CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the procedures used in conducting the research. It

covers research design, research subjects, data collection, and data analysis.

3.1 Research Design

Generally speaking, qualitative research is concerned with the complexity

of social interactions in daily life and with how the participants give meaning to

these interactions. Thus, qualitative research is "pragmatic, interpretive, and

grounded in the lived experiences of people" (Marshall and Rossman 2006, p.2).

Qualitative research aim is to maintain the shape and content of human behavior

and analyze its qualities. Actual speech, gestures, and other social action is a

mental substance for the qualitative analysis (Mulyana, 2008).

Qualitative research into language anxiety has been emphasised by

researcher such as Elkhafaifi (2005), who states that more empirical studies and

different kinds of investigation could reveal useful insights into what students

learn. For example, exploration of affective states (like anxiety) and similar

variables can sometimes be accomplished more effectively with qualitative

interviews or student journal entries than with quantitative studies.

Eventually, the writer chooses qualitative research because this study was

intended to answer the following questions: (1) What are the causes of students

anxiety in English speaking class at SMP Negeri 18 Malang?, (2) What

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strategies are used by English teacher to overcome students anxiety in English

speaking class at SMP Negeri 18 Malang?.

3.2 Research Subject

The subject of this study were the seventh-grade students at SMP Negeri

18 Malang. Based on the researchers experiences while joining internship

program III at SMP Negeri 18 Malang, he found that some students had

difficulties in learning speaking skill especially when they told to speak in

English. In this study, the writer choose the seventh-grade students because this is

the time when they are having a transition from Elementary School to Junior High

School which trigger them to speak in English more often. In this case, students

should brave enough to speak up in front of the classroom using English. Thus,

the writer can investigate the cause of anxiety especially in English speaking class

and strategies that used by English teacher to overcome students anxiety in

English speaking class.

3.3 Data Collection

The next step is to choose the technique of data collection that will be

used. The technique of collecting data is the way the researcher do for collecting

the data in the research. Therefore, the reseracher use some techniques, those are

observation, questionnaire, and interview.

3.3.1 Observation

Observation is common term means all form of accepting data by

recording the event, counting, measuring and writing it. Arikunto states that the

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most effective observation method is filling observation form as the instrument,

Kellinger (in Arikunto, 2006). There are three kinds of observation namely

participant observation, nonparticipant observation and naturalistic observation

(Fraenkel and Wellen (2007). In participant observations studies, researcher

usually participates in the situations or setting they are observing. Participant

observation demands first hand involvement in the social world chosen for study

(Marshall and Rossman, 2006; Merriam, 1998). Then, in non-participant

observation study, researcher do not participate in the activity being observed but

rather sit on the side lines and watch; they are not directly involved in the

situation they are observing. Next, naturalistic observation involves observing

individuals in their natural setting (Fraenkel and Wellen, 2007). In this study, the

researcher used non-participant observation. From the observation, the researcher

did not take part in the classroom activity or acted non-participant observer. The

researcher only sat in the class in order to observe and compile the data by writing

field memo to analize students that may indicate language anxiety.

Therefore, the researcher provided the observation list or checklist as the

instrument for collecting data. It was provided for observing the students

behaviour and also their activities in which it may indicate the language anxiety in

English class.

3.3.2 Questionnaire

Questionnaire are written sets of some questions used to gain responses in

non- face- to- face situation; question are usually focused on specific information.

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(Margono, 2007). Moreover, according to Arikunto (2002), questionaire was

written question that were used to get information from the respondent.

The questionnaire was used to gain the data from the students. The

questionnaire distributed to the students in order to get information about their

understanding in language anxiety and how they can reduce their language

anxiety. In this questionnaire, the researcher used open ended questiontionnaire to

seek the potential source of anxiety and anxiety coping strategies.

According to Siniscalco & Auriat, (2005), open-ended or free-response

questions are not followed by any choices and the respondent must answer by

supplying a response, usually by entering a number, a word, or a short text, It

means that open ended questionnaire is useful to represent the generally

respondents are feeling by write down a short text. Open ended questionnaire used

to get the students response about the factor behind their anxiety and their

strategies to cope the feeling of anxious.

3.3.3 Interview

According to Sugiyono (2008), interview is a meeting of two persons to

exchange information and idea through and responses, resulting in communication

and joint construction of meaning about a particular topic. The advantages of

interview are : to get more information, especially related with someones privacy,

to get the information what we want sooner, to make sure that all the data is from

the real source (validity and reability), and the respondent is more flexible in

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giving the information. Interview is also used to support or complete the data

which is obtained from observation.

Arikunto (2006) classified interview into two categories namely structured

interview and unstructured interviews. The type of interview used in this research

was structured interview. It means that the lists of questions were prepared to get

the information. In the interview, a list of questions was prepared and used as the

guide of interview. In this research interview was conducted with the English

teacher to lead further questions relevant to the data needed.

There were some steps applied by the researcher in collecting the data. The

steps were as follows:

1. Preparing the check-list for the classroom observation;

2. Observing the teaching learning activities in class;

3. Giving questionnaire to the students after classroom activities.

4. Preparing the interview guide for teacher.

5. Interviewing the teacher about his/her strategies to reduce students anxiety.

6. Transcribing the interview data.

3.4 Data Analysis

Analysis involves regulating the data, finding what is prominent and take a

consideration what will be showed as a result. The data of the study were analyzed

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qualitatively by using descriptive analysis. The steps of data analysis process after

data collection consist of:

1. Gathering all the data from the notes of observation, questionnaire, and

interview;

2. Reading through all the data;

3. Classifying the data based on the factors causing language anxiety and teacher

strategies;

4. Describing the data based on the factors causing language anxiety and teacher

strategies;

5. Writing conclusion of the research result based on the data analysis.

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