EFL STUDENTS’ STRATEGIES TO COPE WITH ANXIETY IN SPEAKING

Abstract

This research aims to identify and describe the factors of EFL students’ anxiety and the strategies to overcome their anxiety in speaking. The research subjects were 5 EFL students’ junior secondary school students of 8th grade in SMPN 6 Banjarmasin, the academic year of 2022/2023. In this study, the researcher used a qualitative method with a descriptive qualitative approach. The data were collected through observation in order to understand which participants experienced low levels of anxiety in speaking. Semi-structured interview was used to learn the causes of speaking anxiety and the students' strategies to cope with it. Documents were also used to support the data. Based on the observation, there were 5 students who experienced fewer levels of speaking anxiety. From the results of these observations, interviews were conducted with 5 students who experienced a low level of anxiety to speak. The result of the interview showed that the factors of the anxiety in speaking that the students experienced were caused by three aspects which were affective factors, cognitive factors, and linguistic factors. The study also discovered certain strategies that the students applied when they had speaking anxiety. The students used preparation, relaxation, positive thinking, and peer seeking as their strategies. All of the strategies that have been found are related to 3 factors namely affective factors, cognitive factors, and also linguistics. This study calls for the inclusion of students remain to keep their strategies to reduce speaking anxiety and have more practice for their speaking performance in English.