Role-play and Speaking Anxiety: A Case Study in an Online English Speaking Class

https://doi.org/10.22146/jla.75103

Selvie Gaman Goram(1), Adaninggar Septi Subekti(2*)

(1) Universitas Kristen Duta Wacana
(2) Universitas Kristen Duta Wacana
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract


Though studies about role-plays may be frequent, studies specifically investigating the possible relation between role-plays and speaking anxiety may still be very rare, particularly in the Indonesian second/foreign (L2) context, despite anxiety being a quite widespread phenomenon among language learners. Hence, the present study was conducted to investigate Indonesian learners' extent of participation in role-play activities in an online English speaking class and learners’ and teachers' views about role-plays concerning speaking anxiety. The study employed a qualitative case study using online observations and interviews. The participants were 25 English education department learners and two teachers implementing role-plays. Through observations, the study found that role-plays were unable to make most of the learner participants voluntarily participate in class. Through interviews analysed using Thematic Analysis, the study found three themes. Learners' nervousness and fear of making mistakes negatively affected their role-play performances. Authentic situations in role-plays allowed them to feel more comfortable. Next, preparing role-play for performances in groups lessened learners’ anxiety. It is suggested that teachers offered learners choices whether to do live role-plays or show pre-recorded one. The latter may reduce anxiety and make it possible for learners to redo some parts, allowing them to showcase their best possible performance.


Keywords


online English speaking class; role-play activities; speaking anxiety; thematic analysis

Full Text:

PDF


References

Akkakoson, S. (2016). Speaking anxiety in English conversation classrooms among Thai students. Malaysian Journal of Learning and Instruction, 13(1), 63–82. https://doi.org/10.32890/mjli2016.13.1.4

Al-Saraj, T. M. (2014). Foreign language anxiety in female Arabs learning English: Case studies. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 8(3), 257–278. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2013.837911

Aliakbari, M., & Jamalvandi, B. (2010). The impact of role play on fostering EFL learners’ speaking ability: A task-based approach. Journal of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics, 14(1), 15–29. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ920501.pdf

Baker, S. C., & MacIntyre, P. D. (2003). The role of gender and immersion in communication and second language orientations. Language Learning, 50(2), 65–96. https://doi.org/10.1111/0023-8333.00224

Basit, T. N. (2010). Conducting research in educational contexts. Continuum International Publishing Group.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.

Clarita, N. A., Rahmawati, I., & Sudibyo, S. (2020). The impact of Role-Play technique on the students’ English speaking skill. ETERNAL (English, Teaching, Learning, and Research Journal), 6(1), 42. https://doi.org/10.24252/eternal.v61.2020.a4

Cotterill, S. (2014). Preparing for performance: Strategies adopted across performance domains. The Sport Psychologist, October. https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.2014-0035

Ducca-Díaz, J. (2014). Positive oral encouragement in the EFL Classroom, A case study through action research. Revista de Lenguas Modernas, 21, 325–346.

Duong, T. M. (2014). An investigation into effects of role-play in an EFL speaking course. Global Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 4(2), 81–91.

Eppendi, J. (2016). Teaching speaking by using role play to the eighth graders of State Junior High School 15 Palembang. Jambi-English Language Teaching Journal, 1(2), 98–104. https://doi.org/10.22437/jelt.v1i2.3435

Fadilah, F. (2016). Teaching speaking by role-play activity. OKARA: Jurnal Bahasa Dan Sastra, 10(2), 209. https://doi.org/10.19105/ojbs.v10i2.980

Fitriah, F., & Muna, H. (2019). Foreign language speaking anxiety: A case study at English department students of IAIN Lhokseumawe and Al Muslim University. Jurnal Ilmiah DIDAKTIKA, 19(2), 141–158. http://dx.doi.org/10.22373/jid.v19i2.5030

Gray, D. E. (2014). Doing research in the real world (3rd ed.). Sage Publications, Ltd.

Guéguen, N., Martin, A., & Andrea, C. R. (2015). “I am sure you’ll succeed”: When a teacher’s verbal encouragement of success increases children’s academic performance. Learning and Motivation, 52, 54–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lmot.2015.09.004

Gürler, I. (2015). Correlation between self-confidence and speaking skill of English Language Teaching and English Language and Literature Preparatory students. Current Research in Social Sciences, 1(2), 14–19.

Hall, B. M. (2010). Nonmaleficence and the preparation of classroom teachers in instructional design. Journal of Elementary and Secondary Education, 1(11), 1–16.

Hartatik, S. F., & Rahmah, T. H. (2016). Investigating the students’ views on the authentic materials used in basic speaking class. IJELTAL (Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics), 1(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.21093/ijeltal.v1i1.4

Hewitt, E., & Stephenson, J. (2012). Foreign language anxiety and oral exam performance: A replication of Phillips’s MLJ study. The Modern Language Journal, 96(2), 170–189. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.l540-4781.201

Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125–132. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1986.tb05256.x

Katemba, C. V. (2013). Anxiety level of Indonesian students and its relationship to academic achievement in English. Journal of Education and Practice, 4(27), 1–10.

