An Investigation of Undergraduate Students’ Foreign Language

Anxiety

Ardina Udiawan

Learning foreign language covers numerous aspects which lead learners to achieve
their objectives. In order to reach that objectives, there are many factors that
influence their learning. One of the factors is foreign language anxiety. The
researcher conducted this research to investigate foreign language anxiety
experienced by undergraduate students. The setting was in one of private University
in Yogyakarta. There were 40 participants joined this research. Interview was
carried out to dig up more information. To find out the FLA, the researcher adopted
FCLAS designed by Horwitz et al (1986). The finding showed that there was no
significant difference between female and male students. In addition, there are three
aspects covered by the questionnaire namely communication apprehension, anxiety
of test, and fear of negative evaluation.
Keywords: foreign language anxiety, language learning, flcas

Introduction

Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is one of the fields that tries to research
people’s ability to acquire other languages in a certain period soon after they got
the first language or mother tongue (Ortega, 2013:1). It covers many areas or
phenomena that can be studied. Gass and Selinker (2008) in Patten and Benati
(2010:1) stated that SLA dealt with the process of learning second language done
by the L2 learners. In this case, it included the elements that were not acquired in
the second language. One of the phenomena that is interesting to be observed in
SLA is affect and other individual differences. This area deals with the various
aspects that influence people in learning second language (Ortega, 2013:192). Jeff
Siegel in Doughty and Long (2005) stated that there was three factors in the affect
and individual difference. They are motivation, self-confidence, contact or
interaction’s level and anxiety. Experts believed those aspects can have a great
effect on their ability in terms of learning and using the second language. In this
case, the different level of learners will determine how better they are in utilizing

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the new language. Furthermore, the one of factors in the affect and individual
difference as mentioned previously is language anxiety.

Gass and Selinker (2008:400), anxiety refers to a factor that influence the
second language learning. Ozturk and Gurbuz (2013) in Karatas et al. (2016)
categorized anxiety as one of the components in someone’s behaviour along with
self-esteem, motivation, and extroversion. The anxiety itself comes from the
behaviours or the feeling emerged responding the stimulation or both of them.
Furthermore, according to Krashen (2009:31), people who have a low level of
anxiety tend to have a more promising learning of a foreign language than those
who have a high level of anxiety. Ortega (2013:192) also stated that language
anxiety related to emotions such as fear of something and nervousness that language
learners feel when dealing with the language they are learning. Meanwhile, when
dealing with the classroom situation, language anxiety became one of the factors
that affected the students’ motivation in the learning language since anxiety
contributed in building learners’ attitude in the course (Cook, 2008:13). Dordinejad
and Ahmadabad (2014) believed that foreign language anxiety was a component
that can affect someone’s accomplishment during studying a foreign language.
Thus, Du (2019) specified four components that can lead the students to have high
level of anxiety. They are communication apprehension, fear of negative
evaluation, test anxiety and general anxiety. However, Alrabai (2014) only
mentioned three sources of foreign language anxiety namely communication
apprehension, negative evaluation, and negative attitudes.

Moreover, to investigate more about this area, some researchers had

conducted several studies. For instance, research conducted by Elaine Horwitz in
the United States (Ortega, 2013:200). Elaine conducted a program to find out the
language anxiety that second language learners have felt during their foreign
language class since those learners, never practice their ability in the real situation
such as talking to native speakers. In this research, he developed an instrument in
order to know the anxiety of the participants called FLCAS (Foreign Language
Classroom Anxiety Scale) that contains 33 questions encompassing areas in
language anxiety in the class. Meanwhile, Peter MacIntyre from Canada had
conducted another research. His primary purpose of research aimed at observing

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the learners’ anxiety during the communication with other participants in a certain
situation. Thus, he gave information that there is a connection between social
attitudes and behavioural communication. The instrument used in this research was
Input, Processing, and Output Anxiety Scale (IPOAS), and it was designed by him
and Gardner in 1994 which consisted of 18 five-point Likert scale items. In 2009,
Pichette also conducted a research related to foreign language anxiety. He studied
the language anxiety and the distance language learning. His research consisted of
186 speakers who spoke French and studied foreign language. The result showed
that there was no significance difference of foreign language anxiety among the
learners using the t-Test. Some researchers also had conducted recent studies, for
instance Thompson and Khawaja (2015), Elaldi (2016), Karatas et al (2016),
Melcchor-Couto (2016), Kao and Craige (2018), and Du (2019). They have
researched this area with different perspective such as different level of students,
setting, and relation to other factors.

