Profiling English Language Learning Anxiety of Selected Rural Area Secondary School Students in Kedah: A Case Study

Abstract

This study investigated the phenomena of English Language Learning Anxiety among six secondary school students in Baling, the rural area of Kedah in Malaysia. It studied the relationship between two anxiety English language skills, listening and speaking, and their correlations. A quantitative survey was administered to 866 rural secondary school students using a composite questionnaire that adapted multiple language learning anxiety scales, mainly the Foreign Language Anxiety Scale, English Language Listening Anxiety, and English Language Speaking Anxiety. Descriptive analysis and Pearson Correlation analysis were utilized to extract the required information regarding the English language learning anxiety among secondary school students in Kedah. The result showed the students in all six schools experience moderate levels of anxiety in learning the English language inside the classroom. A positive and significant relationship was also discovered between English listening anxiety and English speaking anxiety from the data collected. These findings point to the fact that language learning anxiety occurs inside the classroom, even in rural area secondary schools in Kedah, and it is debilitative to the student’s acquisition of the English language. The correlation of anxiety between the two language skills paves the way to simultaneously formulating methods to solve the problem. This research aims to provide additional information to the existing literature by focusing on rural secondary schools, which need more coverage regarding English language anxiety.

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Author Information
Aini Syahira Jamaluddin, Albukhary International University, Malaysia
Aina Yasmin Mohd Amin, Albukhary International University, Malaysia
Nurul Huda Hassan Bakri, Albukhary International University, Malaysia
Asri Karolina, Universitas Islam Negeri Raden Fatah Palembang, Indonesia