AN ANALYSIS OF THE ANXIETY OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS LEARNING ENGLISH: A CASE OF THERESIANA STUDENTS A THESIS

  

AN ANALYSIS OF THE ANXIETY OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

STUDENTS LEARNING ENGLISH: A CASE OF THERESIANA

STUDENTS

A THESIS

by:

Maria Kurniawati

  

Student Number : 10.80.0009

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SOEGIJAPRANATA CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY

SEMARANG

  

2014

  

AN ANALYSIS OF THE ANXIETY OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

STUDENTS LEARNING ENGLISH: A CASE OF THERESIANA

STUDENTS

  

A Thesis Presented as a Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements

to Obtain the Sarjana Sastra Degree from the English Department

by:

Maria Kurniawati

  

Student Number : 10.80.0009

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SOEGIJAPRANATA CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY

SEMARANG

  

2014

  

A THESIS ON

AN ANALYSIS OF THE ANXIETY OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

STUDENTS LEARNING ENGLISH: A CASE OF THERESIANA

STUDENTS

by

Maria Kurniawati

  

Student Number :10.80.0009

Approved by,

Antonius Suratno, Ph.D February 6 ,2014

Major Sponsor

Dra. Cecilia Titiek Murniati, M.A., Ph.D February 6 , 2014

Co-Sponsor

  A thesis defended in front of the Board of Examiners on 13 February, 2014 and declared acceptable BOARD OF EXAMINERS Chairperson : Antonius Suratno, Ph.D Secretary : Dra. Cecilia Titiek Murniati, M.A., Ph.D Member : Emilia Ninik Aydawati, SP., M.Hum Semarang, Feb 13 , 2014 Faculty of Letters Soegijapranata Catholic University

Dean,

Angelika Riyandari, P. hD

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I would like to express my deepest appreciation to all those who have provided me the possibility to complete this thesis.

  First and foremost, I would like to thank Jesus Christ for His grace for me. He has blessed me with His abundant love so that I could finish my thesis. Now, it is the time for me to give Him my talent and ability.

  I want to thank those most dear to me, my family, my mother, my father and my aunt who encourage and support me both mentally and financially.

  Special gratitude I give to my sponsors, Mr Antonius Suratno, Ph.D, and Dra. Cecilia Titiek Murniati,M.A.,Ph.D, for their value support, guidance, and feedback on this research as well as for encouraging me through this process. Both of you have taught me, in and out of class, valuable lessons that have and will continue enrich my life. Thank you for spending your valuable time giving me important suggestions for the betterment of my thesis.

  To all the lectures in Faculty of Letters: Mrs Heny, Mr Budi, Mrs Ninik, Mrs Wur, Mr Retang, Mr Adhy, Mrs Eka and Mrs Ike. Thank you for always willing to answer and respond to my questions and concerns.

  To my colleagues and my friends: Maya, Siska, Novi, Vero, Ellen, Eunike, Cik Elvira, Cik Natalie, Cik Tia, Cik Ine, Cik Thatha, Cik Yesi, Cik Ariska, Cik

  Anastasia and Cik Vina for their friendship. Thank you for your support during the difficult time.

  “Thank you” cannot adequate the gratitude I have for all you have been in my life. May God bless them abundantly.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  PAGES OF TITLE .................................................................................. i PAGES OF APPROVAL ........................................................................ ii BOARD OF EXAMINERS ................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................ vi LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................. ix ABSTRACT ............................................................................................ xii ABSTRAK .............................................................................................. xiii

  CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................ 1-10 1.1. Background................................................................................... 1 1.2. Field of the Study ........................................................................ 4 1.3. Scope of the Study ...................................................................... 4 1.4. Problem Formulation .................................................................. 5 1.5. Objectives of the Study ............................................................... 5 1.6. Hypotheses ................................................................................. 5 1.7. Significance of the Study ............................................................ 7 1.8. Definitions of Terms ................................................................... 8

  CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................. 11-23 2.1. Previous Studies .......................................................................... 11 2.2. Second Language Acquisition .................................................... 11 2.2.1. Internal Factors in Second Language Acquisition .......... 12 2.2.2. External Factors in Second Language Acquisition ......... 16 2.2.3. Learners‟ Anxiety Level ................................................ 18 2.2.4. Anxiety Disorders .......................................................... 21 2.3. Theory of Achievement .............................................................. 23 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................. 24-28 3.1. Data Collection ........................................................................... 24 3.1.1. Participants ...................................................................... 25 3.1.2. Instruments ...................................................................... 26 3.1.3. Procedures ....................................................................... 27 3.2. Data Analysis .............................................................................. 28 CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION ........... 29-69 4.1. Respondents‟ Characteristics, Validity and Reliability Test of the Questionnaires ............................................................................ 30 4.1.1. Respondents‟ Characteristic ............................................ 30 4.1.2. Validity ........................................................................... 31

  4.1.3. Reliability ....................................................................... 34 4.1.4.

Hypotheses Analysis ...................................................... 35

  DISCUSSION ........................................................................................ 70-71

  CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION .......................... 72-73 Bibliography ........................................................................................... xiv Appendices

LIST OF TABLES

  Table 1: Learners‟ anxiety level categories: trait anxiety, state anxiety and situation specific anxiety ....................................................... 26 Table 2: The value of the positive and negative statements in the

