e-Journal of Linguistics


Available online at https://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol/index

Vol. 17, No. 1, January 2023, pages: 100--107

Print ISSN: 2541-5514 Online ISSN: 2442-7586

https://doi.org/10.24843/e-jl.2023.v17.i01.p12

An Analysis of Students’ Writing Anxiety in English Learning at Grade XII MIPA 3 of SMAN 6 Padang

1Ilham Rulyandi

Universitas Putra Indoneisa “YPTK” Padang, Indonesia, [email protected]

Abstract*

Received Date: 1 September 2022

Accepted Date: 1 Nopember 2022

Published Date: 31 Januari 2023


Keywords:*

Students’ anxiety, students’ writing, anxiety problem, writing anxiety, sampling technique


This study aims to analysis of students’ writing anxiety in English learning at SMAN 6 Padang grade XII MIPA 3. This research is qualitative. The techniques of collecting data are Questionnaire and interview. The subject of this research was 36 students’ of XII MIPA 3. The purpose of this research is analyzed what factors cause students to be anxious about writing in English learning in grade XII MIPA 3 SMAN 6 Padang. The results of the data that have been obtained with the cognitive problems is the factors that most influence students’ anxiety in writing English especially in grade XII MIPA 3 at SMAN6 Padang, and from internal factors influencing students’ anxiety in writing English factor problem of word choice has the lowest score from internal factors in writing English classroom, it scores was 31.86%. And from external factors lowest score is lack of knowledge about writing stages, it score was 32.03%

  • 1.    Introduction

According to i Learners of English as a foreign language need to master a number of abilities, such as oral communication, reading comprehension, listening comprehension, and writing. Learners of second or foreign languages face particular challenges when it comes to the art of writing. Writing, the process of thinking to produce concepts, determining a strategy to categorize into clever writing, and composing the ideas into a statement and a paragraph clearly. For most people, it's their major means of expressing themselves intellectually, emotionally, and intellectually in general. Writing allows people to communicate ideas, sentiments, and persuasion and persuasion to others 2

According to 3 Writing anxiety, can be broken down into two types: somatic anxiety, and avoidance anxiety. Negative expectations, obsessive focus on one's own performance, and worry about how one is perceived by others are all examples of cognitive anxiety. One's sense of physical symptoms of worry, such as nervousness and tightness, is referred to as "somatic anxiety." A kind of anxiety known as avoidance anxiety occurs when students are unable to write 4.

Student of the SMAN 6 Padang, on the other hand, is still apprehensive and hesitant about writing in English. According to 5 as a result of their incompetence, as well as that of the children they work with, this situation has occurred. They are unable to write in English because of their fear. They have to deal with their own issues, as well as those of their peers, teachers, and other members of the community. Writing anxiety is common among foreign language learners because of this β.

Meanwhile, the researcher observed evidence of concern in his teaching practice at SMAN 6 Padang, where some students are still having difficulty expressing their ideas in formal manner. Students'

101 inability to complete their homework, confusion, lack of self-assurance, and difficulty deciphering and comprehending writing English are all signs that they are suffering from anxiety.

According to 7 several factors cause them to be unable to understand the writing. First, the lack of background those students have when writing, especially in English. Therefore, they do not get an idea of what they have been writing. Second, the students do not master enough vocabulary when they are writing the text. So, this is will make it difficult for them to understand the writing because they are not able to get a good in writing in English.

  • 2.    Research Methods

As a result of discovering data on students' writing anxiety in an English-language classroom, the researcher decided to conduct descriptive qualitative research. When conducting a basic qualitative study, or "basic interpretative study," the goal is to gain insight into the phenomenon, process, or specific point of view of those who are directly involved, according to 8. Due to the fact that students' writing anxiety is being studied, the researcher employs this research design.

A research setting is a location where someone conducts research in order to collect data from research participants. This research was conducted in SMAN 6 Padang. The address of the school itself is at Jl. Koto Kaciak, Mata Air, Kec. Padang Sel., Padang City, West Sumatra.