Ortega (2013:201) mentioned that to understand the origin of foreign

language anxiety, we have to consider the important of self-perception and self-
concept. It was proven based on the research conducted by Onwuegbuzie (1999).
The result showed that the level of anxiety of 210 learners that joined the subject
was not in an ideal condition. Thus, language anxiety would influence to the
students’ performance. It is because those participants had low-sense of worth
supported by low perception which deals with their capability in learning.
Meanwhile, another issue related to foreign language anxiety deals with
counterproductive. This issue is related with leading to high levels of
disappointment and intense of failure. In this case, Gregersen and Horwitz (2002)
in Chilean University conducted a research related to this issue consisted of 78 EFL
learners. The result showed that there were four learners that had the highest anxiety
level showed by the statement they mentioned.

Meanwhile, there are some researches done in Indonesia related to language

anxiety. Katemba from Universitas Advent Indonesia (UNAI) conducted a research
dealing with language anxiety in 2013. Her research aimed at investigating the
relationship between anxiety in English, the achievement in English and the factors
that cause anxiety of the university student of Universitas Advent Indonesia. She

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had used a 50 items questionnaire taken from the anxiety inventory, and modified
the questionnaire in order to suit the need of her study. The result showed that the
level of anxiety of both males, females and types of school were oftentimes anxious.
She identified 14 factors causing anxiety and stated there was no significant
difference on the level of anxiety of these university students in English according
to gender and type of high school they graduated from since they fall on the same
range as interpreted oftentimes or highly anxious. Meanwhile, Pramuktiyono
(2016) did a research in order to find out the language anxiety of the students of
PGRI Ronggolawe University and its relationship towards the beliefs of language
learning especially English. In order to accomplish his research, he used FLCAS
and BALLI (Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory) questionnaires to reveal
the language anxiety and students’ beliefs. The finding showed that there was a
relationship between those factors. In addition, there was another research dealing
with language anxiety, but it was not conducted in Indonesia. Javed et al (2013) had
conducted a research related to the foreign language anxiety focusing on the
Pakistani and Indonesian students. They chose the postgraduate students as the
participant of research. In order to collect the data, they also used FLCAS Likert-
scale. Their finding showed that there was a foreign language anxiety found among
those participants. However, if dealing with the mean score, there was a difference
between the male and female students of Indonesia. Meanwhile, there was another
research that investigated the contribution of language anxiety and motivation in
learning the foreign language done by Wong (2009). Her research focused on how
those two aspects in the affect and individual difference influencing the learning of
a foreign language in the secondary school. The finding showed that there was a
different level of anxiety between the female and male students.
Based on the previous explanation, the writer wanted to conduct research
related to language anxiety since it is important to know that language anxiety in
order to provide more information about this area. The research aimed at finding
out whether foreign language anxiety influenced the learners’ performance in
speaking class. Furthermore, it is also necessary because language anxiety exists in
our daily life, especially in the situation where people were in the language learning
process whether it is in the formal or non-formal education. It will be beneficial for

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parties such as lecturers, teachers, learners, and other practitioners because by
knowing the level of anxiety of the students, for instance, the teacher can use that
information and make a further option dealing with this situation. For instance,
when the students have a high level of anxiety, the teacher can use a certain
technique in order to make the student engage in the class, apply a fun media, etc.
Thus other practitioners will also get its advantages based on the field they concern
with. In this matter there were several questions could be drawn related to language
anxiety that would be found in this research as follows:
a. Is there any difference of anxiety level of foreign language learners in the
undergraduate English education program?
b. What are the aspects of language anxiety found in the FLCAS Likert-scale
used in this research?
c. Is there any difference among those aspects based on this research?

