E-Link Journal Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) p-ISSN: 2085-1383; e-ISSN: 2621-4156 PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN SPEAKING ENGLISH OF THE STUDENTS OF VOCATIONAL SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL Mukhtarul Anam, Tantri Mukhtarul4anam@gmail.com ,tantri0298@gmail.com English Language Education Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Islam Lamongan ABSTRACT The purpose of the research is to know the students’ psychological problems, and to know the efforts of the students to overcome their psychological problems. The research was conducted in SMKN 1 Lamongan at OTKP. The research is qualitative research. It used an observation and a semi-structured interview as a technique to collect the data. Based on the research, the researcher found that the students felt anxious, shy, fear of making mistakes and the students also got a lack of confidence when they were speaking in front of the class. The efforts to overcome their psychological problems were as follows. The students should have the self-confidence to speak, the student should master many vocabularies, and more practices speaking in English, the teacher should give motivation to the students and encourage a habit and accustom the students to use English. Keywords: Speaking, psychological problems learning English, especially in speaking. INTRODUCTION Speaking is a crucial part of Speaking skill is one of the language skills second language learning and teaching that are very essential to support further (Kayi, 2006:1). When we talk about oral communication especially in English, speaking, speaking has an important role but it is the most difficult skill to develop in our life. Learning to speak is the most (Munir, 2018:2). important component that students should The difficulty of EFL students in fulfill when learning a second language performing English speaking is probably because a good speaking skill is a caused by cognitive or psychological measured by the ability to speak well in factors the language. psychological barrier also hinders the For Indonesian students, English as a second language is difficult to learn. Students usually find difficulties in (Ariyanti, 2016:78). The students to improve their speaking ability. The psychological barriers will make them low interest and participation in the class. E-Link Journal Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) p-ISSN: 2085-1383; e-ISSN: 2621-4156 The students usually feel shy and when they are required to speak in English unconfident when speaking in front of class (Juhana, 2010:101). their classmates. The students feel that Anxiety they cannot speak well in English. Some people are predictably and Moreover, the students' also afraid of generally anxious about many things being laughed by their friends when (Brown, 2000,151). Scovel (1978:134) in practicing speaking in the class. Brown (2000:151) added that anxiety is According to Juhana (2012:101) associated with feelings of uneasiness, explained that some psychological factors frustration, self-doubt, apprehension, or encountered worry. So, anxiety is one of the problems by the students when speaking are as follows: that Fear of mistakes uncomfortable when they are practice Students' fear of making mistakes in speaking English has been a common can make the student feel speaking performance in class. Lack of confidence issue especially in the EFL context like in Lack of confidence is one of the Indonesia (Juhana, 2010:101). It is natural aspects that also influence students in for any student during the process of speaking skill. Lacking of confidence is a learning psychological obstacle in foreign language to make mistakes (Madaci, 2018:14). Some students are afraid when learning (He, 2015:36). the teacher will give negative evaluations Some teacher only teach reading on them. and writing in the school. The teacher rare Shyness to speak using English, the teacher also Shyness is an emotional thing that many students suffer from at some time Psychological Problem in Speaking English of the Students… rarely tells the students to practice speaking school English in the 73 E-Link Journal Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) p-ISSN: 2085-1383; e-ISSN: 2621-4156 environment. So, it causes the students not language was a practice. Swary (2014:50) accustomed to using English. On the other added that the students should practice hand, if the students are not accustomed to their English not only in the class activity speaking in English, they will afraid or but also in the out of the class activity. anxious when the teacher asks them to Fourth, is giving motivation. practice it in the class or in front of their Swary (2014:52) that if the students had classmates. the big motivation to learn speaking There are some ways and efforts English, to speak up in front of their that students and teacher do to overcome friends automatically they would be the psychological problems. First, is always increase teacher words in order to make them self-confidence. Brown (2000:145) claimed that no successful follow everything which the increase