In conducting a research, it is important to determine the research participants. According to 9 that sampling is a method for selecting a small number of people from a larger group. As a result, the degree to which the results can be generalized is directly related to the number of samples selected.

Purposive sampling is used by the researcher. The researcher selects a sample based on his her experience knowledge of the group to be sampled when using purposive sampling, which also known as judgment is sampling. In other words, the researcher would only pay attention to the students in the first semester of the English-language learning program who have writing anxiety (XII MIPA 1, XII MIPA 2, XII MIPA 3, XII MIPA 4, and XII MIPA 5). Then, one class will be selected as a representative sample. There are 36 students in class XII MIPA 3.

The sources of the data in this research are students’ writing anxiety in the form of students’ answer of questionnaire and interview. Those data are collected from students’ questionnaire, and from interview. The data use documentation, questionnaire, and interview to know what factors made students anxiety writing in English learning.

Instrument is one of element that is important in conducting a research. Instrument is a tool that is needed by researcher to gather any information in a research. According to 10 there are 4 types of data collection, they are observation, interview, document, and audio-visual material. In this research, the researcher will only use questionnaire and interview. The researcher also will apply questionnaire and interview to obtain the data from students.

  • 1) . Questionnaire

In addition to student interviews, the researchers used a questionnaire to gather additional data. Researchers made use of closed questions. No free writing is required for this item; instead, the respondent must select one of the options presented, regardless of whether their preferred response is one of the options.

  • 2) . Interview

According to the definition of an interview, this is a process used to gather data by asking people directly. Verbal activities are conducted in a single-on-one conversation between an interviewer and the respondent. Interviews, on the other hand, are methods for obtaining information from people by asking those questions in person. In addition to using observation and questionnaire, the researcher also uses interview to obtain the data of the research. Interview is a series of asking and answering activities that are conducted to get any information to the interviewee. Interview is an extendable conversation between people that aims to get in-depth information a certain topic or subject and from interview; a

phenomenon can be interpreted by the interview. Interview is also used to know factor that makes students anxiety writing in English learning. There are 3 students who will be interviewed asked to give information more detail.

In conducting this research, the researcher collects the data by questionnaire and interview. The technique in collecting data, as follow:

  • 1.    Questionnaire

  • a.    At the end of class time, the researcher asked the students for permission to ask for a few minutes to be questionnaire and give explain how to answer the questionnaire. And then the researcher gives the questionnaire to the students at grade XII MIPA 3 of SMAN 6 Padang

  • b.    The students answered and collected the questionnaire to the researcher.

  • 2.    Interview

  • a.    The researcher prepares some questions to be asked to students

  • b.    After that, the researcher picks a portion of the sample to be interviewed

  • c.    The researcher takes a note the answers from students

  • d.    The data will be analyze the answers from students to know the types writing anxiety

Table 1 Indicator of Writing Anxiety

Aspect               Concept/Meaning

NO Indicator

Cognitive Problems

Cause by physically and healthy

1     Internal

factor

Grammatical

Problems

Cause by incorrect grammar when writing

Problem of Word Choice

Cause by sometimes in haste or out of ignorance, authors tend to use incorrect words.

2

External

Lack      Learners’

Cause by never watch and read motivator

factor

Motivation

Lack of Knowledge

Cause by less of knowledge about

about Writing Stages writing

Lack of Practice


Cause by rarely to do learning at home

Table 2 Internal factors students’ anxiety in writing English

No

Indicator        Total   Percent

component               (%)

1

Grammatical         223     32.75%

Problems

2

Problem of Word     217     31.86%

Choice

3

Cognitive Problems   241      35.39%

Jumlah      681      100%

Table 3 the external factors students’ anxiety in writing English

No

Indicator component

Total

Percent

(%)

1

Lack of Knowledge about Writing

205

32.03%

Stages

2

Lack Learners’ Motivation

214

33.44%

3

Lack of Practice

221

34.53%

Jumlah

640

100%

  • 3.    Discussions

The results presented the findings of the data analysis. The questionnaire was used to determine the factors that contribute to students' anxiety when writing in English. The data was gathered from MIPA 3 students in the first semester at SMAN 6 Padang.

