A STUDY OF LANGUAGE ANXIETY ON THE 1st- YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT IN UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

A STUDY OF LANGUAGE ANXIETY ON THE 1

st

YEAR

STUDENTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT IN UNIVERSITY OF

MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

THESIS

By:

ENCE ADINDA DIANASTA ALMAS

201210100311124

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

2016

A STUDY OF LANGUAGE ANXIETY ON THE 1

st

YEAR

STUDENTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT IN UNIVERSITY OF

MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

This thesis is submitted to meet one of the requirements to achieve

Sarjana Degree in English Language Education

By:

ENCE ADINDA DIANASTA ALMAS

201210100311124

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

2016

This thesis is written by Ence Adinda Dianasta Almas and was approved on August 09, 2016

This thesis was defended in front of the examiners of the Faculty of Teacher Trainning and Education of University of Muhammadiyah Malang and accepted

as one of the requirements to achieve Sarjana Degree in English Language Educationon August 09, 2016

Approved by

Faculty of Teacher Training and Education

University of Muhammadiyah Malang

Examiners:

1. Dr. Sri Hartiningsih, M.M 2. Drs. Jarum, M.Ed

3. Rahmawati Khadijah Maro, S.Pd., M.PEd 4. Santi Prastiyowati, S.Pd., M.Pd

Mottos

“Doubts kill more dreams than failure ever will”

“One’s value does not decrease based on other’s inability to see one’s worth”

DEDICATIONS

To my mum and dad, and my beloved brother who always believe the path that I choose.

Statement of Work’s Originality

The undersigned:

Name : Ence Adinda Dianasta Almas NIM : 201210100311124

Depatment : English Language Education

Faculty : Faculty of Teacher Training and Education

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 idea or notion written or published by another person, unless what has been written in this thesis and mentioned in the references.

E

Mottos

“Doubts kill more dreams than failure ever will”

“One’s value does not decrease based on other’s inability to see one’s worth”

DEDICATIONS

To my mum and dad, and my beloved brother who always believe the path that I choose.

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my deepest gratitude and thanks to my first advisor, Rahmawati Khadijah Maro, S.Pd., M.PEd. and my second advisor, Teguh Hadi Saputro, S.Pd., M.A. for the supports, advices, patience and great guidance throughout the time I was researching and writing this thesis. I am also thankful to all lecturers at English Language Education Department who help me during the study.

Foremost, I wish to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my mum, Meinita Wulandari and my dad, Ence Hasbi for the encouragement, motivation, affection and best wishes as sources of my inspiration to finish this study successfully.

I would like to give my special thanks to my brother, my second favourite guy, Ence Aditya for always by my side and support me through the ups and downs. I’m truly indebted to my sisters Mahsa Livia, Hesti Kartika, Hanan Amirah, Annisa Maharani, Istia Purwandari for the supports, advices, loves, and laughs during these 4 years.

I am extremely thankful to all the participants who provided me rich and detailed data for the study.

Finally, I also thank for those whom I cannot mention one by one for the support and prayer in accomplishing this thesis.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPROVAL... i

MOTTO AND DEDICATION ... iii

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ... iv

ABSTRACT ... v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS………...……….………vii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1.Background of the Study ... 1

