T BING 1201663 Chapter3

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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY

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CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

This chapter elaborates methodology of the study. The description includes: the research questions, then followed by the research design. It also describes the pilot study, research setting, and the participant of the research, data collection technique, data analysis, and conclusion of the methodology. Each of them will be explained below

3.1 Research Questions

The study is aim at investigating the elementary school students‘ anxiety in one of the

private school. This study is formulated in the following questions:

1. Are there any differences in English learning anxiety among young learners in anxiety levels of communication anxiety, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation?

2. What are the causes of young learners‘ language anxiety?

3. How do young learners cope with their language anxiety?

3.2 Research Design

Research is the way or means to gather the data (Dawson, 2009). Cresswell (2008) in more detail defines research as a series of action or steps used to collect and analyze information to enhance our understanding of a topic or issue. In short, research is simply defined as a systematic approach to finding answers to questions (Hatch & Farhady, 1982). Therefore, it can be concluded that research method is the way or means we use to collect the data in our research in order to find the answer of the research problems.

There are three recognized methods for conducting research: quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods (Creswell, 2008). According to Hancock (1998) qualitative research is concerned with the opinions, experiences and feelings of individuals producing subjective data and it is concerned with developing explanations of social phenomena as they occur naturally and no attempt is made to manipulate the situation under study. Meanwhile, quantitative research is


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described as empirical, using quantifiable data. Marczyk, DeMatteo, & Festinger (2005) state that quantitative research involves studies that make use of statistical analysis to obtain their finding. The last one is mixed method. This method involves both collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data (Creswell & Clarck, 2006).

According to Creswell (2008), there are three types of mixed method: first is triangulation mixed method (equal priority to both quantitative and qualitative data). Second is embedded mixed method (priority to the major form of data collection). Third is explanatory mixed method (a priority on quantitative data collection and analysis followed by small qualitative data collection and analysis in the second phase of the research or conversely). In order to cope with the purposes of this study, this study used triangulation mixed method as there is equal priority to the treatment of quantitative and qualitative data.

Researchers of anxiety have used different approaches to study language anxiety. Most of them have occupied quantitative measures in an attempt to isolate and evaluate variables through scales and questionnaires (Wilson, 2006). Some other researchers have used qualitative techniques such as journal investigations and interview. However, some studies have combined quantitative and qualitative means of data collection.

Considering the different techniques in researching language anxiety and the goal of this research, quantitative and qualitative approaches were used in this research. Quantitative data analysis was used to find out the answer of the first question which required statistical analysis as it investigated for possible differences in anxiety among elementary students through the analysis of variance involving score on a scale of FLCAS (Horwitz et al., 1986).

The second and third questions were investigated qualitatively through taking transcripts

of classroom observation and interview to find elementary students‘ language anxiety in EFL classroom. The interview was in form of open–ended interview, which allowed respondents to talk about their feelings and thoughts during the English class.

The two approaches, quantitative and qualitative, provide a suitable balance throughout the research. Qualitative research design allows researchers to study individual performance closely, but it may or may not represent the behavior of other learners and is therefore of questionable value for generalization to language acquisition by others. To offset this drawback,


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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu and Shohamy, 1989 cited in Wilson, 2006).

3.3 Pilot Study

A pilot study was conducted prior to the implementation of formal research to ascertain the validity and reliability of the research questionnaire. It was conducted during 24th February to 25th February 2014 using the same procedures designed for the formal investigation. The participants (N = 4) were six grade students studying at a private school in Kab. Bandung Barat.

This instrument was written in Indonesian to facilitate the students‘ understanding of the

questionnaire items. Before the survey, the researcher gave a clear explanation of the questionnaire to the participants in Indonesian. To ensure the validity and reliability of this study, those who participated in the pilot study were not chosen as the participants in the formal study.

After the pilot study was finished, the data were collected by the researcher immediately and analyzed by SPSS (statistical package for the social science) 16.0. The consistency estimates of reliability for the three subscales of the final questionnaires; the coefficient alpha of .77, .80, and .73 suggested that the final version of the 33-item questionnaires was reasonably reliable for the formal final study. The overall results of the pilot study indicated that the instruments and procedures selected for the experiment were suitable to carry out in the main study (Table 3.1).

