REDUCING STUDENTS’ ANXIETY TO SPEAK ENGLISH
(Survey Study at the Eight Ggrade of MTS N 1 Rajadesa)
A RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Submitted to the English Education Program
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education Sciences of Galuh University
By
RIFKI NUR WAHYU
2109080300
ENGLISH DEPARTEMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRINING AND EDUCATION SCIENCES
GALUH UNIVERSITY
CIAMIS
2011
I. Topic :
This Research will be entitiled “Reducing Students’ Anxiety to Speak English”. (Survey Study at the eight grade of MTSN 1 Rajadesa)”.
II. INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
“Empirical research shows that anxious foreign language students are less willing to participate in learning activities, and have lower performance than non-anxious students” (Aida 1994, MacIntyre and Gardner 1991, in Tsiplakides, 2009:39). So. Students’ anxiety to speak English very important to be solved. Because it can be influence their speaking ability. Beside that, speaking English must be practice to be succes pronounciation and vocabulary, especially to improve their speaking ability.
”Anxiety can be described as a perceived notion of psychological distress which occurs due to the expectation of a disconcerting and potentially threatening event. Although extensive research has focused on the concept of anxiety, it cannot be defined by purely objective or concrete means” (Rachman, 2004, in Larson, 2007: 2 ). “ We define anxiety as an emotion characterized by feelings of anticipated danger, tension, and distress and by sympathetic nervous system arousal”. (Davidoff, 1981: 356).
Many causes of students anxiety to speak English, it’s important for students’ to reduce their anxiety to speak English, Because (Bailey, in Zhang, 2001:52) says: “A contributing factor to learners' success or failure to master second/foreign language is the manner that learners for their worries, apprehension, and even dread when faced with a certain language”
According to learning theory of Thorndike, As explained by Surya (1996:29) stated The learning theory of Thorndike represents the original S-R framework of behavioral psychology: Learning is the result of associations forming between stimuli and responses. Such associations or "habits" become strengthened or weakened by the nature and frequency of the S-R pairings. The paradigm for S-R theory was trial and error learning in which certain responses come to dominate others due to rewards. The hallmark of connectionism (like all behavioral theory) was that learning could be adequately explained without refering to any unobservable internal states. Thorndike's theory consists of three primary laws: (1) law of effect - responses to a situation which are followed by a rewarding state of affairs will be strengthened and become habitual responses to that situation, (2) law of readiness - a series of responses can be chained together to satisfy some goal which will result in annoyance if blocked, and (3) law of exercise - connections become strengthened with practice and weakened when practice is discontinued. A corollary of the law of effect was that responses that reduce the likelihood of achieving a rewarding state (i.e. punishments, failures) will decrease in strength.
In this case, the writer intends to take up that problem, through his paper entitled: “ REDUCING STUDENTS’ ANXIETY TO SPEAK ENGLISH (Survey study at the eight grade of MTSN 1 Rajadesa)”.
B. Reason for choosing the topic:
The writer choose the topic of his study based on the following reasons:
1. Students anxiety to speak English in the class is a problem commonly found in English study, especially for speaking. Consequently, students can’t improve their speaking ability. So the writer choose this topics to give contribution in Reducing Students’ Anxiety to Speak English.
2. All teachers need a place to share about students problem, especially students anxiety to speak english problem to find out best solution.
3. Anxiety is one of the wide varieties of emotional and behaviour disorders, it is a major predictor for low academic performance among students. To this, anxiety should be taken seriously.
4. Anxiety is one of the fundamental sensations of humans. All human beings become little anxious when faced to a perilous situation.
C. Research Question
1. What are the causes of students’ anxiety to speak English?
2. How the students’ anticipates to reduce their anxiety to speak english?
D. Purpose of the study
This research will be aimed at finding out:
1. The causes of students’ anxiety to speak English.
2. The students’ anticipates to reduce their anxiety to speak English.
E. Significance of the study
The result of the study are hoped to give benefits for teachers, the researcher, and the other researchers:
1. For Teachers
Through this research, the teacher will be able to increase teaching speaking better, to know The causes of Students anxiety to speak English. And how students’ anticipates to reduce their anxiety to speak english.
2. For researcher
Through this study, the writer will be able to improve his knowledge in writing good paper, and to improve his knowledge in students anxiety to speak English.