1.2.Statement of the Problems ... 5

1.3.Purposes of the Study ... 5

1.4.Significance of the Study ... 6

1.5.Scope and Limitation ... 6

1.6.Definition of The Key Terms ... 7

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1.Psycholinguistics ... 8

2.2.Second Language Acquisition (SLA) ... 10

2.3.Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) ... 12

2.3.1.The Effects of FLA ... 17

2.3.2.The Factors Triggering and Lessening Students’ FLA ... 21

2.3.3.Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) ... 26

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1.Research Design ... 29

3.2.Research Subject ... 30

3.3.Research Instrument ... 32

3.3.1.Questionnaire ... 32

3.3.1.Interview Guide ... 33

3.4.Data Collection... 34

3.5.Data Analysis ... 35

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1.Findings ... 39

4.1.1.The Language Anxiety Level of the 1st _{Year Students ... 39}

4.1.2.The Factors Triggering Students’ FLA ... 44

4.1.2.1.Personal and Interpersonal Anxieties ... 47

4.1.2.3.Teachers’ Beliefs about Language Teaching ... 49

4.1.2.4.Teacher-Learner Interaction ... 49

4.1.2.5.Classroom Tasks ... 50

4.1.2.6.Language Testing ... 51

4.1.3.The Factors Lessening Students’ FLA ... 51

4.1.3.1.Personal and Interpersonal Anxieties ... 52

4.1.3.2.Students’ Beliefs about Language Learning ... 52

4.1.3.3.Teachers’ Beliefs about Language Teaching ... 53

4.1.3.4.Teacher-Learner Interaction ... 54

4.1.3.5.Classroom Tasks ... 55

4.1.3.6.Language Testing ... 56

4.2.Disscussion ... 56

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 5.1.Conclusion... 60

5.2.Suggestions ... 62

REFERENCES APPENDICES

Appendix I FLCAS (Questionnaire sheets) Appendix II Interview Guide

Appendix III Interview Results Appendix IV Interview Summary

REFERENCES

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Andrade, M., & Williams, K. (2009). Foreign language learning anxiety in japanese EFL university classes: Physical, emotional, expressive, and verbal reactions . Sophia Junior College Faculty Journal, 29, 1-24.

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Social Science and Humanities Research, 2 (2), 18-31.

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Earlbaum Associates.

Gkonou, C. (2014). The sociolinguistics parameters of L2 speaking anxiety. In Pawlak, Bielak, Mystkowska, Wiertelak (Eds.), Classroom - oriented research: achievements and challenges (pp. 15-32). Heidelberg: Springer International Publishing.

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Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70 (2), 125-132.

Kayaoglu, M. N., & Saglamel, H. (2013). Students’ perceptions of language anxiety in speaking classes. Journal of History Culture and Art Research, 2 (2), 142-160.

Kebłowska, M. (2012). The place of affect in second language acquisition. In M. Pawlak, New perspectives on individual differences in language learning

and teaching (pp. 157-168). New York: Springer.

Kondo, D. S., & Ying-Ling, Y. (2004). Strategies for coping with language anxiety: the case of students of english in Japan. ELT Journal, 58 (3), 258-265.

Larsen, D., Freeman, & H. Long, M. (2014). An introduction to second language

acquisition research. New York: Routledge.

Legac, V. (2007). Foreign language anxiety and listening skill in Croation monolingual and bilingual students of EFL. In J. Horvath, & M. Nikolov,

Empirical studies in English applied linguistics. Pecs: Lingua Franca

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Reporter, 39 (1), 13-32.

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Conference on Applied Linguistics. Bandung: Language Center of UPI.

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Cambridge University Press.

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1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the writer presents background of the study, statement of the problems, purposes of the study, significance of the study, scope and limitation, and the definition of the key terms. All of them are explained as follows.

1.1 Background of the study

Learning English as a foreign language has become indispensable yet challenging task for most students. Current foreign language classroom settings which aim to prepare the ground for a real-world interaction with second language (L2) speakers and directly engage students in spontaneous communication in the L2 become a stressful task for most learners (Horwitz, 2000). Many students were reported to experience anxiety, frights, worries, shyness, and remain in silence during their foreign language class. SLA researchers recognize these affective variables as an influential factor to the foreign language learning which can impede students’ ability and academic achievement. Studies in this field are considered important in language learning, therefore it draws more SLA researcher’s attention to the continuing investigation (see e.g.; Ortega, 2009; Kondo and Ying-Ling, 2004; Aida, 1994). A higher propensity to have avoidance behavior to foreign language class is identified within anxious students. It is relevant to Gardner and Lambert (as cited in Gknou, 2014) who assert that some people may become a good learner, highly motivated, and have almost no

2

difficulties in learning a new language while others claim to find it almost impossible.