Table 3.1

Cronbach‘s alpha values for the questionnaire reliability

Category Cronbach’s alpha values

Communication anxiety .77

Test anxiety .80

Fear of negative evaluation .73

Overall language anxiety .77

3.4 Research Setting and Participants

This study was undertaken in an EFL classroom at a private elementary school in Kab. Bandung Barat. The course was designed for young learners at the fifth and sixth grade. The


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choice of the place of the participant was determined as considering the accessibility of the researcher to carry out the research. Alwasilah (2009) mentioned that convenience factor should be taken into consideration to support the researcher to carry out the research.

There were three classes (class A, class B, and class C). Class A was consisted of sixth graders. Class B and C were consisted of five graders. Class B consisted of high achiever students and class C consisted of low achiever students. The researcher distributed 54 questionnaires to the three classes. Some missing data were occurred in collecting the questionnaire back. Some students refused to return the questionnaire because of their mates' mocks or their feeling of unconfident. The occurrence happened in every group of participants but the highest unreturned questionnaires were on Class A with 3 missing data out of 20 distributed questionnaires. Class B returned 20 questionnaires and one missed. Class C returned 12 out of 13 questionnaires, but one questionnaire was not completed. (Table 3.2)

Table 3.2

Questionnaire Distribution by Group of Class

Group N Missing Data Completed Data Percentage

Class A 20 3 17 31.5%

Class B 21 1 20 37.0%

Class C 13 1 12 22.2%

Total 54 5 49 90.7%

Of the 49 returned questionnaires with the returned rate of 90.7%, only one was discarded as invalid; therefore, a total of 48 valid questionnaires (equal to 88.9% of distributed ones) was used in the formal investigation. Of all the student population, females accounted for 51% and 46.9% were males. (Table 3.3)

Table 3.3

The Distribution of Gender among Participants

Gender N Invalid Data Completed Data

Percentage


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Female 25 0 25 51.0%

Total 49 1 48 97.9%

Therefore, there were forty-eight students participate in this research. A purposive sampling technique was occupied to choose four students who showed the different level of anxiety based on their answers on the questionnaire. One student was categorized as high-anxious student, two were moderate-high-anxious students, and one was a low-high-anxious student. The four students were interviewed to dig more information about their anxiety.

3.5 Data Collection

This section describes the time table of collecting data and the techniques used to collect the data.

3.5.1 Schedule of Data Collection

Data collection for the present study was conducted in five weeks. The following table was the schedule of data collection for this study:

Table 3.4

The schedule of data collection

Day, Date Duration Data collection

Tuesday, March 11th, 2014 45 minutes Taking questionnaire data from class A Wednesday, March 12th, 2014 45 minutes Taking questionnaire data from class B

and 3

Monday, March 17th, 2014 70 minutes Taking observation data from a high anxious student, field notes

Wednesday, March 19th, 2014 @70 minutes Taking observation data from one moderate anxious participant and one low-anxious participant, field note Friday, March 21st, 2014 35 minutes Taking observation data from a

moderate anxious student, field notes Wednesday, March 19th, 2014 20 minutes Taking interview data and transcribing


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Tuesday, March 25th, 2014 20 minutes Taking interview data from a moderate-anxious student and transcribing the result

Friday, March 28th, 2014 20 minutes Taking interview data from a low-anxious student and transcribing the result

Monday, April 1st, 2014 15 minutes Taking interview data from a moderate-anxious student and transcribing the result

Due to the participants were young learners at the age of eleven and twelve, the process of filling the questionnaires was guided by the researcher to make sure that participants understand the item to fill. Some items of questions were clarified by the researcher through short explanations.

The four participants, who were chosen to be sample of each group, were observed in the classroom setting. Each of them was observed for a meeting for 70 minutes duration. Video-recording was used in first observation, but the observation did not work well. The students were quieter than their daily behavior and they did not display normal conversation as they used to be. Following days, the researcher observed using a field with no video recording. Since then, the

researcher decided to count on the field note to record participants‘ anxiety in the classroom

setting. Field notes here, are as the detailed notes observers take in the educational setting (classroom or school) about what is going on, what they hear, see, experience, and think in the collecting and reflecting on their data (Frankle & Wallen, 2007).