their ability in speaking English. cognitive or affective activity can be The last is habitual. According to carried out without some degree of self- Swary (2014:56) that the solution to esteem, self-confidence, knowledge of encourage the students to speak English yourself, and belief in your capabilities for was the teacher should speak it as often as that activity. possible. Swary also added that if the Second, is master vocabulary, teacher shy to speak English, how she Swary (2014:51) explained that because of could expect the students to overcome mastering English vocabulary was the their fears about speaking English. most important component, so to solve that There were many researcher that problems, all of the students have to conducted the same topic, such as Juhana increase their vocabulary knowledge first. (2012) and Ariyanti (2016). Third, is practice. This is also Then, many students of senior supported by Swary (2014:50) said that high school have problems in speaking E-Link Journal Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) p-ISSN: 2085-1383; e-ISSN: 2621-4156 English, especially to the students in the second semester of the psychological problems. Based on the tenth grade of SMK Negeri 1 Lamongan at explanation above, the purpose of this OTKP 1 (Otomasisasi dan Tata Kelola research are to know about the student’s Perkantoran) class in the academic year of psychological problems and the effort to 2019/2020. The class consists of 36 overcome students, 10 males, and 26 females as the the related students’psychological problems in speaking. subjects of this research. In this research, the researcher RESEARCH METHOD uses observation and interview to get the This research is uses qualitative data in the field. The observation is used to research. According to Ary (2010:424) observe students' psychological problems said that qualitative inquirer deals with when speaking in class. The researcher data that are in the form of words or asks the students to practice speaking pictures rather than numbers and statistics. English in front of the class. Then, the Qualitative research uses descriptive to researcher pays attention and takes notes explain the data in the research. on the students' attitudes, eye-contact, and Qualitative is chosen by the researcher because it deals with the phenomenon of students’ psychological volume of the voice when the students are presenting their speaking. Then, the researcher conducted problems when they are speaking in interview English. researcher uses a semi-structured interview In this study, the researcher conducts the research at SMKN to the participants. The to collect the data from the participants. 1 The purpose of the interview is used to Lamongan. The subject of the research is support the data from observation. The Psychological Problem in Speaking English of the Students… 75 E-Link Journal Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) p-ISSN: 2085-1383; e-ISSN: 2621-4156 researcher interviews the students’ about display, and conclusion drawing and the psychological problems that faced by verification. them when speaking in the class. Further, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION the researcher also conducted an interview The students’ Psychological Problems in to the English teacher to know about the Speaking students’ psychological problems in Based on the research, when the speaking and to know about the efforts to students spoke in front of the class, they overcome the students ‘psychological were found many problems. This was also problems in speaking. The instruments are supported by the result of observation and observation guide and interview guide. interview. The results are as follows: Table 1. Instrument of the Research Anxiety No. 1. Instruments Observation Guide 2. Interview Guide In Aim - To know about the students’ psychological problems in speaking Students - To know about the students’ psychological problems in speaking Teacher - To know about the students’ psychological problems in speaking - To know about the efforts to overcome the students’ psychological problems in speaking. analyzing the data, the The researcher found that the students were felt anxiety when they were speaking. Before the students presented the speak, the students looked worried, anxious, and discomfort. Their attitude when speaking was looking awkward. The students looked fear and afraid of being bullied by their friends. The students did not dare to look at researcher analyzes the data in observation their friends. The feeling of nervousness and and interview qualitatively. According to anxiety of students influenced their speaking Miles performance. This was supported by the and Huberman in Sugiyono (2016:246) explains that there are three steps of data analysis: data reduction, data interview with the student: [MA] “when I went forward to speak, my first feeling that I feel is nervous, miss. So, my mind got blank” (Interview, 27/02/20) E-Link Journal Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) p-ISSN: 2085-1383; e-ISSN: 2621-4156 ashamed and shy if he did something Shyness When another student went wrong