Anxiety in Speaking Japanese Experienced by the Department of Japanese Language Education Students of Unnes

Diner, L. (2023). Anxiety in speaking Japanese


INTRODUCTION
Language skills are components of the learning process that language learners must consider or master.Language skills in general, are hearing, reading, writing, and speaking abilities (Munezane, 2021).The four language skills are inextricably linked (Fitriani et al., 2022).As a result, various attempts are undertaken by language teachers to develop language skills.Language acquisition, particularly foreign languages, is in high demand for formal study in schools such as elementary, secondary, and higher education.Previous research has shown the significance of foreign language abilities in obtaining individual-level achievements.Volk et al. (2014), for example, showed how foreign language abilities (particularly the ability to understand foreign languages) might promote self-regulation, allowing individuals to adjust well to a circumstance.As a result, foreign languages, particularly Japanese, which is in high demand, require special consideration in the learning process.
Japanese is one of the most widely spoken foreign languages.Japanese language learners at all levels, from beginner to advanced, must master four language abilities (Khan & Yunus, 2019).Learners experience difficulties in acquiring these four skills.One of them is that students experience difficulties with reading skill anxiety, which teachers find difficult to detect since it does not involve spontaneous interactions such as speaking abilities (Safira et al., 2023).However, the difficulties that Japanese language learners frequently confront while implementing speaking skills.Speaking is a productive skill in language learning and the skill that is most widely utilized to one's language activities (Niswah & Masykur, 2022).Japanese speaking skills are linked to mastery of vocabulary, sentence patterns, culture, and other language skills.The four basic language skills are strongly predicted by vocabulary knowledge (Bashori et al., 2021).In practice, Japanese language learners experience anxiety due to a variety of circumstances (Khairunisa, 2019).
Speaking anxiety in foreign language learning, on the other hand, can be addressed by a favorable response from the teacher (Gusnovita et al., 2018).
The learner must grasp grammar, vocabulary, and culture in order to gain speaking abilities and communicate successfully.Grammar mastery is one of the causes of speaking skill concern.However, worry in the learning process can affect the level of grammar acquisition (Muliadi et al., 2021).
According to Horwitz (1986), foreign language anxiety encompasses a range of interconnected self-perceptions, attitudes, emotions, and actions that are specifically associated with the process of learning a language in a classroom setting.In contrast to the general manifestation of anxiety, particular circumstance anxiety refers to the phenomenon wherein an individual consistently experiences anxiety in a specific context, thereby establishing an association between anxiety and this context (Dewaele, 2017).In contrast to Dewael's perspective, it might be argued that foreign language fear is an acquired emotional reaction, as shown by MacIntyre (1989).However, according to Natsir (2017), there is variation in the experience of speaking anxiety based on the individual's level of language acquisition.According to Piniel and Zólyomi (2022), an examination of language anxiety can also be approached through the gender.
The phenomenon of Japanese language anxiety, particularly in relation to speaking activities in the classroom, has been examined in prior research conducted by Damayanti (2016).This research focuses on foreign language speaking anxiety, which has the potential to hinder one's ability to effectively communicate in the target language.The phenomenon of experiencing negative emotions during foreign language speaking has garnered significant interest from both language learners and psychologists.This is due to the recognition that of the four language abilities, speaking a foreign language is commonly regarded as the most anxiety-inducing and has a notable impact on performance (Damayanti, 2016).Furthermore, a study conducted by Sukrianti et al. (2022)  Additionally, the study aims to determine if there are variations in Japanese speaking anxiety among students at different levels of Japanese proficiency.

METHOD
The research approach used is a qualitative descriptive approach.
Data collection methods used are questionnaire and observation methods.Respondents of chokai kaiwa shokyu zenhan never experienced speaking anxiety 60% of the time because the respondents were basic level Japanese learners.This is shown in table 1. Basic level language learners have a high emotional level in learning language so they ignore the anxiety they experience.
Meanwhile, 60% of the respondents of chokai kaiwa chukyu zenhan always and often experience anxiety about speaking Japanese.Respondents at the basic intermediate level obtained more and more material and were at a greater level of difficulty than the basic level.
2. Situation that makes the respondents felt anxious in speaking Japanese in the classroom examined the extent of anxiety among students in the Japanese Language Education Study Program at FKIP Riau when speaking Japanese.This study highlights the factors contributing to the occurrence of speaking anxiety among learners of the Japanese language.Anxiety in public speaking is a common experience among individuals, albeit with varying prevalence rates.The aforementioned phenomenon was also observed among participants of the Japanese Language Education Study Program at Semarang State University.These individuals exhibited nervousness when speaking the Japanese language, as evidenced by preliminary research conducted through in-class observations.Anxiety can manifest when an individual, in response to a question posed by another individual, engages in the act of repeating the inquiry.The objective of this study is to investigate the factors contributing to speaking anxiety among Japanese language learners enrolled in the Japanese Language Education Study Program at Semarang State University.
The research subjects were students who attended speech skills lectures (chokai kaiwa shokyu zenhan -semester I and chokai kaiwa chukyu zenhansemester III) in the Japanese Language Education Study Program, Semarang State University.Respondents totaled 100 students consisting of 50 students participating in the chokai kaiwa shokyu zenhan lecture and 50 students participating in the chokai kaiwa chukyu zenhan lecture.Chokai Kaiwa courses are listening and speaking skills courses, including unconditional tiered courses.Data obtained in October -December 2022.

Table 1 .
Frequency of the Respondent who Experience the Anxiety in Speaking

Table 2 .
Situation that makes the respondents felt anxious

Table 3 .
Practice in classroom that makes the respondents felt anxious

Table 5 .
Anxiety towards the peers' negative perception

Table 5
shows respondents chokai kaiwa shokyu zenhan causing anxiety about negative perceptions from friends on the "laughed at" indicator of 72%. and the respondent chokai kaiwa chukyu zenhan on the same indicator is 56% greater than the truth checked.c.Anxiety towards the lecturer evaluation

Table 6 .
Anxiety towards the lecturer evaluation