The interview took more time than it allocation time. The interview lasted approximately 15-20 minutes. All the interviews were conducted in Indonesian and were tape-recorded with the

subject‘s permission. Initially, the subjects were asked open-ended questions to establish a rapport with the subjects Later, a semi-structured question format was used as a guideline to ask questions and to encourage the interviewees to talk in their own way. Some changes were made to facilitate the interviews such as the place of the interview was conducted in the participants‘ class where they seemed to be more familiar with and with minimum distracters.


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There were three techniques of collecting data used in this study. Those are questionnaires, classroom observation and semi structure interview.

3.5.2.1 Questionnaires

Students‘ anxiety level was gained through the employment of a questionnaire. The

rationale was that it allows respondents to report information about themselves that is important to the research (Mackey & Gass, 2005). For this reason and the good of this research, this study employed Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scales (FLCAS). This questionnaire was originally developed by Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986). This scale has been used in a large number of research projects (Horwitz, 2001). According to Horwitz (1986), this scale has been

found to have an internal consistency, as measured by Cronbach‘s alpha coefficient, of .93, and

test-retest reliability over eight weeks of r =.83, p =. 001. It was developed based on the construction of factor of anxiety includes speech anxiety, afraid to make mistakes in English class, feeling unable to deal with the task of English learning, communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation. (Table 3.5)

Table 3.5

The categories of English learning anxiety in FLCAS

Factors Total Item no

Speech anxiety 10 1, 3, 9, 12, 14, 18, 20, 24, 27, and 32

Afraid to make mistakes in English class

2 2 and 19

Feeling unable to deal with the task of English learning

9 5, 6, 11, 16, 17, 22, 26, 28, and 30

Communication apprehension 4 4, 15, 29, and 33

Test anxiety 3 8, 10, and 21


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The FLCAS consists of 33 statements. Each item is rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree), 2 (agree), 3 (neither agree nor disagree), 4 (disagree) to 5 (strongly disagree). The total scores of the scale range from 33 to 165 with high scores indicate high levels of anxiety. The higher the total points, the more anxious the students are. Item 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, and 33 represent high anxiety (positively worded). Items 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 18, 22, 28, and 32 represent lack of anxiety (negatively worded) (Table 3.6). The first part of the questionnaire was a personal English learning

background questionnaire. It was intended to investigate students‘ general English learning experience, especially those experiences related to learners‘ English learning anxiety.

Table 3.6 Statements in FLCAS

Category Total Item no

Positively worded 24 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, and 33

Negatively worded 9 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 18, 22, 28, and 32

Total items 33

In order to facilitate the participants‘ understanding of the questionnaire items, this instrument was conducted in the participants‘ native language, Indonesian, to avoid unnecessary

misreading and miscomprehension. Two linguists helped to verify the appropriateness and adequacy of the wording and lexical expressions in the questionnaires (both English and

Indonesian editions; appendices A and B). For the Indonesian version, the words ―foreign language‖ in each item was replaced by the word ―Bahasa Inggris‖ to be consistent with the

participants of EFL learners. (See Appendices A and B)

3.5.2.2 Observation

Observation may be employed in the stages of a research project to explore an area which can then be studied more fully utilizing other methods. Basically, there are two kinds of


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observational strategies open to this study: participant and non-participant observation (Patton, 1980). The participant observation involves when the researcher takes part in the situation being studied, rather than simply acting as a neutral and unobtrusive observer. In participant observation, the researcher is fully engaged in experiencing the situation under study (Wilson, 2006), and may be required to work with the members of the group or community under study for an extended period of time. On the other hand, the non-participant observation occurs when the researcher does not take part in the situation being studied, but may well be present in the environment (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2007). In non-participant observation, the researcher attempts to observe people without interacting with them and often without their knowledge that they are being observed.

There is a main reason for the choice of the observation strategy in this study. First, as Patton (1980) points out, the extent to which a researcher can be a participant observer depends on the nature of the study under investigation. In the case of education field that serve children, for an obvious reason, it is difficult for the researcher to become a student and experience the program as a child. Thus, this study employed an observational strategy much closer to non-participant observation than non-participant observation.

