scholarly journals THE EFL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF THEIR FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY IN SPEAKING CLASS

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Dita Anggraeny ◽  
Iskhak Said ◽  
R. Bunga Febriani

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this paper is aimed at investigating the factors that influence foreign language anxiety among the students in a speaking class, and how they perceive about overcoming foreign language anxiety. The present study used a questionnaire to find out the factors that influenced students’ foreign language anxiety. An interview was conducted in order to find out the students’ perception of their foreign language anxiety. It was found that students felt anxious when they were unable to comprehend communication in class (62.5%). Test and speaking in front of class became one of the factors that caused students to experienced anxiety (43%). On the other hand, fear of receiving bad comments from the teacher and the other students was the third factor that students experienced anxiety (61.8%). Through the semi-structured interviews, it showed that students reduced the anxiety by practicing the pronunciation, and memorizing the vocabulary. Besides, the teacher played a role in creating and reducing students’ foreign language anxiety. The teacher who was able to create an enjoyable learning atmosphere, and focused on student-centered learning, the students argued that it could reduce their foreign language anxiety. Keywords: Speaking, Anxiety, Foreign Language Anxiety ABSTRAKTujuan dari artikel ini bertujuan untuk menyelidiki faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi kecemasan bahasa asing di antara siswa di kelas berbicara, dan bagaimana mereka memandang tentang mengatasi kecemasan bahasa asing. Penelitian ini menggunakan kuesioner untuk mengetahui faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi kecemasan bahasa asing siswa. Wawancara dilakukan untuk mengetahui persepsi siswa tentang kecemasan bahasa asing mereka. Ditemukan bahwa siswa merasa cemas ketika mereka tidak dapat memahami komunikasi di kelas (62,5%). Tes dan berbicara di depan kelas menjadi salah satu faktor yang menyebabkan siswa mengalami kecemasan (43%). Di sisi lain, ketakutan menerima komentar buruk dari guru dan siswa lain adalah faktor ketiga yang membuat siswa mengalami kecemasan (61,8%). Melalui wawancara semi-terstruktur menunjukkan bahwa siswa mengurangi kecemasan dengan mempraktikkan pengucapan, dan menghafal kosa kata. Selain itu, guru berperan dalam menciptakan dan mengurangi kecemasan bahasa asing siswa. Guru yang mampu menciptakan suasana belajar yang menyenangkan, dan fokus pada pembelajaran yang berpusat pada siswa, para siswa berpendapat bahwa itu dapat mengurangi kecemasan bahasa asing mereka. Kata kunci: Berbicara, Kecemasan, Kecemasan Bahasa Asing 

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emre Debreli ◽  
Seren Demirkan

<p>Although foreign language anxiety is a widely explored subject in the area of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), studies that focus on the speaking anxiety in EFL, as well as the gender and language proficiency level–anxiety relationship, are rare. The present study investigates the phenomenon in an EFL context and analyzes the levels of EFL students’ speaking anxiety and the sources that make them anxious. It also explores whether there is any relationship between anxiety and students’ language proficiency level and gender. Data were gathered from 196 Turkish and Turkish Cypriot students through questionnaires (Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale), as well as through semi-structured interviews with 10 students who participated in the questionnaires. The findings indicated that the students generally had low level of speaking anxiety, although students with a higher level of language proficiency had a higher level of anxiety compared with that for students with a lower level of language proficiency. No statistically meaningful difference was observed with regard to students’ gender and anxiety levels. Factors that caused anxiety—such as difficulty in pronunciation, being asked immediate questions by the teacher, not understanding the question asked by the teacher—not found in the current literature also emerged from the present study. Implications for teacher education are also discussed.</p>


Author(s):  
Atta M. Hamamorad

The current study investigates foreign language anxiety among Kurdish EFL students and its consequences on their communicative performance. An investigative quantitative approach was used to conduct this study. A Total number of two hundred (200) EFL learners with different language proficiency levels from three different universities; University of Halabja and Sulaimani university in Iraqi Kurdistan Region, and University of Kurdistan in Iran, were selected to participate in this study. For the purpose of obtaining necessary information and data, a face-to-face assessment, in small groups of 4 was conducted during students’ class time in which their communicative performance based on accuracy, fluency, vocabulary, and pronunciation was evaluated and recorded. Additionally, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) questionnaire was adapted and the target population were requested to respond to the statements presented in the questionnaire. The findings of the research taken from a structural equation modelling (SEM) indicated that all components of Communicative Performance were in a negative and significant correlation with anxiety.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 751 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingying Tang