Khusnia, A. N. (2017). Students’ perspectives on speaking anxiety in the English foreign language classroom. Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn), 11(1), 83. https://doi.org/10.11591/edulearn.v11i1.4301

Krebt, D. M. (2017). The effectiveness of Role Play techniques in teaching speaking for EFL college students. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 8(5), 863–870. http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0805.04

Maher, K., & King, J. (2020). Observing anxiety in the foreign language classroom: Student silence and nonverbal cues. Journal for the Psychology of Language Learning, 2(1), 116–141. https://doi.org/10.52598/jpll/2/1/6

Mak, B. (2011). An exploration of speaking-in-class anxiety with Chinese ESL learners. System, 39, 202–214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2011.04.002

Mitha, W. D., Amri, Z., & Narius, D. (2019). An analysis of students’ speaking anxiety faced by the fourth semester students of English Education study program of English Department of Universitas Negeri Padang. Journal of English Language Teaching, 6(1), 18–28. https://doi.org/10.24036/jelt.v7i3.100269

Mustapha, S. M., Rahman, N. S. N. A., & Yunus, M. M. (2010). Factors influencing classroom participation: A case study of Malaysian undergraduate students. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 9, 1079–1084. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.12.289

Puspitorini, F. (2018). The influence of role play on students’ English speaking skill at nine graders. JELE (Journal of English Language and Education), 4(1), 21. https://doi.org/10.26486/jele.v4i1.282

Putri, N. M., & Marlina, L. (2019). An analysis of students’ speaking anxiety faced by the EFL freshman students at English department of Universitas Negeri Padang. Journal of English Language Teaching, 8(4), 459–471. https://doi.org/10.24036/jelt.v8i4.106565

Rachmawati, D. I., & Jurianto, J. (2020). Investigating English department students’ foreign language speaking anxiety: A case study in Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia. Social Sciences, Humanities and Education Journal (SHE Journal), 1(2), 22. https://doi.org/10.25273/she.v1i2.6624

Rahman, N. A. A., & Maarof, N. (2018). The effect of role-play and simulation approach on enhancing ESL oral communication skills. International Journal of Research in English Education, 3(3), 63–71. https://doi.org/10.29252/ijree.3.3.63

Ramrathan, L., Grange, L., & Shawa, L. B. (2016). Ethics in educational research. In Education studies for initial teacher development (pp. 432–443).

Ruslan. (2020). Students ’ perception on the use of role play by the teacher in EFL classroom. Journal of Teaching & Learning English in Multicultural Contexts (Tlemc), 4(1).

Russell, C., & Shepherd, J. (2010). Online role-play environments for higher education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(6), 992–1002. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2009.01048.x

Shao, S., Yu, W., & Ji, Z. (2013). An exploration of Chinese EFL students’ emotional intelligence and foreign language anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 97, 917–926. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2013.12042.x

Subekti, A. S. (2018a). An exploration of foreign language anxiety in the Indonesian university context: Learners’ and teachers’ voices. TEFLIN Journal, 29(2), 219–244.

Subekti, A. S. (2018b). Investigating the relationship between foreign language anxiety and oral performance of non-English major university students in Indonesia. Dinamika Ilmu, 18(1), 15–35. https://doi.org/10.21093/di.v18i1.880

Subekti, A. S. (2019). Situational willingness to communicate in English: Voices from Indonesian non-English major university students. Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (IJELTAL), 3(2), 373–390.

Subekti, A. S. (2020a). Alleviating anxiety, boosting confidence: A proposed model of Willis’ Task-Based Learning. JELTL (Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics), 5(1), 131–144.

Subekti, A. S. (2020b). Self-perceived communication competence and communication apprehension: A study of Indonesian college students. EduLite: Journal of English Education, Literature, and Culture, 5(1), 14–31.

Suleimenova, Z. (2013). Speaking anxiety in a foreign language classroom in Kazakhstan. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 93(2013), 1860–1868. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.131

Tridinanti, G. (2018). The correlation between speaking anxiety, self-confidence, and speaking achievement of undergraduate EFL students of private university in Palembang. International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies, 6(4), 35. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.6n.4p.35

Tzoannopoulou, M. (2016). Foreign language anxiety and fear of negative evaluation in the Greek university classroom. Istal, 21, 823–838. https://doi.org/10.26262/istal.v21i0.5272

Umam, C. (2011). Improving the students’ speaking ability through role-playing technique. Jurnal INOVASI, 3(September), 347–364.

Wong, Y. J., Cheng, H. L., McDermott, R. C., Deng, K., & McCullough, K. M. (2019). I Believe in You! Measuring the experience of encouragement using the academic encouragement scale. Journal of Positive Psychology, 14(6), 820–828. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2019.1579357

Xu, R., & Huang, L. (2010). The role of teachers in college English classroom — From the perspective of affect. International Education Studies, 3(3), 192–194. https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v3n3p192



DOI: https://doi.org/10.22146/jla.75103

Article Metrics

Abstract views : 1448 | views : 711

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2023 The Author(s)

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

JLA (Jurnal Lingua Applicata) with online ISSN 2598-0556 and print ISSN 2597-6117 is published by Departemen Bahasa, Seni dan Manajemen Budaya (DBSMB), Vocational College of  Universitas Gadjah Mada. The content of this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Built on the Public Knowledge Project's OJS 2.4.8.1. View website statistics.