Anxiety Level of an Indonesian EFL Student in a Public Speaking Class: a Narrative Inquiry

Abstract

People can get knowledge about English by learning in formal and non-formal institution. If formal institution needs long time to get English, non-formal institution is different. English Course is one of non-formal education which can be an alternative place to get knowledge about English. Nowadays many English courses are founded to help people master English. Many English courses have been born and walked side by side with the existence of formal school to assist students improving their academic performance. In East Java, There is a place called Kampung Inggris Pare that offers many English courses. This place is one of the environments which provides many English courses with variety programs and duration of study. This research was designed to explore the anxiety level of an Indonesian EFL student in public speaking class and how the study participant anticipate his anxiety in a public speaking class. Situated in an English course in East Java, the present study employed narrative inquiry for the data collection. The data were garnered through semi-structured interviews with the participant. The data analysis followed the three-dimensional space of narrative inquiry. The findings of this research revealed Boy had anxiety because he was afraid of being the focus of attention. He also admitted that he was anxious when he had to speak in front of many people. However, he also admitted that he was anxious only in front of public. As a result, when asked to speak English in public, he got nervous. The constrains that the student encountered in doing public speaking which was the same as the problems that he faced when he has to be friend with his mindset. He thinks that the difficult thing is not only being speaker in public but also the difficult is from himself. He is afraid if he can’t be good speaker. Furthermore, Boy's anxiety was as a result of his lack of preparation. Boy's worry was also related to lack of preparation. Boy also stated that speaking English with preparation made him feel less nervous and more confident. Finally, anxiety was experienced by Boy in learning public speaking since he felt anxious giving an English speech. He does self-control so that he can complete public speaking. He assumes all audiences are friends, trying to build confident, pray, change his mindset, practice then relax.