when performing his speech in forward, the student said to the researcher front of his friends. The student thought that she was shy when speaking and their that he will be laughed at by his friend. friends were looking at her. When she was [NC]”I feel shy when my friends are laughing at me.” speaking, her speaking performance is Fear of making mistakes good enough. She spoke fluently. But, she From the observation, the was felt shy and unconfident when researcher could see that the students were speaking in front of their friends. She also fear of making mistakes. When the spoke in a low voice. So, all of her friends students went forward. Their voice could could not be heard what she said. be heard clearly by the researcher, but in The data interview from the some cases, they lowered their voices teacher also said that the students also felt because they were not sure of what they shy when practice speaking. The teacher were saying. They were afraid of making explained that the students felt shy when mistakes. They were also afraid of being speaking in front of the class because the laughed by their friends when making students were shy to be seen by their mistakes in speaking English. They friends. [P]”then, the students feel shy when speaking in front of the class and being attention by their friends. (Interview, (05/03/20) prefered to lower their voice, so that, their mistakes were not known or heard by their friends. It because when the students Based on the data of the interview making mistakes in speaking performance, from the other student, the student thought their friends will laugh, bully, and shout at that English is difficult and he cannot them. So, when they were making master it. It caused the student felt Psychological Problem in Speaking English of the Students… 77 E-Link Journal Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) p-ISSN: 2085-1383; e-ISSN: 2621-4156 mistakes, the students will lower their Based on the interview with the voice to avoid being heard by their friends. teacher, the researcher knows that the The student said that he was fear students have lack of confidence when of making mistakes. The student said that speaking English in front of the class. This he will felt shy when he was making supported by the teacher statement: mistakes. The student said that he had self- [NU] “many students feel unconfident” (Interview, 06/03/20) confidence when he went forward, but if It is also supported by the he made mistakes he will felt ashamed, interview that the researcher did with the shy and became unfocused. He said that student. According to the student their friends will laugh and he will be a statement, the cause of students’ lack of joke for the other friends. confidence was came from the internal of [MA]”because I am afraid of making mistakes.” (Interview,06/03/20) the students. The student said that she was felt unconfident when speaking. The Lack of confidence student said that she was felt unconfident Self-confident is important to because she was not fluent in speaking build speaking performance. But, one of English. the problems that students usually faced is to practice their speaking. The students’ [LNMS]”I am not confident miss, because I was not fluent in speaking English” (Interview,06/03/2020) also unconfident to speak using English. Besides, the internal cause of the They were looking doubt and unconfident lack of confidence, the students also have when speak. Some students had a good the external cause of their lack of performance in English. But, they said that confidence. The cause was came from the they were feeling unconfident environment of the students or from the lack of confidence that hinder the students speaking in front of their classmates. when criticism of her friends. The student has E-Link Journal Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) p-ISSN: 2085-1383; e-ISSN: 2621-4156 an arrogant student when speak using [P]”because speaking needs selfconfidence, so speaking in English is needed self-confidence. This should embed to the students” (Interview, 05/03/20) English in the class. This was related with Brown good performance in English. But, she was afraid of being judge or bully that she was The Efforts to overcome the Students’ (2000:145) that no successful cognitive or Psychological Problems in Speaking affective activity can be carried out To know about the efforts to without some degree of self-esteem, self- overcome the psychological problems in confidence, knowledge of yourself, and speaking, the interview with researcher conducted belief in your capabilities for that activity. English teachers. Mastering vocabulary According to the opinions of the teachers, Another effort is the student these were the efforts to overcome the should mastering much vocabulary. Many psychological problems faced by the students students in speaking. mastering. So, when the students have Increase self-confidence much vocabulary, the students will dare to were lack of vocabulary Based on the interview with the speak in front of the class and it will teacher, the teacher said that speaking decrease their problems. The students