There are a number of approaches to observational research. Gall and Borg (1993 in Al-Jadidi, 2009) explain the difference between more structured or (systematic) observation and less structured or observation. These two approaches originate in different academic traditions, and have different aims, purposes and procedures. Less-structured observation was chosen as the research aimed at exploring the social meanings that underpin behavior in natural social settings.

Specifically, it tried to capture the students‘ source of anxiety and how they cope with the

anxiety provoking situation. However, some guidance to the observation were adapted from

Cha‘s study (2006). The observation included the physical setting, the participants, activities and

interaction, conversation, subtle factors, and researcher behavior (Appendix D). 3.5.2.3 Interview

Given that the one of the goals of this study was to explore the causes of language anxiety, interviews seemed appropriate as a means to understand the experiences of the subjects about language anxiety because they allow for given points to be clarified and elaborated upon where required. Similar to the interview studies by Tanveer (2007) concerning the source of


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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY

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anxiety among students, this study also used a qualitative semi-structured interview format to investigate the factors that cause language anxiety from students‘ perspectives. It was that semi -structured can provide access to things that cannot be directly observed, such as feelings, thoughts, intentions, or beliefs (Merriam, 1998 cited in Ohata, 2005). It also provides participants with opportunities to select, reconstruct, and reflect upon details of their experience within the specific context of their lives.

A semi-structured face-to-face interview technique was preferred as it was essential to

ensure that the researcher was ―in a position of being able to access the degree of the

interviewee‘s interest and involvement‖ (Tanveer, 2007). Specifically, it tried to explore the students‘ source of anxiety and how they cope with the anxiety provoking situation. The

interviews contained a balance of open and closed questions, the latter asserting the control of the interviewer, the former offering the interviewees a wide range of choice within a question. (See Appendix E)

3.6 Data Analysis

To answer the questions of this research, data analysis in this study was conducted over the course of the study. Ongoing data analysis and interpretation were done based on the data from questionnaires, classroom observation, and interviews. Each step of the analysis of the three sources of data is given in the following section.

3.6.1 Questionnaires

The researcher utilized Statistic Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 16.0 for windows to analyze data from the questionnaire and to explore the relationship between independent variables and dependent variables of the differences in English learning anxiety

among young learners. First, each participant‘s FLCAS score was calculated to find the mean of

each participant. Then, the mean was categorized into five categories; extreme-anxious level, high-anxious level, moderate-anxious level, low-anxious level, very low-anxious student (Table 3.7).

Table 3.7


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Level Mean Range

Extreme anxious High anxious Moderate anxious

4.21 - 5.00 3.42 - 4.20 2.64 - 3.41 Low anxious

Very low anxious

1.85 - 2.63 1.00 - 1.84

Second, descriptive analysis was performed to compute the means and standard deviations for each item and each kind of anxiety to derive a broader understanding of the general situation of students' anxiety. Third, test of variances was conducted to measure whether the group had the same variances. This is important since the analysis of variance (ANOVA) requires the variances in each experimental condition need to be fairly similar (Field, 2009). Fourth, one-way ANOVA was conducted to compute significant differences in English learning anxiety among the three means, specifically the communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation.

Post-hoc analysis was conducted since researcher did not have specific hypotheses (Field, 2009). It revealed which anxiety groups, if any, were significantly different from one another in their components of language anxiety. Since numbers of members in each group were different, Gabriel Post-Hoc was the appropriate test used in post-hoc analysis. The same procedures were conducted to investigate the differences the categories of FLCAS, which were communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation.

In reporting statistical significance for difference researcher used exact probabilities (p values) as provided by the SPSS package. These exact p values are given using an ‗=‘ sign. On several occasions, however, when the SPSS program has rendered extremely low probabilities as .000 without supplying the exact value, researcher has expressed these values as .001, and used a

‗<‘ sign. A single asterisk (*) specifies results achieving a statistical significance level of < .05,

and a double asterisk (**) indicates those reaching a statistical significance of < .01. 3.6.2 Observation

Language anxiety components—communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation— are not strictly separated each other. Tsui (1996 in Cha) states that actually


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they are not mutually exclusive. One component might have the same dimension to other components. Communication apprehension may also be interpreted in fear of negative evaluation context. Thus, it is hardly possible to make a distinction on which of the three components of language anxiety being studied.