Method

Participant

In this research, the participants were 40 students of English Education

from undergraduate level of a University in Yogyakarta. They were all in the
semester 5 and have enrolled English Education since elementary school.
They consisted of 17 males and 33 females. Before spreading the instrument,
the researcher asked permission from them whether they were willing to be
the participant of this research. Actually, there were 5 classes in which each
of them consisted of 35 students in the English education program, but after
spreading the instrument in the form of a questionnaire, which would be
explained more in the next section, there were only 40 participants who had
filled the questionnaire.

Instrument

In order to collect the data, the researcher used a questionnaire adapted

from the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) developed by
Horwitz et al. (1986) taken from Elaldi (2016). The questionnaire used
measured the level anxiety of the learners in which it contained 33 statements

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related language anxiety, and for each, item there were 5 options in which
they had to choose which one from the 5 scales (1=strongly agree, 2=agree,
3=neutral, 4=disagree, and 5=strongly disagree). It based on the most
appropriate to their condition. In this case, the previous researcher had
validated and tested this instrument. Hence, this instrument is valid and
reliable. The scale strongly agree showed that the participant had a high level
of anxiety. Meanwhile, those who chose strongly disagree meant that he or
she had a low level of anxiety. Besides, the researcher conducted an interview
in order to get in-depth information from the participant. The interview result
would strengthen the data gathered from the questionnaire. According to
Pramuktiyono (2016), there were several aspects covered by the FLCAS,
namely communication apprehension, anxiety of test, and fear of negative
evaluation. The statements’ number 1, 4, 9, 14, 15, 18, 24, 27, 29, 30, and 32
represented communication apprehension. Secondly, the statements’ number
3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, and 28 contained anxiety of
test. The third were number 2, 7, 13, 19, 23, 31, and 33 that represented the
fear of negative evaluation. The range of this scale started from 33 up to 165.
In this case, the high score indicated the higher level anxiety and vice versa.

Procedures

To gather the data, the researcher found the questionnaire as the

instrument in the Google scholar and download it. In this matter, the
researcher adapted the exact questionnaire of Foreign Language Anxiety
Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS Likert-scale) that consisted of 33
statements and rewrote them in the Google form. After that, the researcher
asked the participants to fill the online questionnaire in the estimated time by
providing them the link that would redirect them in to the FLCAS
questionnaire. However, before they filled in the questionnaire, the researcher
had informed them that they became the participants of language anxiety
research and told them what they had to do by using Whatsapp messenger
since it was more efficient to do. In addition, the online questionnaire was
chosen since it claimed to be more effective and efficient in certain condition
than using the manual questionnaire. After finishing the questionnaire, the

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 researcher forwarded the link of the online questionnaire, and gave the
participants 24 hours in order to fill the questionnaire. After 24 hours, the
researcher closed the link and started to input the data. Meanwhile, in order
to get in-depth information, the researcher did an interview after the
participants finished filling the questionnaire. Then he asked three of them
randomly to be the interviewee since there were only few of them who wanted
to be interviewed. The researcher took a note for writing important
information related to language anxiety.

Data Analysis

After gathering the data using the instrument mentioned above, the
researcher analysed the data. In this case, the researcher used SPSS IBM
Statistics 23 in order to observe the data and carried out it using Independent
sample t-Test. After that, the researcher analysed the data by applying
qualitative data analysis in which the researcher read all the information
related to the data, re-read all information and determined some specific
points to cover the information, put the information that had similarities into
the same cluster, identified the data, presented the data in the form of the
tables, interpreted the data based on the table and drawn the conclusion based
on analysis.

Finding

In this section, the researcher presented the findings based on the researcher
conducted. Here is the participants’ percentage shown by the following table:

Table 1.1 Participants’ percentage

Student's Gender
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid Female 27 67.5 67.5 67.5
Male 13 32.5 32.5 100.0
Total 40 100.0 100.0

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 Based on the table 1.1 above, the percentage of the female was higher than
male students. In this research, the researcher chose an English class to participate
in this research. However, from the whole class, there were only 40 students who
filled the questionnaire. In order to know the normality of the data, the researcher
used SPSS IBM Statistic 23 to test the data and the result was as follows:

Table 1.2 Test of Normality of the data

Tests of Normality
Student's Kolmogorov-Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk
Gender Statistic df Sig. Statistic df Sig.
Statement 1 Female .264 27 .000 .804 27 .000
Male .192 13 .200* .942 13 .487
Statement 2
Female .200 27 .007 .857 27 .002
Male .181 13 .200* .938 13 .436
Statement 3
Female .238 27 .000 .895 27 .010
Male .269 13 .011 .900 13 .132
Statement 4
Female .224 27 .001 .873 27 .003
Male .246 13 .031 .917 13 .230
Statement 5
Female .225 27 .001 .899 27 .013
Male .192 13 .200* .923 13 .278
Statement 6
Female .259 27 .000 .844 27 .001
Male .372 13 .000 .708 13 .001
Statement 7
Female .249 27 .000 .830 27 .000
Male .278 13 .007 .862 13 .041
Statement 8
Female .313 27 .000 .841 27 .001
Male .246 13 .031 .917 13 .230
Statement 9
Female .306 27 .000 .856 27 .002
Male .195 13 .188 .874 13 .059
Statement 10
Female .317 27 .000 .845 27 .001
Male .258 13 .018 .785 13 .005
Statement 11
Female .220 27 .002 .909 27 .022
Male .224 13 .072 .878 13 .066
Statement 12
Female .251 27 .000 .856 27 .002
Male .243 13 .034 .902 13 .141
Statement 13
Female .196 27 .009 .876 27 .004
Male .191 13 .200* .927 13 .316
Statement 14
Female .265 27 .000 .868 27 .003
Male .166 13 .200* .938 13 .437

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Statement 15
Female .273 27 .000 .862 27 .002
Male .314 13 .001 .730 13 .001
Statement 16
Female .252 27 .000 .867 27 .003
Male .299 13 .002 .800 13 .007
Statement 17
Female .194 27 .011 .888 27 .007
Male .213 13 .111 .915 13 .216
Statement 18
Female .234 27 .001 .897 27 .011
Male .299 13 .002 .821 13 .012
Statement 19
Female .287 27 .000 .851 27 .001
Male .284 13 .005 .785 13 .005
Statement 20
Female .251 27 .000 .853 27 .001
Male .192 13 .200* .942 13 .487
Statement 21
Female .248 27 .000 .829 27 .000
Male .302 13 .002 .867 13 .048
Statement 22
Female .278 27 .000 .783 27 .000
Male .249 13 .027 .908 13 .174
Statement 23
Female .261 27 .000 .872 27 .003
Male .184 13 .200* .896 13 .116
Statement 24
Female .260 27 .000 .887 27 .007
Male .189 13 .200* .879 13 .070
Statement 25
Female .342 27 .000 .810 27 .000
Male .234 13 .049 .885 13 .084
Statement 26
Female .269 27 .000 .865 27 .002
Male .233 13 .053 .888 13 .093
Statement 27
Female .248 27 .000 .873 27 .003
Male .229 13 .061 .886 13 .087
Statement 28
Female .226 27 .001 .876 27 .004
Male .260 13 .016 .883 13 .078
Statement 29
Female .300 27 .000 .842 27 .001
Male .237 13 .044 .844 13 .024
Statement 30
Female .281 27 .000 .856 27 .001
Male .185 13 .200* .861 13 .039
Statement 31
Female .201 27 .007 .916 27 .032
Male .248 13 .028 .773 13 .003
Statement 32
Female .303 27 .000 .866 27 .002
Male .260 13 .016 .883 13 .078
Statement 33
Female .299 27 .000 .851 27 .001
Male .166 13 .200* .938 13 .437
*. This is a lower bound of the true significance.
a. Lilliefors Significance Correction

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 Table 1.2 showed that there were some data that were not normally
distributed. Based on Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, they were statement number 1, 3,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32, and 33
since they were lower than 0.005 or 0.001. If looked at Shapiro-Wilk test, there
were more data distributed normally and only five numbers which were abnormal.
They were number 1, 7, 21, 22, and 25. In this case, the researcher used significance
at 1% or 0.001 as the minimum requirement to judge the normality of the data.