3. For other researcher
Other researchers can use the result of this research as a comparative study.
F. Limitation of the study
Based on the research question above, the writer will limit the discussion of reducing students’ anxiety to speak english at the eight grade of MTSN 1 Rajadesa. The research itself will focus to answer of research question.
G. Definition of Key Terms
1. Reducing : Overcome the students' anxiety to speak english.
2. Student: a person who studies a particular academic subject.
3. Anxiety: the problem in this study, “ anxiety is one of the psychophysiology difficulties” (Roger, 2001. Cited in Vitasari, 2010: 89). According to Sarason that anxiety is a basic human emotion consisting of fear and uncertainty that typically appears when an individual perceives an event as being a threat to the ego or self esteem (Harris & Coy, 2003. Cited in Vitasari, et.al. 2010:89). “Anxiety and fear are sometimes distinguished from one another on two dimensions, 1. The object of a fear is easy to specify, while the object of an anxiety is often unclear. 2. The intensity of a fear is proportional to the magnitude of the danger.” (Davidoff,1981:356).
4. Speak English: One of student lesson of junior high school at the eight grade of MTSN 1 Rajadesa as a foreign language.
III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Design
According to Nunan and Bailey (2009:25) “the overall purpose of a survey is to obtain a snapshot of conditions, attitudes, and/or events of an entire population at a single point in time by collecting data from a sample drawn from that population”.
Relevant to the purpose and research question above, survey study design will be employed to capture the details about Reducing Students’ anxiety to speak english. Survey study involves systematically gathering enough information about a particular person, social setting, event, to permit the research to effectively understand how the subject operate and how the subject solve the problem.
B. Procedure
The writer will carry out the research comprising some steps as follows:
1. Asking for permission to the headmaster of MTSN 1 Rajadesa.
2. Giving the questionaire to the students at eight grade of MTSN 1 Rajadesa.
3. Conducting the interview.
4. Calculating the percentage from the data of questionaire.
5. Making the transcrift of interview.
6. Generalizing the data of interview.
7. Making Conclusion.
C. Population and Sample
As population, the writer will take the students at the eight grade of MTSN 1 Rajadesa. To determine the sample, the researcher will use cluster sampling technique. because there are more than one class in the school. There will only be one class which will be given treatment. “cluster sampling technique is Restrict one's selection to a particular subgroups. from within the population.” (Nunan and Bailey, 2009:128)
D. Setting of the Study
This study will be conducted in one of junior high school in Ciamis regency, West java, i.e. MTS N 1 Rajadesa.
E. Data Collection Technique
It is impossible to collect the data from respondent without any instrument. There will be several instruments used by writer to get the data from respondents, i.e, questionaire and interview. Meanwhile, to discover the causes of students’ anxiety to speak english and the students anticipate to reduce their anxiety to speak english, the researcher will use a questionaire and interview. The interview will be conducted to validate data from the questionaire.
F. Data Analysis Technique
1. Data Analysis of Questionaire
To investigate the causes of students’ anxiety and the students anticipates or strategis to anticipate the difficulties, the researcher will give a questionaire. the writer will use Closed items on Questionaire method. According to Nunan and Bailey (2009:130) “ Closed items on Questionaire which the range of possible responses is determined by the researcher and the respondent select from or evaluate the option provided.” The data from questionaire will be analyzed by using Closed Items on Questionaire. And the percentage computation as suggested by Hatch and Lazaraton (1991:136) as follows :
To interpret the obtained data from the percentage computation, the writer will use percentage categories according to Ali (1985:184) as follows:
0% : none of the respondents
1%-25% : small number of respondents
26%-49% : almost half of respondents
50% : half of the respondents
51%-75% : most of the respondents
76%-99% : almost all of respondents
100% : all of the respondents
2. Data Analysis Interview
To obtain data of this study, the writer uses standardized open ended interviews. According to Turner (2010:756) “Standardized open ended interviews are likely the most popular form of interviewing utilized in research studies because of the nature of the open ended questions, allowing the participants to fully express their viewpoints and experiences”. The data from interview will be analyzed by generalizing of the data.
G. Time Schedule
NO.
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Task
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Desember
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January
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February
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March
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April
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May
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June
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July
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1.
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Writing Research proposal
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2.
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Seminar of Proposal
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3.
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First consultation to supervisor and collecting book resources
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4.
