STUDENTS’ ANXIETY AND SPEAKING PERFORMANCE OF TENTH-GRADE AT SMA NEGERI 12 MEDAN

Speaking in a foreign language, students certainly experience various obstacles.
One of the barriers is the psychological aspect, which is anxiety. This study is
intended to know the level of students’ anxiety and identify possible factors
contributing to the anxiety in the English class. The data came from a class of first
grade students at Senior High School of SMAN 12 Medan. This research used a
descriptive qualitative method with a case study approach. The researcher used two
kinds of instruments to collect the data. The first instrument is the Foreign
Language Classroom Anxiety Scale questionnaire, developed by Horwitz et al.
(1986). It consists of 33 items with a 5 points Likert-Scale. The second instrument
is the semi-structured interview. The result of this research shows that most of the
students are at a "Very Anxious" level without being "Relaxed and Very Relaxed."
There are 11 (44%) students who experience the "Very Anxious" level, 7 (28%)
students are in the "Anxious" level, and 7 (28%) of the 25 students are in the "Mildly
Anxious" level. The result of the research shows the dominant type of anxiety is
"State Anxiety." This is shown based on the results of the questionnaire that was
given to the participants. This research also showed that speaking in front of the
class, unintelligible input, personality and attitude of the teacher, other people's
laughter, students’ perception of language learning, and inappropriate preparation
were the six factors that may contribute to the students’ anxiety in learning English.
Ten anxious students were selected as the participants.