needs self-confidence. If the students are should confident to speak, that can increase their vocabulary. memorize and master much the teacher must embed self-confidence to [NU]”first, the students should memorize or master much vocabulary” (Interview,06/03/20) the students. The teacher also added that This is in line with Swary speaking and decrease their problems. So, students should not be afraid of made (2014:51) mistakes. mastering English vocabulary was the Psychological Problem in Speaking English of the Students… explained that because of 79 E-Link Journal Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) p-ISSN: 2085-1383; e-ISSN: 2621-4156 most important component, so to solve that English. Although, the students had many problems, all of the students have to mistakes or not good enough, the students increase their vocabulary knowledge first. must be appreciated so that the student will Practice enthusiasm in learning. The teacher can Another effort is practice give appreciation and motivation to the speaking English. The student should students, so that can build students practice more to speak in English, both motivation in learning English and that can inside and outside the class and the school. decrease their problems. This was supported by the interview with the teacher. [NU]”the students should practice more, both inside and outside the school.” (interview,06/03/20) [P]” then, the students should practice more to speaking in English.”(interview, 05/03/20) This related also supported with the theory by Swary (2014:50) said that language was a (2014:52) that if the students had the big practice. Swary (2014:50) added that the motivation to learn speaking English, to students should practice their English not speak up in front of their only in the class activity but also in the out automatically they would be always follow of the class activity. everything which the teacher words in Giving motivation order to make them increase their ability in other effort with This is supported by This was Swary The is [P]”when the students speaking, although they have many mistakes or not good enough, the students must be appreciated so that the student will enthusiasm in learning.” (Interview, 05/03/20) [NU]”and giving motivation.” (Interview, 06/03/20) is friends giving speaking English. So, the willingness to motivation. The teacher should appreciate speak of students are influenced by their and motivate the students when the ability to speak. students learned or tried to speak in E-Link Journal Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) p-ISSN: 2085-1383; e-ISSN: 2621-4156 mastering a lot of vocabulary, more Habitual The other effort is habitual. practice in speaking English, giving According to the teacher opinions, the motivation and whether the students and teachers said that students should have the teachers should have the habitual or habitual in using English. The teachers accustomed in using and speak English. added that the students also accustomed themselves to speak in English, either with REFERENCES the teachers or their friends. Ariyanti. (2016). Psychological Factors Affecting EFL Students Speaking Performance. Asian TEFL. [P]”habitual, the students should accustom themselves to speaking English, either with the teacher or with their friends.” (Interview, 05/03/20) [NU]”then, accustom themselves to use English.” (Interview,06/03/20) Ary, D. (2010). Introduction to Research in Education (8th Edition). Wadsworth: Chengage Learning. Brown, H. D. (2000). Primciple of Language Learning and Teaching , Fourth Edition. New York: Longman. CONCLUSION Based on the aim of the study, it can be concluded that students’ faced some psychological problems such as anxiety, shyness, fear of making mistakes and lack of confidence. Those Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching By Principles, An International Approach to Language Pedagogy. New York: Longman. He, L. (2015). Exploring Affective Factors Influencing Spoken English Teaching in College . International Conference on Education, Language, Art and Intercultural Communication (ICELAIC). psychological problems can hinder the students to improve their speaking in English class. Then, the efforts to overcome the students’ psychological problems are increase self-confidence, Psychological Problem in Speaking English of the Students… Juhana. (2012). Psychological Factors That Hinder Students from Speaking in English Class (A Case Study in a Senior High School in South Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia). The English Department, Indonesia Open University- Journal of Education and Practice , Vol 3, No. 12, 2012. 81 E-Link Journal Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020) p-ISSN: 2085-1383; e-ISSN: 2621-4156 Kayi, H. (2006). Teaching Speaking: Activities to Promote Speaking in a Second Language. Madaci, L. (2018). The Effect of Fear of Negative Evaluation EFL Learners' Oral Performance. Munir, M. M. (2018). Psychological Factors that Hinder Students in Speaking Skill in the Classroom (A Case Study of the Sevent Grade Students of SMP N 2 Banyubiru in the Academic Year of 2017/2018).