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Consulates to the supervisor
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5.
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Conducting research
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6.
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Collecting data
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7.
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Making analysis of data
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8.
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Finishing and refinement of the paper
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9.
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Paper Examination
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IV. LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Three Stages of Language Learning
Language anxiety has been theorized to occur at all the three stages of language learning: input, processing and output. The description of these three stages with relation to anxiety will point out why Second/Foreign language learners make mistakes and the reasons of linguistic difficulties Second language/Foreign learners face in learning and using the target language. This can offer an insight to help understand anxiety experienced while communicating in the target language.
This section discusses the psychological and linguistic reasons of language anxiety that occurs at all the three stages of language learning: input, processing, and output.
a) Input
“Input is the first stage of language learning. It activates ‘Language Acquisition Device’ (LAD) an innate language specific module in the brain” (Tanveer, 2007: 20), which carries out the further process of language learning. Anxiety at the input stage (input anxiety) refers to the anxiety experienced by the learners when they encounter a new word or phrase in the target language. Input anxiety is receiver’s apprehension when receiving information from auditory and visual clues
Input anxiety is more likely to cause miscomprehension of the message sent by the interlocutors, which may lead to the loss of successful communication and an increased level of anxiety.
b) Processing
Anxiety at the processing stage, called processing anxiety, refers to the “apprehension students experience when performing cognitive operations on new information” (Tranveer, 2007:21). working on the ‘Information Processing Model’ have tried to explore how these cognitive operations are performed in human brain and have explained the learners’ inability to spontaneously use everything they know about a language at a given time.
The Cognitive Processing Model can also explain the difficulty learners feel in remembering and retrieving vocabulary items while communicating in the target language another important source of language anxiety for the EFL/ESL learners. (MacIntyre and Gardner, 1991,in Tranveer, 2007:22), found a significant negative correlation between language anxiety and ability to repeat a short string of numbers and to recall vocabulary items.
c) Output
Anxiety while communicating in the target language is more likely to appear at the output stage, which entirely depends upon the successful completion of the previous stages: input, and processing. Anxiety at the output stage refers to learners’ nervousness or fear experienced when required to demonstrate their ability to use previously learned material. ManIntyre and Gardner asserted, “High level of anxiety at this stage might hinder students’ ability to speak in the target language” (Tranveer, 2007:30).
2. Some of The Causes of Anxiety
According to Horwitz et al. (1986: 127) says considering language anxiety with relation to performance evaluation within academic and social contexts, drew parallels between it and three related performance anxieties: (1) communication apprehension (CA), (2) test anxiety, (3) fear of negative evaluation.(Tanveer. 2007:11). This description will general for the causes of student’s anxiety in speaking english (foreign language). providing an insight to comprehend the sources or causes it can originate from.
(a). Communication Apprehension (CA)
Students’ personality traits such as shyness, quietness, and reticence are considered to frequently precipitate CA. These feelings of shyness differential from individual to individual, and from situation to situation. According to McCroskey and Bond (1980, 1984, in Tanveer, 2007:12) “found seven factors that could result in students’ quiet. (1) low intellectual skills, (2) low speech skill, (3) voluntary social introversion, (4) social alienation, (5) communication anxiety, (6) low social self-esteem, (7) ethnic/cultural divergence in communication norms”.
(b) Test Anxiety
Test is also relevant to the discussion of foreign language anxiety. Test anxiety, as explained by Horwitz et al. (1986), “refers to a type of performance anxiety stemming from a fear of failure”. (Tanveer, 2007: 13).
(c) Fear of Negative Evaluation
Fear of negative evaluation is an extension of the second component (test anxiety) of second/foreign language anxiety because it is not limited to test taking situations, but, it may occur in any social, evaluative situation, such as interviewing for a job or speaking in second/foreign language class (Horwitz et al., 1986: 127. in Tranveer, 2007:14). It is also broader in the sense that it pertains not only to the teacher’s evaluation of the students but also to the perceived reaction of other students as well (Shams, 2006: 10. in Tanveer, 2007:14).
Where limited processing mental capacity may cause anxiety, conversely, anxiety may restrict this operational capacity of the mind, and both together may cause impaired performance or altered behaviour. Researchers have found a recursive or cyclical relationship among anxiety, cognition and behaviour (Leary, 1990. Levitt, 1980. in Tanveer, 2007: 21-22).
