Investigating the Anxiety Factors among English for Specific Purposes Students in a Vocational Education setting

Abstract

This paper investigates the most influential factor of anxiety in the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) context through classroom observation and questionnaires in a private vocational higher education in Indonesia. It also explores the differences in the anxiety level based on the year of study. One hundred seventy-one students participated in the study. The Foreign Language Anxiety Classroom Scale (FLACS) questionnaire was adapted to find out the students' anxiety levels. The questionnaire was administered using Google form, then collected and statistically analyzed using SPSS. It was revealed that the most influential factor of students' anxiety was the domain of Communication Apprehension. Furthermore, the ANOVA test showed that all students in each year suffered from anxiety. The most notable cause of the Communication Apprehension domain was performing without preparation. Self-negative evaluation was the primary cause of the Fear of Negative Evaluation domain. Meanwhile, for the domain of Test Anxiety, failure in language tests was the principal reason. This study implies that teachers should frame pleasant communication in the classroom as well as create fun and collaborative activities to reduce students' anxiety.

Exploring Students’ Anxiety in Online and Offline English Language Classrooms

“…Unlike the original version, which used a five-point Likert scale, the FLCAS questionnaire in this study used a 4-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 ('strongly agree') to 4 ('strongly disagree'), to avoid neutral responses. This study's four-point Likert scale in FLCAS is similar to Ayuningtyas et al (2022), which aimed to maintain internal reliability.…”

“…Furthermore, Horwitz (2014) also indicated that this instrument has high reliability and validity as more results show that foreign language anxiety has a significant role in foreign language learning. Some researchers have also conducted key studies that investigate the relationship between FLCA and test performance dating back from the early 1990s (Aida, 1994;Phillips, 1992) until the 2000s, with various contexts and English skills being investigated (Ayuningtyas, Mauludin, & Prasetyo, 2022;Cakici, 2016;Cao, 2011;Liu, 2022;Subekti, 2018). These studies show a negative correlation between high anxiety levels and test performance.…”

“…While for Indonesia's context, Yaniafari and Rihardini (2021) found that learners are less likely to feel anxious in their online speaking classes. Regarding anxiety factors, a study conducted in vocational higher education showed Communication Apprehension as the leading cause of anxiety (Ayuningtyas et al, 2022).…”