Students’ anxiety in learning English and their attitude towards English language

Abstract

This study aimed to find the correlation students’ anxiety in learning English and their attitude towards English language, the simultaneous effect of the factors of anxiety (i.e. communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation, test anxiety, and anxiety of English classes) on attitude, and which factors of anxiety best predicted attitude.  A combination of anxiety and attitude questionnaire consisted of 39 items were distributed to 168 students of 11th grade in a selected SMAN Balikpapan.  Based on statistical analysis, the results were: (1) there was a significant negative correlation between the two variables, (2) communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation, test anxiety, and anxiety of English classes did not affect attitude simultaneously, and (3) none of the factors of anxiety best predicted attitude.  It is concluded that there are other anxiety factors that affect attitude; therefore, it is recommended that further studies be conducted to see other factors that may affect attitude toward English language