The factors that contribute to students' anxiety in writing English in MIPA 3 at SMAN 6 Padang's first semester. They are as follows:

  • 1.    The internal factors that cause the students’ anxiety in writing English

It was previously mentioned that there were three factors that contributed to the students' anxiety when it came to writing in English. These factors were grammatical problems, problems with word choice, and cognitive challenges. The questionnaire contained a total of six different questions.

  • a.    Cognitive Problems

One of the elements that influences students' anxiety that focuses on internal factors is cognitive problems. These aspects are internally focused. There were two items pertaining to cognitive issues that were included in the questionnaire.

Based on the data that was analyzed and used in the Cause of Writing Anxiety Inventory (CWAI) that was proposed by ₁₁, saw that rotated the mean factors that given meaning as expected and each factor can already be interpreted clearly. This was seen based on the Cause

of Writing Anxiety Inventory (CWAI). Because the loading factor with a strong internal factor than its score was 35.39%, cognitive problems were considered to be an internal factor. Additionally, the number of cognitive problems was greater than that of any other internal factor.

  • b.    Grammatical Problems

Grammatical errors are one of the many reasons that might contribute to students' anxiety, particularly those that are focused on as being internal issues. There are two questions pertaining to grammatical issues that are included in the questionnaire.

The mean factors that given meaning as expected and each factor can ready be interpreted clearly, grammatical problems included internal factor because factor with a strong internal factor that its score 32.75%, it means that grammatical problems was the second highest score on internal factor that influenced students' anxiety to writing English in grade XII MIPA 3 at SMAN 6 Padang. The mean factors that given meaning as expected and each factor can ready be interpreted clearly.

  • c.    Problem of Word Choice

The problem of word choice is one of the aspects of the internal elements that are impacting students' anxiety. These aspects are centered on the classroom environment. There are two questions pertaining to the issue of word choice that are included in the questionnaire.

The factors that have, as was to be expected, provided significance, and each component may already be interpreted in a straightforward manner. The problem of word choice was considered an internal factor because the factor with a strong internal factor had a score of 31.86%. This indicates that the problem of word choice was lower than the other internal factors that influenced the students' anxiety when writing English in grade XII MIPA 3 at SMAN 6 Padang.

  • 2.    The external factors that cause the students’ anxiety in writing English

It was mentioned before that there were three external elements that contributed to the students' anxiety when it came to writing in English. These factors are a lack of understanding about the stages of writing, a lack of learners' motivation, and a lack of practice. There were a total of six questions on the questionnaire.

  • a.    Lack of Practice

One of the external issues that is being focused on that contributes to the students' anxiousness is the fact that they do not get enough practice. There were two questions pertaining to the lack of practice aspect that were included in the questionnaire.

The factors that have, as was to be expected, provided significance, and each component may already be interpreted in a straightforward manner. Because the mean factor with a strong external factor that its score was 34.53%, lack of practice was considered to be an external component. Additionally, the number of people who lacked practice was the greatest among all external factors. The number of students' lack of practice was the higher factor in external factors that influenced students' anxiety to writing English in grade XII MIPA 3 at SMAN 6 Padang. This is because the mean factor with a strong score, its 34.53% much more powerful than all of the other external factors, and the number of students' lack of practice was the highest factor in external factors that influenced students' anxiety to writing English.

  • b.    Lack Learners’ Motivation

One of the elements that contributes to the students' anxiousness that is focused on from outside sources is a lack of motivation on the part of the students. The element of a lack of learners' motivation was addressed in the questionnaire on two separate occasions.