Anxiety is a negative effect that relates to fear that happens in any situation (Batiha, Noor, and Mustaffa, 2014); or the feeling of being pressured, afraid, nervous and worried associated with the arousal of nervous system (Spielberger as cited in Mahmoodzadeh, 2012). Anxiety happens mostly to those who lack of self-esteem, for example someone who is about to give speech in a community can be blank in a sudden, sweating, worried and even dreadful because he/she is worried about what people think about him/her. The types of anxiety are divided into; trait anxiety which refers to one’s continual tendency to be anxious in all kinds of situation, state anxiety is an anxiety that happened in a specific moment without much concern about how much anxious experiences occurred in a time, and situation-specific anxiety is a similar behavior pattern to be anxious in one single moment that occurs continuously (MacIntyre, 2007; Zhang, 2013). Foreign language anxiety (FLA) is then considered as a component of situation-specific anxiety (Zhang, 2013; MacIntyre, 2007; Batiha, Noor, and Mustaffa, 2014).

MacIntyre (as cited in Kondo and Yang Ling-Ling 2004) defines FLA as a situation-specific personality trait that creates negative self-related cognition; the fear that happens to students while performing the language which they are not proficient with (Zhang and Zhong, 2012). In short, FLA is uneasy feelings of tension, apprehension and fear that students encountered when they are in a foreign language class. Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) also try to draw the

3

domain of FLA as follows; communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation, test anxiety.

Based on Linh (2011), speaking is the most anxiety-provoking skill for learners. This is also relevant to the writer’s experience while taking speaking class in the first semester. The writer confessed that she often made unrealistic belief of foreign language class that caused her to experience FLA, such as if teacher asks a question, students should answer it without making any mistakes otherwise your teacher and other students will notice your incapability of using L2. Therefore, students tend to feel more “safe” to have prepared presentation rather than to speak up spontaneously in front of their classmates and teacher who might be ready to watch every mistake that they may produce afterward. It implies that, the students are afraid of small things that will make them look “dumb” for instance; because of pronouncing word incorrectly. The students will start to think that they are not doing a good job on their speaking class and try to make themselves work harder. When the result does not match with the effort, will make the students get into deeper frustration with their foreign language class.

Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) state that anxiety happens because the unique situation of foreign language classroom. On the other hand, Sparks, Ganschow and Javorsky (2000) argue that anxiety is a consequence of cognitive disability rather than a result of foreign language classroom situation. In contrast Horwitz (2000) posits, even successful and highly motivated students also experienced FLA. In essence, if anxiety only happens to those who lack of competency, why then students that recorded to have a good academic

4

qualification still experience FLA? Regardless of the debates, the detrimental effect of FLA toward students’ performance cannot be denied.

A previous study done by Tanveer (2007) finds out that students blame a strict classroom environment as a significant cause of anxiety. Pribadi (2014) also reveals that 1st-year students of English Language Education Department in University of Muhammadiyah Malang experience trait anxiety and state anxiety. Most of them are reported to have an anxiety caused by lack of communication skill and fear of negative evaluation. It justifies the writer’s assumption that the first year students have a predisposition to be highly anxious in their class compared to other levels of university.

With regard to the issues above, the intricacy and controversy of FLA have been and will be the main concern of other SLA researchers. The writer also considers by doing a study in this field will be beneficial not only for future EFL students but also for researcher herself as a future English teacher to help her students to cope with FLA. Thus, the background study above is sufficient to justify why research on FLA is required. The writer is interested to take the problems to be analyzed under the tittle of “A Study of Language Anxiety on the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department in University of Muhammadiyah Malang”

1.2 Statement of the problems

Based on the background of the study above, the problems are formulated as follows:

1. How is the language anxiety level of the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department in University of Muhammadiyah Malang?

5

2. What are the factors triggering language anxiety among the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department in University of Muhammadiyah Malang?

3. What are the factors lessening language anxiety among the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department in University of Muhammadiyah Malang?

1.3 Purposes of the study

Based on the background of the study above, purposes of the study are formulated as follows:

1. To investigate language anxiety level of the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department.

2. To explore the perception of the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department about factors that trigger language anxiety.

3. To explore the perception of the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department about factors that lessen language anxiety.

1.4 The significance of the study

In a theoretical viewpoint, this study is intended to psycholinguistics study to justify that FLA as one of the affective variables in language learning correlates with the 1st year students’ psychology while acquiring L2. Secondly, this study is intended for second language acquisition (SLA) study to justify that foreign

6

language anxiety (FLA) hinder the1st year students’ ability in acquiring the second or foreign language.

