An Analysis of Students’ English Speaking Anxiety during Online Learning (A Study at Vocational High School in Jepara

At the end of 2019, the world has hit by a pandemic including Indonesia. The pandemic outbreak is caused by a coronavirus, which transmits swiftly from one to another. This has an impact in all sectors including education, which shifted to online learning. Fortunately, this is consistent with current trends, which are almost totally online-based. As a result, it is possible to adapt to something new. However, many adjustments are still required to ensure that the learning process runs smoothly, such as teaching English to students’ in more depth, which is often regarded as a tough topic that must currently be taught online. There are quite a few that will create physical and psychological distress. This study aims to determine the level of anxiety experienced by students’ when speaking English during online learning. The researcher also examined the factors that cause anxiety experienced by students’ when speaking English during online learning. This study used sequential explanatory mixed-method approach. Samples were collected from 30 12th grade students of SMK N 1 Batealit. Data collection was carried out in various steps, including a closed questionnaire, interview (open-ended question) and documentation. The data were collected using Horwitz’s theory to determine the level and find out the factors of anxiety in speaking English. The subjects of this study were English teachers and 12th grade students’ of SMK N 1 Batealit. The results of this study indicated that the English teachers of smk n 1 Batealit stated that the level of English proficiency of students was intermediate to low. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data. The results showed that there were 6 (20%) participants at the very anxious level. On the level of anxiety there are 11 (37%), mildly anxious level 12 (40%), and relaxed level 1 (3%). Then the researcher discovered three factors according to Horwitz, based on the questionnaires filled out by the students, namely communication apprehension at the 27th point (15 participants) and 29th point (19 participants). The second fear of negative evaluation was the third point (19 participants), the 20th point (16 participants), the 31st point (18 participants), and the 33rd point (17 participants). The third factors was test anxiety at the 10th point (12 participants