An Analysis of Students’ Anxiety in Learning English at SMP Negeri 20 Kupang in the Academic Year 2025/2026

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the types of anxiety experienced by the students, the factors that contribute to their anxiety, and the strategies they use to minimize it. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative. The researcher uses the theories proposed by Horwitz and Cope (1986) to find out the types of students’ anxiety, Ernawati and Fatma (2012) to find out the factors of students’ anxiety, Kondo and Ying-Ling (2004) to find out the strategies used by the students to minimize their anxiety. The researcher finds three types of anxiety, they are communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation. The dominant type is fear of negative evaluation. This research identified several internal and external factors that contribute to students’ anxiety in learning English. The internal factors include fear of making mistakes, lack of preparation, low self-confidence, and shyness. The external factors consist of limited vocabulary and friends/classmates. The most influential factor found in this research is fear of making mistakes. The strategies that students use to minimize their anxiety, students apply several coping techniques such as preparation, concentration, relaxation, and positive thinking. Preparation is the most frequently used strategy.