Correlation between Anxiety and Willingness to Communicate in the Indonesian EFL Context

This present study probes the relationship between English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ language anxiety and their willingness to communicate. The research questions are threefold: a) What are the types of anxiety experienced by the students, b) What is the anxiety level of them, and c) What is the correlation between foreign language anxiety (FLA) and the willingness to communicate (WTC) of the students. Quantitative descriptive approach was employed and the data were collected from 98 participants in an English Department by making use of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and Likert-type WTC Scale. Pearson Correlation test was run to provide answers of the research questions. The results of this study indicated a strong positive correlation between learners’ foreign language classroom anxiety and their willingness to communicate. Fear of negative evaluation, test anxiety, and communication apprehension were the students’ types of anxiety. In addition, students had high level of anxiety, which in turn, made them difficult in dealing with language learning process and tend to have low desire to speak. Therefore, this study tries to highlight whether anxiety is a significant barrier to WTC, to determine the types and level of FLA, as well as to provide suggestions to help minimize the anxiety.