Young English Learners’ Anxiety: The Case in Indonesian Elementary Classroom

Abstract

It is a common phenomenon that English language learners suffer from anxiety when they step into a language class, especially in the oral-focused lesson. This situation is experienced not only by adult English learners but also by the young ones who are learning in English-speaking classes at the elementary school level. Language anxiety they have is triggered by or originated from numerous factors, including the teacher’s identity factor. A teacher who is a ‘native’ speaker of the language is believed to gear greater anxiety among English as a foreign language learners resulted in passiveness and withdrawal from oral activities in the class. Referring to the circumstance, this study, was conducted to see the level of anxiety in English speaking classes which were taught by a native English speaker teacher (NEST) as well as to see the possible aspects evoking foreign language anxiety among young English learners. This present research, particularly, involved 69 active students of Tarakanita 1 elementary school in Jakarta. The research data was collected using a qualitative method with a set of questionnaires as a major data collection instrument, embracing three key indicators namely fear of communicating, fear of negative evaluations, and testing anxiety. To identify similarities and differences among students of differing anxiety levels, five categories: very low, low, moderate, high, and very high anxiety are applied. Quantitative analysis of the data revealed that the participants exhibit different levels of anxiousness in speaking English with a native English speaker. The highest percentage fell at high level category which was applied for the three aforementioned indicators. Pertaining to the factors influence might arouse anxiety in speaking class fear of communicating, contribute as much as the other two: fear of negative evaluations, and testing anxiety. The findings of this study are expected to benefit both teachers and students. It is hoped that students will develop more awareness towards factors, as anxiety, that may hinder them from mastering English-speaking skill and find solutions to overcome anxiety in speaking. Moreover, teachers are hoped to be more understanding and concerned with the anxiety young English learners experience and help them reduce their anxiety during the classroom performance through implementing various strategies.