  Questionnaire ............................................................................... 27 Table 3: Characteristics of the students: age, gender and year in

  Elementary School ....................................................................... 30 Table 4: Item‟s variability checking using SPSS v.16.0.0. ...................... 32 Table 5: Cronbach Alpha‟s checking using SPSS v.16.0.0 ...................... 35 Table 6: Analysis Result using SPSS v.16.0.0. about correlation between

Students‟ Anxiety Level of the fourth and fifth grade in English and Students‟ Learning Achievements in English at Theresiana

  Elementary School, Semarang ..................................................... 41 Table 7: Interpretation of r Value of Correlation Analysis Result based

  on Budi (2006) ............................................................................ 41 Table 8: Table of statement number 2 ...................................................... 43 Table 9: Table of statement number 6 ...................................................... 44 Table 10: Table of statement number 7 .................................................... 45 Table 11: Table of statement number 10 .................................................. 46 Table 12: Table of statement number 15 .................................................. 47 Table 13: Table of statement number 16 .................................................. 48 Table 14: Table of statement number 19 .................................................. 49 Table 15: Table of statement number 23 .................................................. 50 Table 16: Table of statement number 28 .................................................. 51 Table 17: Table of statement number 3 .................................................... 52 Table 18: Table of statement number 4 .................................................... 54 Table 19: Table of statement number 11 .................................................. 55 Table 20: Table of statement number 12 .................................................. 56 Table 21: Table of statement number 17 .................................................. 57 Table 22: Table of statement number 20 .................................................. 58

  Table 23: Table of statement number 1 .................................................... 60 Table 24: Table of statement number 9 .................................................... 61 Table 25: Table of statement number 13 .................................................. 62 Table 26: Table of statement number 22 .................................................. 63 Table 27: Table of statement number 24 .................................................. 64 Table 28: Table of statement number 25 .................................................. 65 Table 29: Table of statement number 27 .................................................. 66 Table 30: Table of statement number 29 .................................................. 67 Table 31: Table of statement number 30 .................................................. 68

  

Abstract

  Beginning with the understanding that English is the language that mostly used in International communication nowadays, people are trying their best to speak English fluently. But, some people are still anxious speaking English with native speakers.

  The importance of English has caused many parents to encourage their children to be able to speak English in a very young age. In this study, the writer examined the anxiety level of the elementary school students learning English at Theresiana Elementary School, Semarang and the correlation between students‟ anxiety and students‟ achievement. The investigation was done with favour of a set of data (contained students‟ scores) and a set of questionnaire to collect data about students‟ anxiety level toward English.

  To address the research questions, the writer used close ended questionnaires. The questionnaires were distributed to 82 students from fourth and fifth grade at Theresiana Elementary School, Semarang. The questionnaire consisted of 24 items, in which the respondents had to respond to each statement by choosing Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree and Strongly Disagree. The data, then, analysed to present the result in form of descriptive analysis. Students‟ anxiety level and the correlation between students‟ anxiety level and students‟ achievement were analysed using SPSS v.16.0 to get inferential analysis.

  The results showed that the students‟ anxiety level was medium, while the correlation between students‟ anxiety and students‟ achievement was relatively weak and having negative correlation.

  Key words: anxiety, achievement, correlation

Abstrak

  Menyadari bahwa bahasa Inggris adalah bahasa yang banyak digunakan dalam komunikasi Internasional sekarang ini, banyak orang berusaha untuk menguasai bahasa Inggris sebaik baiknya. Tetapi, beberapa orang masih cemas saat harus berkomunikasi dalam bahasa Inggris dengan penutur aslinya. Pentingnya bahasa Inggris menyebabkan banyak orang tua mendorong agar anak-anak nya bisa berbahasa Inggris sejak usia yang masih sangat muda. Penelitian ini bertujuan utuk mengetahui tingkat kecemasan murid-murid sekolah dasar dalam belajar bahasa Inggris di Sekolah Theresiana, Semarang dan untuk mengetahui korelasi antara tingkat kecemasan murid dengan hasil nilai bahasa Inggris mereka. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan bantuan data (berisi nilai bahasa Inggris murid kelas empat dan lima) dan satu set kuesioner untuk mengumpulkan data mengenai kecemasan murid terhadap pelajaran bahasa Inggris. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan penelitian, penulis menggunakan kuesiner tertutup. Kuesioner dibagikan kepada 82 murid kelas empat dan lima di Sekolah Theresiana, Semarang. Kuesioner ini terdiri dari 24 pertanyaan dengan 5 pilihan respon, yaitu sangat setuju, setuju, netral, tidak setuju, sangat tidak setuju. Kemudian, data dianalisa dan disajikan hasilnya dalam bentuk analisa deskriptif. Tingkat kecemasan murid dan korelasi antara kecemasan dengan nilai murid dianalisa menggunakan SPSS v.16.0 untuk mendapatkan analisa inferensial. Hasilnya menunjukkan bahwa tingkat kecemasan murid kelas empat dan lima dalam belajar bahasa Inggris adalah medium, sedangkan korelasi antara tingkat kecemasan murid dan nilai bahasa Inggris mereka cenderung lemah dan berlawanan arah.

  Kata kunci: kecemasan, pencapaian, korelasi