Considering the difficulty shown above, this study employed Ehrman‘s (1996) defense mechanism against experiencing language anxiety. Ehrman (1996) uses qualitative method using observation and informal interviews to collect her data, and she provides a rich array of observable characteristics of language anxiety, and differentiates them into four areas (Table 3.8)

This category was not only used to code the result of classroom observation, but also the

result of the interview; specifically this is helpful in making categorization on participants‘

coping strategies. Later the categories, were divided into common coping strategies and specific categories. The coping strategies covered some coping strategies which used by all representatives of participant. On the other sides, specific categories revealed specific categories of coping strategies which were used by one or two groups of anxious level. This categorization enabled us to see clearly that there were differences among participants in coping with their anxiety.

Table 3.8

Specifications of Defense Mechanisms

Areas Specifications

Flight Behaviors

1. Avoidance or withdrawal: Pulling away

2. Reaction formation: Doing something for others in expectation

to be given a similar treatment from them

3. Fantasy: Mental escaping from reality such as daydreaming

4. Boredom: Hiding incompetence such as trying to avoid being

called upon by intentionally showing indifference in activities

5. Rationalization: Attempting to justify maladaptive behaviors,

such as lateness or nonparticipation, by substituting good reasons for real ones

6. Generalization: Stretching out his particular behaviors as if it is


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Aggressive Behaviors

1. Competition: Trying to demonstrate superiority in one particular

area to avoid a negative evaluation of overall incompetence

2. Displacement: Redirecting anxious feelings in a form of anger

toward a person whom he feels less strong than himself

3. Cynicism or negativity: belittling ESOL or other mainstream

classes, assignments or even teachers

4. Interrogation: Keeping others under defensive by giving a

barrage of questions

5. Acting out: Express anxious feeling straightforwardly and in an

Group Manipulation Behaviors

1. Forming subgroups: Seeking out supporter(s) and forming an

emotional subgroup for mutual helps

2. Scapegoating: Keeping one person in negative spotlight so that

others can feel competent (as compared to him or her) Compromise

Behaviors

1. Anticipation: Seeking out for help from teachers and/or

classmates or simply studying harder and preparing for class longer often more than needed

2. Altruism: Trying to help others, but unlike reaction formation,

not expect to receive similar help in return

Adapted from Ehrman‘s defense mechanism (1996 cited in Cha, 2006)

3.6.3 Interview

Interview was the last stage in collecting data of this study. The interview was very useful in confirming the result of questionnaires and classroom observation. The interview analysis involved the questionnaire, observation and the transcription of the interview itself. The results of this interview were then transcribed and analyzed qualitatively through a coding system. Because the interviewer tried to reveal the result of the questionnaire and observation, the coding

involving two categories, Ehrman‘s categories and Horwitz‘s component of language anxiety. The Ehrman‘s categories were used to reveal the participants‘ coping strategies with anxiety.

Meanwhile, Horwitz‘s category was used to find the causes of participant anxiety.

Considering the guidelines for interview data, in categorizing this result, the researcher used Horwitz categories for language anxiety sources (communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation) in order to answer the second research question. Besides,

Ehrman‘s (1996) defense mechanism categories for students‘ coping strategies of language

anxiety (flight behavior, aggressive behavior, group manipulation behavior, and compromise behavior) were used to answer the third research question.


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This chapter has described the methodology of the study. It discussed how the study was undertaken in order to answer the research questions. This includes the research questions, setting and the participants, method of collecting data and its data analysis. The results and findings will be described in chapter 4.


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observational strategies open to this study: participant and non-participant observation (Patton, 1980). The participant observation involves when the researcher takes part in the situation being studied, rather than simply acting as a neutral and unobtrusive observer. In participant observation, the researcher is fully engaged in experiencing the situation under study (Wilson, 2006), and may be required to work with the members of the group or community under study for an extended period of time. On the other hand, the non-participant observation occurs when the researcher does not take part in the situation being studied, but may well be present in the environment (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2007). In non-participant observation, the researcher attempts to observe people without interacting with them and often without their knowledge that they are being observed.