The data analysis that was used for the Cause of Writing Anxiety Inventory (CWAI) that was proposed by Rezaei and Jafari (2014) Cause of Writing Anxiety Inventory (CWAI), saw that rotated the mean factors that given meaning as expected and each factor can ready be interpreted clearly. This was seen based on the Cause of Writing Anxiety Inventory (CWAI). Lack of learners' motivation factor was the second highest influenced factor in external factors because the mean factor with a strong score, its 33.44% much more powerful than lack of knowledge about writing stages and the number of lack of practice was the second higher factor that influenced students' anxiety to writing English in grade XII MIPA 3 at SMAN 6 Padang. This was because the mean factor with a strong score, its 33.44% much more powerful than lack of knowledge about writing stages.

  • c.    Lack of Knowledge about Writing Stages

One of the elements affecting the students' anxiousness that was focused on was external causes, and one of those aspects is a lack of awareness about the stages of writing. In the questionnaire, there were two items related to the factor of having insufficient information about the stages of writing.

The factors that have, as was to be expected, provided significance, and each component may already be interpreted in a straightforward manner. Lack of information about writing stages was included as an external factor due to the fact that the mean score for all of the writing stages was 32.03%, and the number of people who lacked knowledge about writing stages was the lowest factor among all of the external variables. This finding indicates that students in grade XII MIPA 3 at SMAN 6 Padang had the least amount of anxiety when it came to writing English since the lack of understanding about writing phases was the external factor with the lowest score.

Problems in writing

Students’ Anxiety


Internal factors:

  • •    Grammatical

Problems

  • •    Problem of Word

Choice

  • •    Cognitive Problems



External factors:

  • •    Lack of Knowledge about Writing Stages


  • •    Lack Learners’


Motivation


  • •    Lack of Practice


Figure 1.

  • 4.    Novelties

  • A.    Theoretically

The findings of this study are to help Readers, students, and teachers to be aware of students' writing anxiety in learning English and can prevent worries, which can make it easier for future learning or what will be teach..

  • B.    Practically

  • 1.    English Teachers

The researcher hopes that the results of research that analyzes students' concerns in writing English can reduce fear in learning English, more precisely in writing using English and increase students' interest in being more enthusiastic in learning English.

  • 2.    English Learners

In order to help students, overcome their fear of learning a new language, teachers should be aware of their students' anxieties and reassure them that studying English isn't scary at all. With these efforts, of course, it will affect the interests, learning styles of students, and will make an increase in the student's own value later. However, the researcher also believes that this will make it easier for students to practice writing words and sentences.

  • 3.    For Further Researchers

This anxiety analysis can also be used for researchers by knowing what the weaknesses are, which makes them lazy and anxious in learning English. With that, researchers can take lessons from the findings of this research and can also serve as a source of data for another research.

  • 4.    For Readers

By analyzing and knowing the anxiety of writing in English, the researcher hopes that by reading this research, readers will have new ways to practice their writing skills. Readers can also use the findings of this study as inspiration for their own work.

  • 5.    Conclusion

Based on the results of the analysis, there are two factors influencing students’ anxiety in writing English that internal and external factor. Based on the findings of factor analysis, Cause of Writing Anxiety Inventory (CWAI) proposed by Rezaei & Jafari (2014) Cause of Writing Anxiety Inventory (CWAI). The mean factor cognitive problems its score was 35.39%. And from all factor influencing students’ anxiety in writing English, factor cognitive problems that have the highest score from all of factors in writing English classroom. This means that cognitive problem is the factor that most influence students’ anxiety in writing English especially in grade XII MIPA 3 at SMAN 6 Padang. And from internal factors influencing students’ anxiety in writing English, factor problem of word choice has the lowest score from internal factors in writing English classroom, it score was 31.86%. And from external factors influencing students; anxiety in writing English, factor lack of knowledge about writing stages, it score was 32.03%.

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Biography of Author

V

I Ilham Rulyandi was born in Padang on April 10th, 2000. I was graduated from Vocational High School 2 Padang, with my major is Technical computer and networking.

Email: [email protected]