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Figure 1: relations between, cognition and behaviour
Source: MacIntyre 1995, p. 93,
Figure1: shows that anxiety, behaviour and cognition are mutually inter-related.
MacIntyre (1995) explains this relationship as follow: “For example, a demand to answer a question in a second language class may cause a student to become anxious; anxiety leads to worry and rumination. Cognition performance is diminished because of the divided attention and therefore performance suffers, leading to negative self-evaluations and more self deprecating cognition which further impairs performance, and so on”. (Tanveer, 2007:22).
2. Strategies to Reduce Students’ Anxiety
Language anxiety, being a student psychological construct, has been found to make a huge difference in learning to speak a foreign language. Many studies on language anxiety have suggested a variety of strategies to successfully reducing students’ anxiety. Interestingly, all the subjects who have been involved in the process of English language learning and teaching for many years seemed to have given enough thought to the ways of reducing students anxiety.
As explained by Surya, The most frequent suggestion participants made was to make the language classroom environment less formal and more friendly, one where students can make mistakes without looking mistake ( Surya, 1996:28-31).
A way forward to create less stressful classroom environment, as suggested by ESL/EFL teacher, is that the “instructors should create situations where students can feel successful in using English and avoid setting up the activities that increase the chances for the students to fail”. (Tranveer, 2007:55).
“It was also asserted that students’ self-related cognitions and beliefs should be taken into account in order to successfully cope with language anxiety. As a first step, it was generally maintained that teachers should take time to discuss or initiate discussion in the class by pointing out that it is very common for students to feel uncomfortable, uneasy and anxious while speaking English, thus inviting their thoughts about its possible reasons as well as solutions. The discussion, it was assumed, would heighten their awareness that the feelings of anxiety are common in most of the learners and are not associated with any particular individual. Thus, it would also help them to take away the feeling of competition or comparison that others are all smarter and more confident.” (Price, 1991:107. in Tranveer, 2007:56).
“Students should be encouraged to think about their positive personality traits and thus gather their own strengths and build upon them”. (Tranveer, 2007:58) This way, instructors can “build students’ confidence and self-esteem in their second/foreign language ability via encouragement, reassurance, positive reinforcement, and empathy” (Onwuegbuzie et al., 1999: 232, in Tranveer, 2007:58). Furthermore, the teachers should identify the signs of perfectionism in the learners and should work to explore their earlier belief systems in order to help them “to step down from the set standards at the early stages and then work patiently to achieve the desired standards gradually”, stated the Pakistani participant. (Tranveer, 2007:58)
In spite of the variety of techniques found in this study, as well as those reported in previous studies, language anxiety seems to continue to flourish in the language classrooms. It suggests that these strategies are just a guideline for the teachers, as well as for the ESL/EFL learners, rather than a treatment of language anxiety This also confirms the view that language anxiety is a complex psychological phenomenon, one which requires special attention by the language instructors if it is to be adequately dealt with. However, it can be postulated that apt implication of these strategies can reduce language anxiety to a considerable extent, even if they cannot completely alleviate it.
V. BIBLIOGHRAPHY
Davidoff, L.L. 1981. Introduction To Psychology. Mc Graw-Hill International book company.
Hatch, E. And Lazaraton, A.1991. The Research Manual: Design and Statistics for Applied Linguistics. Massachusetts: Heinle and Heinle Publishers.
Larson, H.A. 2007. Reducing Test Anxiety Among Third Grade Students Through the Implementation of Relaxation Techniques. Eastern Illinois University.
Nunan, D. And Bailey, K.M. 2009. Exploring Second Language Classroom Research. Sherrise Roehr.
Rohmatika, Rina. 2007. The Rule of Teacher Training Program in the Development of English Teaching Profesionalism at Elementary School. Galuh University. unpublished.
Surya, Muhammad. 1996. Psikologi Pembelajaran Dan Pengajaran. Brunei Darussalam University.
Tanveer, Muhammad. 2007. Investigation of the factors that cause language anxiety for ESL/EFL learners in learning speaking skills and the influence it casts on communication in the target language. University of Glasgow.
Tsiplakidess, L. 2009. Helping Students Overcome Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety in the English Classroom: Theoretical Issues and Practical Recommendations. MEd in TESOL, Greek Open University.