Table 1.3 Independent samples t test of foreign language anxiety

Independent Samples Test
Levene's Test for
Equality of
Variances t-test for Equality of Means
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Sig. (2- Mean Std. Error Difference
F Sig. t df tailed) Difference Difference Lower Upper
Statement 1 .278 .601 .326 38 .746 .111 .341 -.578 .800
.314 21.701 .756 .111 .353 -.622 .845
Statement 2
.816 .372 -.468 38 .643 -.151 .323 -.805 .503
-.429 19.363 .673 -.151 .352 -.887 .585
Statement 3
.009 .923 .962 38 .342 .333 .346 -.368 1.034
.901 20.293 .378 .333 .370 -.437 1.104
Statement 4
.082 .777 .426 38 .673 .142 .335 -.535 .820
.393 19.627 .699 .142 .362 -.615 .900
Statement 5
.038 .846 .539 38 .593 .222 .412 -.612 1.057
.523 22.078 .606 .222 .425 -.659 1.103
Statement 6
6.282 .017 -.362 38 .719 -.117 .322 -.769 .536
-.315 17.296 .757 -.117 .371 -.898 .665
Statement 7
.279 .600 -.886 38 .381 -.311 .350 -1.020 .399
-.922 26.320 .365 -.311 .337 -1.003 .382
Statement 8
1.195 .281 -.219 38 .827 -.068 .312 -.699 .562
-.194 17.873 .848 -.068 .353 -.810 .673
Statement 9
.804 .376 .721 38 .475 .248 .344 -.448 .944
.688 21.212 .499 .248 .360 -.501 .997
Statement 10
.085 .772 1.755 38 .087 .627 .357 -.096 1.350
1.706 22.173 .102 .627 .367 -.135 1.388
Statement 11
.616 .437 1.067 38 .293 .368 .345 -.330 1.065
1.104 25.997 .280 .368 .333 -.317 1.052

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Statement 12
1.204 .279 1.070 38 .291 .373 .349 -.333 1.079
.990 19.726 .334 .373 .377 -.414 1.160
Statement 13
.270 .606 .738 38 .465 .259 .351 -.452 .971
.697 20.695 .494 .259 .372 -.515 1.034
Statement 14
.734 .397 -1.378 38 .176 -.487 .354 -1.203 .229
-1.268 19.507 .220 -.487 .384 -1.290 .316
Statement 15
.195 .661 3.167 38 .003 .860 .272 .311 1.410
3.111 22.747 .005 .860 .277 .288 1.433
Statement 16
.012 .914 .511 38 .612 .165 .323 -.489 .820
.508 23.476 .616 .165 .325 -.506 .837
Statement 17
.078 .781 -.059 38 .953 -.026 .434 -.904 .853
-.060 24.669 .953 -.026 .428 -.907 .856
Statement 18
.104 .749 -1.553 38 .129 -.521 .336 -1.201 .158
-1.518 22.473 .143 -.521 .343 -1.233 .190
Statement 19
.128 .722 -.277 38 .783 -.083 .299 -.687 .522
-.285 25.777 .778 -.083 .289 -.678 .512
Statement 20
.018 .894 1.377 38 .176 .481 .350 -.226 1.189
1.347 22.480 .192 .481 .358 -.259 1.222
Statement 21
.324 .573 -2.986 38 .005 -.880 .295 -1.477 -.284
-3.061 25.358 .005 -.880 .288 -1.472 -.289
Statement 22
6.641 .014 -.152 38 .880 -.048 .319 -.694 .598
-.129 16.457 .899 -.048 .377 -.845 .748
Statement 23
.560 .459 -.304 38 .763 -.097 .318 -.742 .548
-.288 20.759 .776 -.097 .337 -.798 .604
Statement 24
1.336 .255 -.385 38 .702 -.117 .303 -.731 .497
-.366 20.952 .718 -.117 .319 -.781 .547
Statement 25
3.864 .057 .718 38 .477 .205 .286 -.373 .784
.634 17.851 .534 .205 .324 -.475 .886
Statement 26
.010 .921 .740 38 .464 .248 .335 -.430 .926
.725 22.592 .476 .248 .342 -.460 .956
Statement 27
.447 .508 1.222 38 .229 .359 .294 -.236 .954
1.167 21.219 .256 .359 .308 -.281 .998
Statement 28
.035 .853 -1.748 38 .089 -.524 .300 -1.131 .083
-1.737 23.426 .095 -.524 .302 -1.148 .099
Statement 29
.256 .616 1.753 38 .088 .484 .276 -.075 1.044
1.608 19.356 .124 .484 .301 -.145 1.114
Statement 30
5.382 .026 .304 38 .763 .097 .318 -.548 .742
.265 17.416 .794 .097 .365 -.672 .866
Statement 31
.559 .459 .621 38 .538 .222 .358 -.502 .946
.668 28.753 .509 .222 .333 -.458 .903