There is a main reason for the choice of the observation strategy in this study. First, as Patton (1980) points out, the extent to which a researcher can be a participant observer depends on the nature of the study under investigation. In the case of education field that serve children, for an obvious reason, it is difficult for the researcher to become a student and experience the program as a child. Thus, this study employed an observational strategy much closer to non-participant observation than non-participant observation.

There are a number of approaches to observational research. Gall and Borg (1993 in Al-Jadidi, 2009) explain the difference between more structured or (systematic) observation and less structured or observation. These two approaches originate in different academic traditions, and have different aims, purposes and procedures. Less-structured observation was chosen as the research aimed at exploring the social meanings that underpin behavior in natural social settings. Specifically, it tried to capture the students‘ source of anxiety and how they cope with the anxiety provoking situation. However, some guidance to the observation were adapted from Cha‘s study (2006). The observation included the physical setting, the participants, activities and interaction, conversation, subtle factors, and researcher behavior (Appendix D).

3.5.2.3 Interview

Given that the one of the goals of this study was to explore the causes of language anxiety, interviews seemed appropriate as a means to understand the experiences of the subjects about language anxiety because they allow for given points to be clarified and elaborated upon where required. Similar to the interview studies by Tanveer (2007) concerning the source of


(2)

Asep Dadang, 2014

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY

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anxiety among students, this study also used a qualitative semi-structured interview format to investigate the factors that cause language anxiety from students‘ perspectives. It was that semi -structured can provide access to things that cannot be directly observed, such as feelings, thoughts, intentions, or beliefs (Merriam, 1998 cited in Ohata, 2005). It also provides participants with opportunities to select, reconstruct, and reflect upon details of their experience within the specific context of their lives.

A semi-structured face-to-face interview technique was preferred as it was essential to ensure that the researcher was ―in a position of being able to access the degree of the interviewee‘s interest and involvement‖ (Tanveer, 2007). Specifically, it tried to explore the students‘ source of anxiety and how they cope with the anxiety provoking situation. The interviews contained a balance of open and closed questions, the latter asserting the control of the interviewer, the former offering the interviewees a wide range of choice within a question. (See Appendix E)

3.6 Data Analysis

To answer the questions of this research, data analysis in this study was conducted over the course of the study. Ongoing data analysis and interpretation were done based on the data from questionnaires, classroom observation, and interviews. Each step of the analysis of the three sources of data is given in the following section.

3.6.1 Questionnaires

The researcher utilized Statistic Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 16.0 for windows to analyze data from the questionnaire and to explore the relationship between independent variables and dependent variables of the differences in English learning anxiety among young learners. First, each participant‘s FLCAS score was calculated to find the mean of each participant. Then, the mean was categorized into five categories; extreme-anxious level, high-anxious level, moderate-anxious level, low-anxious level, very low-anxious student (Table 3.7).

Table 3.7


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Level Mean Range

Extreme anxious High anxious Moderate anxious

4.21 - 5.00 3.42 - 4.20 2.64 - 3.41 Low anxious

Very low anxious

1.85 - 2.63 1.00 - 1.84

Second, descriptive analysis was performed to compute the means and standard deviations for each item and each kind of anxiety to derive a broader understanding of the general situation of students' anxiety. Third, test of variances was conducted to measure whether the group had the same variances. This is important since the analysis of variance (ANOVA) requires the variances in each experimental condition need to be fairly similar (Field, 2009). Fourth, one-way ANOVA was conducted to compute significant differences in English learning anxiety among the three means, specifically the communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation.

Post-hoc analysis was conducted since researcher did not have specific hypotheses (Field, 2009). It revealed which anxiety groups, if any, were significantly different from one another in their components of language anxiety. Since numbers of members in each group were different, Gabriel Post-Hoc was the appropriate test used in post-hoc analysis. The same procedures were conducted to investigate the differences the categories of FLCAS, which were communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation.