Turner, D.W. 2010. Qualitative Interview Design: A Practical Guide for Novice Investigators. Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida USA.
Vitasari, Prima. 2010. The Use of Study Anxiety Intervention in Reducing Anxiety to Improve Academic Performance among University Students. Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia.
Zhang, L.J. 2001. ESL Students' Classroom Anxiety. Institute of Education (Singapore).
(www.ccsnet.org/journal.html) Acessed on Tuesday, December 07th 2010.
(http://tip.psychology.org.html) Accessed on Tuesday, December 07th 2010.
VI. APPENDICES
Appendix I
ANGKET SIKAP SISWA
Anda dimohon kesediaannya untuk memberikan pendapat terhadap pernyataan mengenai sikap anda dalam pembelajaran berbicara (bahasa inggris). Angket ini bukan merupakan tes. Tak ada jawaban yang benar atau salah tentang pernyataan tersebut, jawaban anda tidak akan mempengaruhi nilai pelajaran anda. Namun, informasi yang anda berikan akan sangat berharga untuk perbaikan pembelajaran dalam pembelajaran (Bahasa inggris). Setelah anda membaca dengan seksama suatu pernyataan, putuskanlah bagaimana pendapat anda tentang pernyataan itu dengan seksama suatu pernyataan, putuskanlah bagaimana pendapat anda tentang pernyataan itu dengan menuliskan checklist pada pernyataan yang sesuai dengan pendapat anda, yaitu:
SS : Sangat Setuju
S : Setuju
NT : Netral
TS : Tidak Setuju
TS : Sangat Tidak Setuju
Selamat bekerja dan jawablah dengan sejujur-jujurnya. Tidak lupa saya ucapkan terimakasih.
No.
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Pernyataan
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SS
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S
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NT
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TS
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STS
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1
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Saya ragu untuk berbicara Bahasa Inggris karena Saya tidak mengetahui susunan kata yang benar, baik dalam susunan kata (grammar), kosa kata (Vocabulary), dan cara pengucapan nya (pronounciation).
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2
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Saya sering diejek atau di tertawakan teman ketika mencoba berbicara Bahasa Inggris.
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3
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Saya suka ditegur guru karena salah dalam berbicara Bahasa Inggris yang benar, jadi saya memilih diam.
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4
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Saya malu untuk berbicara Bahasa Inggris.
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5
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Saya mempunyai teman yang bisa diajak berbicara Bahasa Inggris. Jadi saya terbiasa berbicara bahasa inggris.
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6
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Saya selalu gerogi jika berbicara Bahasa Inggris.
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7
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Saya Ragu berbicara Bahasa Inggris karena saya jarang belajar/latihan berbicara dalam Bahasa Inggris.
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8.
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Saya menyukai pelajaran Bahasa Inggris.
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9.
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Saya pikir bisa berbicara Bahasa Inggris begitu penting.
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10.
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Saya ingin bisa berbicara Bahasa Inggris dengan baik dan benar.
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11.
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Saya tidak ragu untuk berbicara Bahasa Inggris, walaupun saya kurang menguasai Bahasa Inggris yang baik dan benar.
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12.
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Saya pikir siswa lain lebih baik Bahasa Inggris nya daripada saya.
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13.
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Saya takut resiko dari kesalahan dalam berbicara Bahasa Inggris.
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14.
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Saya merasa begitu percaya diri ketika menggunakan Bahasa Inggris di depan siswa lain.
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15.
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Saya akan berusaha lebih santai/rilex untuk berbicara Bahasa Inggris.
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16.
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Saya ingin private Bahasa Inggris agar bisa berbicara Bahasa Inggris dengan baik dan benar.
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17.
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Saya suka membaca tentang dialog2/percakapan dalam bahasa inggris.
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18.
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Saya suka bertanya kepada teman jika ada pembicaraan bahasa inggris yang tidak diketahui.
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19.
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Saya suka mendengarkan dialog/percakapan dalam bahasa inggris, baik di TV atau di kaset.
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20.
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Saya memang siswa yang pendiam.
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Appendix 2
For interview :
1. Apakah kamu ragu untuk berbicara bahasa inggris?
2. Faktor apa yang menyebabkan kamu ragu untuk berbicara dalam bahasa inggris?
3. Bagaimana kamu mengantisipasi keragu-raguan kamu untuk berbicara bahasa inggris?