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Statement 32
.002 .961 .018 38 .986 .006 .315 -.632 .644
.018 25.012 .985 .006 .309 -.631 .642
Statement 33
1.217 .277 1.263 38 .214 .439 .347 -.264 1.142
1.150 19.045 .264 .439 .381 -.359 1.237

Based on the independent sample t-Test above, it reported some information

for instance, homogeneity, mean difference, standard error difference, confidence
interval of difference. It showed that the sig. for levene’s test for equality of
variance for all numbers were all higher than 0.001. Since it was higher than 001,
it means the data were homogeneous. The next information was about the t-Test
result. According to the table 1.3 above, the sig. of data was all higher than 0.05.
Thus, we can conclude that there was no significant difference between female and
male students related to foreign language anxiety for both one tail or 2 tails of
significance. Furthermore, the researcher also presented the foreign language
classroom anxiety scale based on the three aspects and its percentage. The first
aspect was communication apprehension shown by statements number 1, 4, 9, 14,
15, 18, 24, 27, 29, 30, and 32 in the following table.

Table 1.4 the communication apprehension

Statement Scale Percentage (%)
SA A N D SD
1 I never feel quite sure of myself when I am 2.5 32.5 25 2.5 5

speaking in my foreign language class

4 It frightens me when I do not understand what the 2.5 20 37.5 30 10

teacher is saying in the foreign language

9 I start to panic when I have to speak without 2.5 17.5 22.5 45 12.5

preparation in language class

14 I would not be nervous speaking the foreign 12.5 22.5 40 20 5

language with native speakers.

15 I get upset when I do not understand what the 0 17.5 40 32.5 10

teacher is correcting.
18 I feel confident when I speak in foreign language 7.5 37.5 37.5 10 7.5

class

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 24 I feel very self-conscious about speaking the 2.5 22.5 45 25 5

foreign language in front of other students

27 I get nervous and confused when I am speaking in 0 12.5 32.5 42.5 12.5

my language class.
29 I get nervous when I do not understand every 0 17.5 47.5 27.5 7.5

word the language teacher says.

30 I feel overwhelmed by the number of rules you 0 15 40 30 15

have to learn to speak a foreign language.

32 I would probably feel comfortable around native 10 17.5 52.5 17.5 2.5

speakers of the foreign language.

The second aspect contained the test anxiety shown by statements number 3,
5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, and 28 in the following table.
Table 1.5 the test anxiety
Statement Scale Percentage (%)
SA A N D SD
3 I tremble when I know that I am going to be called 5 17.5 37.5 30 10

on in language class.
5 It would not bother me at all to take more foreign 12.5 15 30 30 12.5

language classes.
6 During language class, I find myself thinking 7.5 17.5 35 40 0

about things that have nothing to do with the

course.
8 I am usually at ease during tests in my language 10 20 52.5 15 2.5

class.
10 I worry about the consequences of failing my 7.5 10 20 50 12.5

foreign language class.

11 I do not understand why some people get so upset 2.5 20 32.5 32.5 12.5

over foreign language classes.

12 In language class, I can get so nervous I forget 2.5 30 22.5 37.5 7.5

things I know.

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 16 Even if I am well prepared for language class, I 5 2.5 30 47.5 15

feel anxious about it.

17 I often feel like not going to my language class. 25 15 37.5 12.5 10

20 I can feel my heart pounding when I am going to 7.5 10 35 37.5 10

be called on in language class.

21 The more I study for a language test, the more 0 30 30 32.5 7.5

confused I get.
22 I do not feel pressure to prepare very well for 2.5 20 30 42.5 5

language class.
25 Language class moves so quickly I worry about 0 12.5 25 52.5 10

getting left behind.

26 I feel more tense and nervous in my language 0 20 27.5 37.5 15

class than in my other classes.