In reporting statistical significance for difference researcher used exact probabilities (p values) as provided by the SPSS package. These exact p values are given using an ‗=‘ sign. On several occasions, however, when the SPSS program has rendered extremely low probabilities as .000 without supplying the exact value, researcher has expressed these values as .001, and used a ‗<‘ sign. A single asterisk (*) specifies results achieving a statistical significance level of < .05, and a double asterisk (**) indicates those reaching a statistical significance of < .01.

3.6.2 Observation

Language anxiety components—communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation— are not strictly separated each other. Tsui (1996 in Cha) states that actually


(4)

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they are not mutually exclusive. One component might have the same dimension to other components. Communication apprehension may also be interpreted in fear of negative evaluation context. Thus, it is hardly possible to make a distinction on which of the three components of language anxiety being studied.

Considering the difficulty shown above, this study employed Ehrman‘s (1996) defense mechanism against experiencing language anxiety. Ehrman (1996) uses qualitative method using observation and informal interviews to collect her data, and she provides a rich array of observable characteristics of language anxiety, and differentiates them into four areas (Table 3.8)

This category was not only used to code the result of classroom observation, but also the result of the interview; specifically this is helpful in making categorization on participants‘ coping strategies. Later the categories, were divided into common coping strategies and specific categories. The coping strategies covered some coping strategies which used by all representatives of participant. On the other sides, specific categories revealed specific categories of coping strategies which were used by one or two groups of anxious level. This categorization enabled us to see clearly that there were differences among participants in coping with their anxiety.

Table 3.8

Specifications of Defense Mechanisms

Areas Specifications

Flight Behaviors

1. Avoidance or withdrawal: Pulling away

2. Reaction formation: Doing something for others in expectation to be given a similar treatment from them

3. Fantasy: Mental escaping from reality such as daydreaming 4. Boredom: Hiding incompetence such as trying to avoid being

called upon by intentionally showing indifference in activities 5. Rationalization: Attempting to justify maladaptive behaviors,

such as lateness or nonparticipation, by substituting good reasons for real ones

6. Generalization: Stretching out his particular behaviors as if it is common to everybody, though not so


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Asep Dadang, 2014

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu Aggressive

Behaviors

1. Competition: Trying to demonstrate superiority in one particular area to avoid a negative evaluation of overall incompetence 2. Displacement: Redirecting anxious feelings in a form of anger

toward a person whom he feels less strong than himself

3. Cynicism or negativity: belittling ESOL or other mainstream classes, assignments or even teachers

4. Interrogation: Keeping others under defensive by giving a barrage of questions

5. Acting out: Express anxious feeling straightforwardly and in an Group

Manipulation Behaviors

1. Forming subgroups: Seeking out supporter(s) and forming an emotional subgroup for mutual helps

2. Scapegoating: Keeping one person in negative spotlight so that others can feel competent (as compared to him or her)

Compromise Behaviors

1. Anticipation: Seeking out for help from teachers and/or classmates or simply studying harder and preparing for class longer often more than needed

2. Altruism: Trying to help others, but unlike reaction formation, not expect to receive similar help in return

Adapted from Ehrman‘s defense mechanism (1996 cited in Cha, 2006)

3.6.3 Interview

Interview was the last stage in collecting data of this study. The interview was very useful in confirming the result of questionnaires and classroom observation. The interview analysis involved the questionnaire, observation and the transcription of the interview itself. The results of this interview were then transcribed and analyzed qualitatively through a coding system. Because the interviewer tried to reveal the result of the questionnaire and observation, the coding involving two categories, Ehrman‘s categories and Horwitz‘s component of language anxiety. The Ehrman‘s categories were used to reveal the participants‘ coping strategies with anxiety. Meanwhile, Horwitz‘s category was used to find the causes of participant anxiety.

Considering the guidelines for interview data, in categorizing this result, the researcher used Horwitz categories for language anxiety sources (communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation) in order to answer the second research question. Besides, Ehrman‘s (1996) defense mechanism categories for students‘ coping strategies of language anxiety (flight behavior, aggressive behavior, group manipulation behavior, and compromise behavior) were used to answer the third research question.


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Asep Dadang, 2014

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

3.7 Conclusion

This chapter has described the methodology of the study. It discussed how the study was undertaken in order to answer the research questions. This includes the research questions, setting and the participants, method of collecting data and its data analysis. The results and findings will be described in chapter 4.