious learners is needed. MacIntyre and Gardner (in Souad, 2010) characterized an anxious student as “an individual who percieves the second language as an uncomfortable experience, who withdraws from voluntary participation, who feels social pressures not to make mistakes, and who is less willing to try uncertain or novel linguistic forms”. On the other hand, a non anxious student is usually a person who feels relaxed amd comfortable on the language learning class.

Furthermore, that occurence is also supported by two previous researchers. Rofiatulumah (2014), from State Islamic Studies Institue Salatiga, studied the factors that influence student’s anxiety on presentation in teaching-learning process. The finding showed that students experience anxiety by some factors, such as afraid of making mistake, unconfident, and difficulties to speak in English. There are also some students who feel anxious when presenting a paper that caused by personal and interpersonal anxiety, commonly they feel unconfident to speak in front of other and they feel afraid when they unprepared

4

the material well which is used in presentation. And there is one student who feel anxious when meet the teacher that give criticism.

Another study from Pribadi (2014), from University of Muhammadiyah Malang, studied the language anxiety in learning speaking skill: a descriptive study on the English department students. The finding showed that students experience different kind of anxiety such as trait anxiety, test anxiety and situation-specific anxiety. Moreover, the students that face trait anxiety were caused by fear of negative response and lack of communication skill, another type such as state anxiety was caused by test anxiety and situation-specific anxiety was caused by fear of negative response. From the study, she found that students under investigation experience language anxiety.

Furthermore, the researcher realizes that language anxiety is one of the important factors which make students difficult in learning speaking especially in English. Thus, in a classroom, there are a lot of different individuals. A teacher surely hopes that the majority of them are outgoing and talkative since those are the characteristics of a good language learner. Thus, teachers should find ways to support students with this problem in their teaching and learning process such as giving a positive comments to the students and create a warm environment that students can enjoy the learning activity in the classroom to make them brave enough to speak in front of the class.

In this study, the writer chooses the seventh-grade students because this is the time when they are having a transition from Elementary School to Junior High

5

School which trigger them to speak in English more often. In this case, students should be brave enough to speak up in front of the classroom using English.

Furthermore, the writer will collect the data from the seventh-grade students at SMP Negeri 18 Malang to investigate the causes of anxiety especially in English speaking class and strategies used by the English teacher to overcome students’ anxiety in English speaking class.

1.2 Statement of The Probem

Related to the background of study above, the problems of the study are formulated as follows:

1. What are the causes of student’s anxiety in English speaking class at SMP Negeri 18 Malang?

2. What strategies are used by English teacher to overcome students anxiety in English speaking class at SMP Negeri 18 Malang?

1.3 Purpose of The Study

The purposes of this study are to find out the causes of anxiety of seventh-grade students at SMP Negeri 18 Malang and to figure out what strategies are used by english teacher to reduce the seventh-grades students’ anxiety at SMP Negeri 18 Malang in English speaking class.

1.4 Significance of The Study

The result of this study is expected to be used by English teachers to make them realize that there are so many reasons causing foreign language anxiety

6

especially in English class. Teachers must be aware and try to decrease students anxiety by knowing the cause of it so that their students will learn English without fears and stress anymore. Furthermore, the students are also expected to know this study because they can learn about their own anxiety. Thus, they can increase their excitement of learning foreign language to develop their speaking skills. Moreover, this study is really useful for researchers because they can develop their knowledge about anxiety and they will get more information about the causes of anxiety in English speaking class and what strategies used by English teacher to overcome students’ anxiety.

1.5 Scope and Limitation

Based on the statement of the problems above, this study is related to the students’ anxiety in learning English speaking. This study is limited on the causes which influence language anxiety and how the teacher overcome students’ anxiety experienced by the seventh-grade students at SMP Negeri 18 Malang.

1.6. Definition of The Key Terms

There are some terms that will be used in this study. To clarify the meaning of those terms, this research includes the clarification of those terms as following:

a) Anxiety is the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system (Horwitz, 2001). In this study, anxiety especially in learning speaking in

7

foreign language means a feeling that felt by students that make him/her nervous or worry when speak in front of the class.

b) Learning is a reflective activity which enables the learner to draw upon previous experience to understand and evaluate the present, so as to shape future action and formulate new knowledge (Watkins et al, 2002). In this study, learning is improving students knowledge and ability in speaking English.

c) Speaking is a productive skill, whose objective is to facilitate communication, Kavaliauskienė (2006). Similarly, Fulcher, (in Itkonen, 2010) states that speaking is: “…the verbal use of the language to communicate with others”. Speaking not only means interacting with people about different subjects in different places, speaking is also the resource through which people can reflect on their identity and their culture. In this study, speaking is an important skill to communicate with other people and it is used as media to show ideas, opinions, thoughts and feeling to other.