28 When I am on my way to language class, I feel 5 32.5 45 12.5 5

very sure and relaxed.

The third was fear of negative evaluation shown by statements number 2, 7,

13, 19, 23, 31, and 33 in the following table.
Table 1.6 the fear of negative evaluation
Statement Scale Percentage (%)
SA A N D SD
2 I do not worry about making mistakes in language 5 27.5 35 30 2.5

class.
7 I keep thinking that the other students are better at 0 35 22.5 32.5 10

languages than I am.

13 It embarrasses me to volunteer answers in my 2.5 27.5 30 30 10

language class.
19 I am afraid that my language teacher is ready to 5 12.5 45 35 2.5

correct every mistake I make.

23 I always feel that the other students speak the 0 15 30 40 15

foreign language better than I do.

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 31 I am afraid that the other students will laugh at me 5 25 27.5 35 7.5

when I speak the foreign language.

33 I get nervous when the language teacher asks 5 12.5 27.5 42.5 12.5

questions which I have not prepared in advance.

Discussion
Foreign Language Anxiety among undergraduate students had been shown in
the previous tables. Based on the Independent sample t-Test table above, it showed
that the sig. value was all higher than 0.05. In this matter, it means there was no
significant difference between female and male students’ foreign language anxiety.

Based on the instrument used in this research, there were three aspects
covered namely communicative apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative
evaluation. In the communicative apprehension aspect, most of the participants
chose to be filling the neutral option. Thus, it can mean they were not sure what
they felt. They tended to be in safety zone rather than expressing what they feel.
However, the researcher could say that there were more positive apprehension since
the percentage showed that they mostly chose disagree option. Another interesting
point is that there was the same percentage of students who chose ‘agree’ and
‘disagree’ for statement number 32. Since learning language is meant to be a way
to communicate with native speaker or people who speak English, they were not
quite sure to be with them.

Meanwhile, there was also almost similar with the first aspect of language
anxiety. Most participants filled the answer with neutral option and there was a
tendency that they chose disagree option in order to reject the test anxiety. For
instance, statement number 8 said they were at ease when doing a test. Most of them
answered that they were neutral. It can indicate that they might be not in the good
condition. We can see from 17.5% of them who admitted it. Thus, there should be
follow-up for this statement. In this case, based on the interview with one of the
students, she said “… yes, sometimes I felt nervous when doing examination,
especially for speaking class. That is why I choose neutral.” This proved that neutral

15
did not mean they were in the good condition or could not easily handle their
feelings. It is also supported by the statement number 21 which related to strategy
to learn since they felt harder to face the test when they studied more. However,
there were more students who could cope with those problems. It is because there
were more percentage for ‘disagree’ option. In this case, other student mentioned
that although he was anxious he tried to manage his feelings. As the result, he could
avoid the problems related to test anxiety.

The last aspect of language anxiety is fear of negative evaluation. In this

aspect, the researcher found that there were more percentages in the negative option.
For instance, there were 65% of students who got nervous when did not prepare for
answering the teacher’s question. There was also problem that dealt with their
capacity in speaking. They thought other students had better skills than them. This
was revealed from 60% of them who agree with that statement. Meanwhile, 40
percent of students who rejected to be volunteer in their case. They were afraid if
they made mistake. A student said, “…since my pronunciation is not good enough,
so I felt embarrassed when making mistake. But actually I can understand what my
teacher asked to me.” In this case, this student should face the reality that his
speaking ability was poor. This was the reason why the fear of negative evaluation
is higher than other aspects. However, it still needs to be confirmed other possible
reasons that assist this aspect instead statement number 7 provided an evidence that
they were lack of confidence.

Conclusion
From the findings and discussion above, there are several conclusions that the
researcher can draw. Based on the normality test of foreign language anxiety, the
researcher could claim the data were normal, and the test could be continued.
Second, there was no significant difference of language anxiety and gender for both
female and male students in the English education program. The significant
difference was known from the sig. value that was higher than .05. Third, based on
the FLCAS questionnaire that consisted of the aspects which were the
communicative apprehension, anxiety of test, and fear of negative evaluation, the
anxiety level of the students were different in each aspect. It was shown by the
percentage of each items which the students chose when filling the questionnaire.