In terms of practical application, this study is intended to both teachers and lecturers in general, and specifically to all English lecturers of University of Muhammadiyah Malang by providing information concerning with anxiety level of the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department in University of Muhammadiyah Malang and informing what possible factors that are triggering and reducing anxiety so teachers will be able to help their students cope with anxiety, allowing the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department in University of Muhammadiyah Malang and other students who learn a foreign language using this research findings to deal with their anxiety and enabling other SLA researchers to use the findings as a reference in conducting similar or further research.

1.5 Scope and limitation

The scope of this research is confined on foreign language anxiety issues in speaking classes. The writer limits the study to the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department in University of Muhammadiyah Malang since the 1st-year students are likely to experience FLA based on a previous study (Pribadi, 2014) in University of Muhammadiyah Malang.

7 1.6 Definition of the key terms

Avoiding misunderstanding of the key terms used in this study, it is necessary for the writer to define them as follows:

1. Second language acquisition (SLA) is a field of study which focuses on understanding the processes of learning another language after the L1 has been acquired, regardless of the fact that it is a second, third or fourth language (Gass and Selinker, 2008).

2. Foreign language anxiety (FLA) is a form of complex affective variables such as self-perception, beliefs, feelings and behavior that create negative cognition about one self competence and occurs merely in foreign language learning situation (Ortega, 2009; Gardner and MacIntyre, 1994; Kondo and Ying-Ling, 2004; Aida, 1994, Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope 1986).

3. First language (L1) refers to a language that a child learns from parents. Second language (L2) refers to additional languages that are being learned after the L1 (Ortega, 2008).

4. Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) is an instrument to measure foreign language anxiety consists of 33 items reflected 3 domains of foreign language anxiety (communication apprehension, test anxiety & fear of negative evaluation) (Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope, 1986; Sampurna, 2015).

difficulties in learning a new language while others claim to find it almost impossible.

Anxiety is a negative effect that relates to fear that happens in any situation (Batiha, Noor, and Mustaffa, 2014); or the feeling of being pressured, afraid, nervous and worried associated with the arousal of nervous system (Spielberger as cited in Mahmoodzadeh, 2012). Anxiety happens mostly to those who lack of self-esteem, for example someone who is about to give speech in a community can be blank in a sudden, sweating, worried and even dreadful because he/she is worried about what people think about him/her. The types of anxiety are divided into; trait anxiety which refers to one’s continual tendency to be anxious in all kinds of situation, state anxiety is an anxiety that happened in a specific moment without much concern about how much anxious experiences occurred in a time, and situation-specific anxiety is a similar behavior pattern to be anxious in one single moment that occurs continuously (MacIntyre, 2007; Zhang, 2013). Foreign language anxiety (FLA) is then considered as a component of situation-specific anxiety (Zhang, 2013; MacIntyre, 2007; Batiha, Noor, and Mustaffa, 2014).

MacIntyre (as cited in Kondo and Yang Ling-Ling 2004) defines FLA as a situation-specific personality trait that creates negative self-related cognition; the fear that happens to students while performing the language which they are not proficient with (Zhang and Zhong, 2012). In short, FLA is uneasy feelings of tension, apprehension and fear that students encountered when they are in a foreign language class. Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) also try to draw the

domain of FLA as follows; communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation, test anxiety.

Based on Linh (2011), speaking is the most anxiety-provoking skill for learners. This is also relevant to the writer’s experience while taking speaking class in the first semester. The writer confessed that she often made unrealistic belief of foreign language class that caused her to experience FLA, such as if teacher asks a question, students should answer it without making any mistakes otherwise your teacher and other students will notice your incapability of using L2. Therefore, students tend to feel more “safe” to have prepared presentation rather than to speak up spontaneously in front of their classmates and teacher who might be ready to watch every mistake that they may produce afterward. It implies that, the students are afraid of small things that will make them look “dumb” for instance; because of pronouncing word incorrectly. The students will start to think that they are not doing a good job on their speaking class and try to make themselves work harder. When the result does not match with the effort, will make the students get into deeper frustration with their foreign language class.

Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) state that anxiety happens because the unique situation of foreign language classroom. On the other hand, Sparks, Ganschow and Javorsky (2000) argue that anxiety is a consequence of cognitive disability rather than a result of foreign language classroom situation. In contrast Horwitz (2000) posits, even successful and highly motivated students also experienced FLA. In essence, if anxiety only happens to those who lack of competency, why then students that recorded to have a good academic

qualification still experience FLA? Regardless of the debates, the detrimental effect of FLA toward students’ performance cannot be denied.

A previous study done by Tanveer (2007) finds out that students blame a strict classroom environment as a significant cause of anxiety. Pribadi (2014) also reveals that 1st-year students of English Language Education Department in University of Muhammadiyah Malang experience trait anxiety and state anxiety. Most of them are reported to have an anxiety caused by lack of communication skill and fear of negative evaluation. It justifies the writer’s assumption that the first year students have a predisposition to be highly anxious in their class compared to other levels of university.

With regard to the issues above, the intricacy and controversy of FLA have been and will be the main concern of other SLA researchers. The writer also considers by doing a study in this field will be beneficial not only for future EFL students but also for researcher herself as a future English teacher to help her students to cope with FLA. Thus, the background study above is sufficient to justify why research on FLA is required. The writer is interested to take the problems to be analyzed under the tittle of “A Study of Language Anxiety on the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department in University of Muhammadiyah Malang”

1.2 Statement of the problems

Based on the background of the study above, the problems are formulated as follows:

2. What are the factors triggering language anxiety among the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department in University of Muhammadiyah Malang?

3. What are the factors lessening language anxiety among the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department in University of Muhammadiyah Malang?

1.3 Purposes of the study

Based on the background of the study above, purposes of the study are formulated as follows:

1. To investigate language anxiety level of the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department.

2. To explore the perception of the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department about factors that trigger language anxiety.

3. To explore the perception of the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department about factors that lessen language anxiety.

1.4 The significance of the study

In a theoretical viewpoint, this study is intended to psycholinguistics study to justify that FLA as one of the affective variables in language learning correlates with the 1st year students’ psychology while acquiring L2. Secondly, this study is intended for second language acquisition (SLA) study to justify that foreign

language anxiety (FLA) hinder the1st year students’ ability in acquiring the second or foreign language.

In terms of practical application, this study is intended to both teachers and lecturers in general, and specifically to all English lecturers of University of Muhammadiyah Malang by providing information concerning with anxiety level of the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department in University of Muhammadiyah Malang and informing what possible factors that are triggering and reducing anxiety so teachers will be able to help their students cope with anxiety, allowing the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department in University of Muhammadiyah Malang and other students who learn a foreign language using this research findings to deal with their anxiety and enabling other SLA researchers to use the findings as a reference in conducting similar or further research.

1.5 Scope and limitation

The scope of this research is confined on foreign language anxiety issues in speaking classes. The writer limits the study to the 1st-year students of English Language Education Department in University of Muhammadiyah Malang since the 1st-year students are likely to experience FLA based on a previous study (Pribadi, 2014) in University of Muhammadiyah Malang.

1.6 Definition of the key terms

Avoiding misunderstanding of the key terms used in this study, it is necessary for the writer to define them as follows:

1. Second language acquisition (SLA) is a field of study which focuses on understanding the processes of learning another language after the L1 has been acquired, regardless of the fact that it is a second, third or fourth language (Gass and Selinker, 2008).

2. Foreign language anxiety (FLA) is a form of complex affective variables such as self-perception, beliefs, feelings and behavior that create negative cognition about one self competence and occurs merely in foreign language learning situation (Ortega, 2009; Gardner and MacIntyre, 1994; Kondo and Ying-Ling, 2004; Aida, 1994, Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope 1986).

3. First language (L1) refers to a language that a child learns from parents. Second language (L2) refers to additional languages that are being learned after the L1 (Ortega, 2008).

4. Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) is an instrument to measure foreign language anxiety consists of 33 items reflected 3 domains of foreign language anxiety (communication apprehension, test anxiety & fear of negative evaluation) (Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope, 1986; Sampurna, 2015).