Researches on Language Anxiety have aroused public concern around/ the world, most of which suggest that language anxiety exerts a detrimental influence to language learners in their process of language learning. Chinese English learners usually do a good job in passing all kinds of English test while are poor at oral English referred as “dumb English”. It is safe to conclude that “dumb English” is the best manifestation of foreign language anxiety. Formative assessment characterized by being interactive among students themselves, peers, and teacher, highlights the immediate and effective feedback to learners, which is in accordance with the nature of student-centered approach. This study aims to explore the effectiveness of applying formative assessment in oral English class to alleviate students’ speaking apprehension. Two innate classes are chosen to be the controlled class and experimental class. Data in students’ English classroom speaking anxiety scale is collected and analyzed after pre-test and post-test together with an interview. It is revealed in this study that the implementation of formative assessment in oral English classroom is proved to be effective to alleviate students’ speaking anxiety in experimental class. In response to this finding, implications for practical practice of formative assessment in oral English classroom are discussed.


Author(s):  
Christina Lhaksmita Anandari

This research examined what causes speech-production-related foreign-language anxiety among Indonesian students majoring in English Language Education. Furthermore, it also looks into whether and how selfreflective activities are able to help these students reduce their anxiety. The data were gathered from a qualitative research conducted on a group of Indonesian students taking a Public Speaking course at Sanata Dharma University. The subjects were given two types of questionnaires to explore the possible causes of their anxiety and their reflection on the process of learning the public speaking skills. The research results show three causes of foreign language anxiety: fear, shyness, and discomfort. The results also demonstrate that self-reflections helped the students deal with foreign language anxiety because they helped the students identify their strengths and weaknesses,conduct problem solving, and increase confidence.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 120
Author(s):  
Siti Wulan Asih ◽  
Ida Rahmah Andansari ◽  
Ely Widayati ◽  
Didik Murwantono

Flash cardboard is one of the media used for speaking, especially in storytelling. Teaching by using media is very necessary for learning because it greatly influences the results of the learning process. This research wants to know English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ perception after they learned storytelling using flash cardboard as a media. This was phenomenological research. This research used semi-structured interviews with some students who used flash cardboard in learning storytelling. Purposive sampling was used in this research. The result shows that the student got positive impacts facilitated by the flash cardboard media, they became more confident in speaking in front of the class, they were not involved because flash cardboard helped them, students also supported speaking fluently, they can produce more than 190 words per minute (wpm) but not necessarily perfect command of intonation, vocabulary, and grammar. By using flash cardboard as the media, the media can be an alternative method in learning English specifically speaking class because it forces students to speak (really make them speak) following the target language. In the end, it can also be concluded that learning English using flash cardboard media can improve students' language skills and speaking skills. The students maintain their ability in speaking smoothly not necessarily perfect command of intonation, vocabulary, and of course the grammar. The recommendation for further study is the other researchers can add the respondents with another English skill.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasrah M. Ismail

<p>Teaching a language is a complex but interesting process. It involves teacher, learner, curriculum, and learning environment. Also this process is affected by certain social, cultural and psychological factors. This study is aimed at investigating the effectiveness of a proposed program for developing EFL learners’ engagement in learning English. The sample of this study consisted of 103 females (M = 19.260, SD = 0.876 years), it was divided into two groups; the experimental group consisted of 53 girls and the control group consisted of 50 girls. Students’ engagement was measured by the Handelsaman, Briggs, Sullivan, and Towler (2005) questionnaire, while their foreign language anxiety was measured by the Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) questionnaire. Students’ motivation was measured by Gardner’s (1985) Attitude and Motivation Test Battery (AMTB). The research applied continued for three months which included the proposed program. The data proved that there were statistically significant differences between the experimental group and the control group on the post-test of the engagement questionnaire, the foreign language anxiety scale as well as the students’ motivation dimensions, showing a significant increase in students’ engagement and motivation in favor of the experimental group. The findings also indicated that there were statistically significant differences between the pre-test and post-test results for the experimental group on the students’ engagement and motivation. This shows that the experimental group had an increase in skills after having participated in the program as seen on the post-test. In light of these results, the study provides a number of procedural recommendations that may contribute to raising the degree of the importance of students’ engagement and motivation training for the students with foreign language anxiety. The paper concludes that more training should be given in using all engagement activities by embedding them in regular classroom activities. Suggestions are offered for future research.</p>


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