16
From these research findings, the researcher can conclude that the FLCAS likert-
scale could measure the level of anxiety of undergraduate students. Although the
students had learnt English since they were in the elementary school and have been
enrolling the English education program, they have different level of anxiety
depending on the certain situations or factors. These research findings can be
resource for other researcher who are willing to conduct the research in the same
area, in this case language anxiety. The different participant, setting, or other factors
used in the research can also create a different result. In addition, this research also
had several limitation. Since there were only 40 participants in this research, it can
affect the normality and homogeneity of the data. The interview also involved three
participants since there was a limited time. In the future research, it would be better
to cover more participants, dig up more information through indepth interview, and
conduct a class observation.

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 The Influence of Foreign Language Anxiety on Students' Performance in Speaking
Class at English Education Undergraduate Program

This research conducted aimed at finding out whether or not Foreign Language Anxiety
affects students' performance in the speaking class. Your participation is highly
appreciated.

Identity of Participant

Please write down your name and gender since your name will not be displayed in the
research finding.

Name *

Gender * Female Male

Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale
Read the statements below and choose the most appropriate option based on the following
criteria:
1. = Strongly Agree
2. = Agre3
3. = Neutral
4. = Disagree
5. = Strongly Disagree

1. I never feel quite sure of myself when I am speaking in my foreign language class.[1] [2]
[3] [4] [5]
2. I do not worry about making mistakes in language class.
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
3. I tremble when I know that I am going to be called on in language class. [1] [2] [3]
[4] [5]
4. It frightens me when I do not understand what the teacher is saying in the foreign language.
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
5. It would not bother me at all to take more foreign language classes. [1] [2] [3] [4]
[5]
6. During language class, I find myself thinking about things that have nothing to do with
the course.
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

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7. I keep thinking that the other students are better at languages than I am. [1] [2] [3]
[4] [5]
8. I am usually at ease during tests in my language class.
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
9. I start to panic when I have to speak without preparation in language class. [1] [2] [3]
[4] [5]
10. I worry about the consequences of failing my foreign language class. [1] [2] [3] [4]
[5]
11. I do not understand why some people get so upset over foreign language classes. [1] [2]
[3] [4] [5]
12. In language class, I can get so nervous I forget things I know. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
13. It embarrasses me to volunteer answers in my language class. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
14. I would not be nervous speaking the foreign language with native speakers. [1] [2] [3]
[4] [5]
15. I get upset when I do not understand what the teacher is correcting. [1] [2] [3] [4]
[5]
16. Even if I am well prepared for language class, I feel anxious about it. [1] [2] [3] [4]
[5]
17. I often feel like not going to my language class.
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
18. I feel confident when I speak in foreign language class.
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
19. I am afraid that my language teacher is ready to correct every mistake I make. [1] [2]
[3] [4] [5]
20. I can feel my heart pounding when I am going to be called on in language class. [1] [2]
[3] [4] [5]
21. The more I study for a language test, the more confused I get. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
22. I do not feel pressure to prepare very well for language class. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
23. I always feel that the other students speak the foreign language better than I do. [1] [2]
[3] [4] [5]
24. I feel very self-conscious about speaking the foreign language in front of other students.
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
25. Language class moves so quickly I worry about getting left behind. [1] [2] [3] [4]
[5]
26. I feel more tense and nervous in my language class than in my other classes. [1] [2] [3]
[4] [5]
27. I get nervous and confused when I am speaking in my language class. [1] [2] [3] [4]
[5]
28. When I am on my way to language class, I feel very sure and relaxed. [1] [2] [3] [4]
[5]
29. I get nervous when I do not understand every word the language teacher says. [1] [2]
[3] [4] [5]

21
30. I feel overwhelmed by the number of rules you have to learn to speak a foreign language.
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
31. I am afraid that the other students will laugh at me when I speak the foreign language. [1]
[2] [3] [4] [5]
32. I would probably feel comfortable around native speakers of the foreign language. [1]
[2] [3] [4] [5]
33. I get nervous when the language teacher asks questions which I have not prepared in
advance.
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
This instrument was adapted from Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale- (FLCAS)
developed by Horwitz et al. (1986).

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