REVIEW RELATED LITERATURE

ANXIETY IN SPEEAKING ENGLISH

Language acquisition is a difficult process that is impacted by a number of affective factors,

including motivation, personality qualities, and anxiety, in addition to the linguistic features of
the language itself. Anxiety stands out as the most significant and potentially dangerous
affective component that could obstruct language acquisition. Horwitz stated that researchers,
language teachers, and even language learners themselves have been interested in the
possibility that anxiety inhibits language learning for quite some time” (Horwitz 2001, p.112)

Numerous research findings reported a negative relationship between language anxiety and
achievement, the higher anxiety, the lower the performance (Clement, Gardner, & Smhyte,
1977, 1980, as cited in Tanveer, 2007, p.10). Horwitz stated “anxiety is indeed a cause of poor
language learning in some individuals”, furthermore he considered some possible source of
anxiety, including difficulty in authentic self-presentation and various language teaching
practices (Horwitz 2001, p.112) Significant negative correlations between. Language anxiety
and course grades have been reported for language such as Japanese (Aida. 1994), Spanish
(Horwitz, 1986), and French (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991b), (MarcIntyre, 1995, p.91).

While acquiring four language skills may be hampered by language anxiety, some studies have
suggested that learning speaking skills is the scenario that causes the most worry in learners.
Marclutyre and Gardner (1994) in their study said that speaking is the mam agent of anxiety
and students with high anxiety perform worse. They also found that in the three stages of
language acquisition that is input, processing and output, anxiety and learning achievement are
negatively correlated Kim (1998) found that students in a conversation class experienced higher
anxiety levels than students in a reading class. In addition, Saito, Horwitz, and Garza (1999)
found that the students tended to experience lower levels of reading anxiety than general
foreign language learning (Horwitz 2001, p. 220).

Padmadewi (1998) showed that students attending a speaking class frequently feel
uncomfortable due to the pressure of the speaking assignments, which force them to present
independently and spontaneously within a restricted time. Similar findings were reported in
some research on language anxiety in an Indonesian context. According to Tutyandarı’s (2005)
research, pupils remain mute in speaking classes due to a lack of confidence, inadequate prior
knowledge, and a bad teacher-student interaction.

Tanveer (2007) conducted a study on the causes of language anxiety and its effects on
communication skills with twenty participants in the EFL Unit and Department of Education at
the University of Glasgow, UK. According to Tanveer, language anxiety can originate from
learners’ own sense of’self, their self-related cognitions. Other research on language anxiety
was conducted by Na (2007) at senior high school in China, which found that students did in
fact have comparatively high anxiety when learning English and they experienced more fear of
negative evaluation. Challenges with language acquisition, variations in the target language
culture of learners, variations in the speakers’ and listeners’ social standing, and the fear of
losing one’s identity
SOME PERTINENT IDEAS

Definition and Type of Anxiety

“Anxiety is a psychological construct, commonly described by psychologists as a state of

apprehension, a vague fear that only indirectly associated with an object” (Hilgard, Atkinson, &
Atkinson, 1971, as cited in Tanveer, 1997. P. 3). Anxiety can be described as a psychological
condition when someone feels nervous, anxious or stressful in certain condition or situation.
Horwitz states that Anxiety, as perceived intuitively by many language learners, negatively
influences language learning and has been found to be one of the most highly examined
variables in all of psychology and education. (Horwitz, 2001, p.113)

Psychologists divided anxiety into three categories, those are trait anxiety, state anxiety and
specific-situation anxiety. State anxiety is anxiety which is brought on by situations involving
threat, meanwhile anxiety which is constantly felt by some individuals regardless of threats
generated within their environment, is called trait anxiety. On the other hand, situation-specific
anxiety, refers to the persistent and multi-faceted nature of some anxieties it is aroused by a
specific type of situation or event such as public speaking. Examinations, or class participation
(MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991).

Second or Foreign Language Anxiety

Anxiety may appear in many types of learning, but when it deals with language learning, it is
called ‘second or foreign language anxiety MacIntyre & Gardner (1994, as cited in Tanveer,
2007, p.4) defined language anxiety as “a subjective feeling of tension, apprehension,
nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the automatic nervous system”. While
Horwitz added that the feelings of tension or nervousness center on the two basic task
requirements of foreign language learning: listening and speaking because, in interaction, both
the skills cannot be separated.

Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986) defined foreign language anxiety as “a distinct complex set
of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom language learning
arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process” (Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope
1986, p. 128). According to Horwitz, in Horwitz and Cope (1986, p. 29), foreign language
education is a complex process, which involves learners’ self-perceptions, beliefs, and behaviors
particular to environments of foreign language learning. Some learners who do not find
difficulties in expressing themselves in their native language may get themselves in trouble
doing the same thing in the foreign language.

MacIntyre on the other hand, elaborated a type of anxiety called situation specific anxiety which
is experienced only in a particular and specific situation. Furthermore, MacIntyre argued that
foreign language anxiety is a situation specific anxiety that relates to environments of foreign
language learning, and that is felt when one is required to use a foreign language.
COMPONENT OF LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND RELATED CASUAL

Anxiety related to language use in academic and social contexts is categorized as performance
anxiety, which includes communication anxiety, exam anxiety, and dread of receiving a poor
grade. Since it manifests when a learner is speaking in the target language, Communication
Apprehension (CA) frequently becomes the main topic of discussion when it comes to language
anxiety. Horwitz et all (1986, p. 128) defined communication apprehension as “a type of
shyness characterized by fear or anxiety about communicating with people”. While according to
McCroskey communication apprehension is “an individual’s level of fear or anxiety associated
with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons” (McCroskey’s
1997a, p.78). Communication anxiety may be specific to just a few settings (e.g.. public
speaking) or may exist in most everyday communication situations, or may even be part of a
general anxiety trait that arises in many facets of an individual’s life. (Friedman, 1980, as cited
in Tanveer, 2007, p. 12).

Some Learners personality traits such as shyness, quietness, and reticence are frequently
referred as factors that provoke Communication Apprehension (CA). The level these feelings are
various from individual to individual, and from situation to situation (Tanveer 2007. P. 120). On
the other hand, test anxiety specifically happens when learners face language tests, more often
oral language test. Test anxiety, as explained by Horwitz. “refers to a type of performance
anxiety stemming from a fear of failure” (Horwitz 1986, p. 129).

One further kind of language anxiety that falls under the performance anxiety category is the
dread of receiving a poor grade. Horwitz claimed that fear of receiving a poor grade is a
continuation of test anxiety, the second component of second/foreign language anxiety, since it
can arise in any social evaluation scenario, including a job interview or speaking in a second
language class. Furthermore, its scope is expanded to encompass not only the teacher’s
assessment of the pupils but also the other students’ perceived responses (Shamas, 2006, p.
10).

REFERENCE

Mulyani, S. (2018). Investigating factors causing students’ anxiety in speaking English.

International Journal in Applied Linguistics of Parahikma, 85-99.