Institutional Repository | Satya Wacana Christian University: Factors Contributing Students' Anxiety in Interpersonal Speaking Class

Factors Contributing Students’ Anxiety in Interpersonal Speaking Class
Nita Alviani Prastiwi
Satya Wacana Christian University, Indonesia

Abstract
This present study aims to investigate factors contributing students‟ anxiety in
Interpersonal Speaking Class. This study addresses the following questions: (a) What factors
contribute to students anxiety during Interpersonal Speaking class? (b) How do anxious
students cope with their anxiety? This study used a descriptive method that was taken from the
questionnaire and interview. The data came from 5 semi-structured interviews. As case study,
the participants consisted of 5 first year students enrolled in Interpersonal Speaking class
offered at English Department of Satya Wacana Christian University. The five students were
selected as the subject after they responded to a questionnaire. The questionnaire was taken
from foreign language classroom anxiety scale FLCAS, developed by Horwitz, Horwitz and
Cope (1986).
The study found two main findings. The first finding is factors contributing students‟
anxiety in Interpersonal Speaking class. The reason why students felt anxious was because their
individual presentation. The factors affecting their anxiety when they had individual
presentation were, afraid of making mistakes, lack of preparation, limited vocabulary,
grammatical errors, lack of self-confidence, friends and embarrassment. The second finding
was how anxious students cope with anxiety. Such as, made note, took a deep breath before

presentation, and inserted jokes in presentation. Pedagogical implications of the findings will
also be addressed at the end of the paper.
Key words: anxiety, Interpersonal Speaking Class

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