IEEE Paper Template in A4 (V1) Noor maulidiyah LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol.7 No.2 2017 LET: Linguistics, Literature and English Teaching Journal ||Volume||7||Issue||2||Pages||154-169||2017|| |P-ISSN: 20869606 ; E-ISSN: 25492454| INVESTIGATING EFL STUDENTS’ LISTENING ANXIETY: A SURVEY AT UIN ANTASARI BANJARMASIN Noor Maulidiyah lidiyah15@yahoo.com A Lecturer of English Education Department at Tarbiyah and Teachers Training Faculty of Antasari State Islamic University Article History: Received: 18 th Oct 2017 Accepted: 5 th Nov 2017 Abstract Listening anxiety is an influential factor that obstructs the EFL learners’ listening comprehension. This research is conducted to find out the levels of listening anxiety of the third semester students of English department at Tarbiyah and Teachers Training faculty of Antasari State Islamic University. The research aims to answer two research questions: (1) Do the students who have sufficient and low ability in listening experience listening anxiety? And (2) which item measured in the Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale do EFL learners face the most and least anxiety? This descriptive quantitative research took 88 students as participants in this research. The researcher used questionnaire for collecting the data. The findings show that the students do experience high level of listening anxiety. The students responded to 16 items which indicted high level of listening anxiety. The item that indicated the highest level of listening anxiety was included in background knowledge component and the item that indicated the lowest level of listening anxiety was included in listening text and strategies component. However, among three themes of items, most of students responded to items indicating high level of listening anxiety were in listening text and strategies component. Corresponding Author: Tel.: .............................. Keywords: Listening Anxiety; Listening comprehension; EFL; Foreign language learners; Listening ability INTRODUCTION Listening is one of the English language skills that should be mastered and it is considered as the first skill that is learned by human beings. However, listening can become a difficult skill due to different factors that may affect students’ ability and achievement in listening. As stated by Dornyei and Skehan (2003) that individual difference variables such Available online at: http://jurnal.uin-antasari.ac.id/index.php mailto:lidiyah15@yahoo.com P a g e | 155 Noor Maulidiyah LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol.7 No.2 2017 as aptitude, motivation, emotion and learning strategies are known to influence the L2 learning process. Anxiety is part of the emotion. Anxiety is believed as one of the important factors that influence learning especially language. (Fang, 2011) asserted that anxiety is the affective factor that most extensively complicates the learning process. Fang continued saying that anxiety is associated with negative feelings such uneasiness, frustration, self- doubt, apprehension and tension. According to Kimura (2008) in (Tahsildar &Yusoff, 2014), the impact of anxiety has long been considered by language researchers. Anxiety has been studies in relation with speaking, reading, writing skills, and also listening skill. The present study investigates the anxiety level in listening. In terms of listening skill, Young (1992) in (Tahsildar &Yusoff, 2014) stated that listening comprehension is highly anxiety provoking, for example, when the text is not comprehensible to the learner. Therefore, research on listening anxiety is essential for the effective and successful teaching of listening especially for foreign language learners. This study aims to add to the number of research on anxiety especially in listening comprehension. The present research seeks to answer two research questions: (1) Do the students who have sufficient and low ability in listening experience listening anxiety? And (2) which item measured in the Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale do EFL learners face the most and least anxiety? METHOD Participants The participants in this research were 88 students of the third semester who were taking Listening II subject at the English Department of Tarbiyah and Teachers Training Faculty at Antasari State Islamic University Banjarmasin in the academic year of 2017/2018. They were chosen based on their listening II middle test and final test scores. The researcher took the students whose scores ranged between 69 to less than the standard passing score 60. In fact, the total number of the third semester students is 162. Since this research aims to find out whether the students who have low ability in listening comprehension have high anxiety in listening or not, only 88 students were taken. There are five classes of the third semester students. The number of participants from each class can be seen in the following table. Table1. Number of Participants Classes Number of Students in Each Class Number of Participants taken Class A 36 21 Class B 35 17 Class C 33 15 Class D 36 22 Class E 22 13 Total Number 162 88 Data Collection Instrument The researcher used a questionnaire for the data collection. The questionnaire was adopted from the Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale (FLLAS) developed by Kim (2000). The aims of the questionnaire were to find out whether the third semester students of English Education Department experience listening anxiety or not, whether they have high, moderate, or low level of anxiety, and to find out which of the components measured in the FLLAS the students face the most anxiety. The questionnaire included three (3) sections and 29 Likert-scale items. The first section of items was on listening anxiety related to background knowledge. It comprised eight (8) items that included questions related to students’ background knowledge such as types of vocabulary and dealing with familiar and unfamiliar words as well as new information. The second section of items was on listening anxiety related to listening text and strategies. It consisted of eight (8) items that included the type of passage, pronunciation, and the way the passage was read by the speaker and heard by the listener. The third and last section of items was on listening anxiety related to listeners’ characteristics. It included thirteen (13) items of questions asking about students’ characteristics, for example students’ concentration as well as feelings of confidence, fear, tense, and nervousness. To answer the questionnaire, the students were asked to give their responses by ticking (√) a box representing their choice. The questionnaire is a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 5 (Strongly Agree) to 1 (Strongly Disagree). There are five different responses offered to the students; Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Neutral (N), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD). The participants’ low, moderate and high levels of anxiety were measured through their choices in response to the Likert-scale items. Scale 5 is considered as the highest level of anxiety while scale 1 is considered as the lowest level of anxiety except for three items. P a g e | 157 Noor Maulidiyah LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol.7 No.2 2017 These are items 3, 18, and 24. In these items, scale 5 is considered as low level of anxiety while scale 1 is considered as high level of anxiety. Besides the questionnaire on listening anxiety, the researcher also adopted the Background Information Questionnaire from (Zhai, 2015). This questionnaire was used to elicit specific information about the participants’ self-reported anxiety level, interest in listening and self-reported factors hindering listening comprehension. Data Analysis Procedure After all of the data were collected and processed, the researcher analyzed the data by using descriptive quantitative method. The researcher used descriptive statistics. These descriptive statistics such as the frequency and percentage were obtained to see the overall level of anxiety. The researcher used the following formula to calculate the percentage based Sudijono (2001): P = f x 100% N P = Percentage F = Frequency N = Total number of respondents FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS Findings Background Information Before presenting the data related to the students’ listening anxiety level and components of listening anxiety, the data related to the participants’ self-reported anxiety level, interest in listening and self-reported factors hindering listening comprehension were presented. The first question asked the students to self-report their listening ability. There were 82 out of 88 students have answered this question. Table 1 below shows the information. Table 1. Students’ Listening Ability (Self-report) N Frequency and Percentage (%) Excellent Good Sufficient Poor Very Poor 82 1 17 33 25 6 Table 1 shows that most of the students reported themselves having sufficient ability in listening 33 (40.2%). There were 25 students (30.4%) who reported having poor ability. The second question in the Background Information Questionnaire (BIQ) required the students to respond related to their level of anxiety. There were 83 out of 88 students have answered this question. The information is shown in Table 2. Table 2. Students’ English Listening Anxiety Level N Frequency and Percentage (%) Very High High Medium Low Zero 83 0 6 (7.2 %) 51 (61.4%) 24 (29%) 2 (2.4%) Table 2 shows that most of the students 51 (61.4%) reported having medium level of anxiety. Twenty four (24) students (29%) have reported having low level of anxiety. The third question asked the students whether they have interest in listening. There were 83 students have answered this questions. The data can be seen in Table 3. Table 3. Students’ Interest in Listening N Frequency and Percentage (%) Very High High Just so so Low No interest 83 13 (15.6%) 23 (27.7 %) 42 (50.6%) 5 (6%) 0 Based on table 3, it is seen that almost half of the total number of students had moderate interest in listening 42 (50.5%). There were some students 23 (27.7%) had high interest in listening. The last section in the Background Information Questionnaire (BIQ) required the students to determine factors that affect their listening ability. The researcher has provided eight factors that may affect students’ ability in listening. These factors are (1) poor (1.2%) (21 %) (40.2%) (30.4%) (7.3%) P a g e | 159 Noor Maulidiyah LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol.7 No.2 2017 pronunciation; (2) small vocabulary; (3) Unfamiliar listening materials; (4) fast speaking speed; (5) poor memory; (6) separate memory of word pronunciation, spelling and meaning; (7) inappropriate use of listening strategies; and (8) anxiety, stress, and other psychological factors. The researcher has also provided a blank option in order for the students to write their own factor that may affect their listening. There were 83 students out of 88 students who have answered this part of question. Table 4 below shows the information. Table 4. Factors that Affect Students’ Ability in Listening Factor Frequency Percentage a. Poor pronunciation 35 42.1 % b. Small vocabulary 61 73.4 % c. Unfamiliar listening materials 34 40.9 % d. Fast speaking speed 59 71 % e. Poor memory 25 30.1 % f. Separate memory of word pronunciation, spelling and grammar 25 30.1 % g. Inappropriate use of listening strategies 17 20.4 % h. Anxiety, stress and other psychological factors 26 31.1 % i. Students’ own factor 3 3.6 % Based on table 4, it is shown that the majority of students 61 (73.4 %) responded that small vocabulary was the factor that affect their listening ability the most. On the other hand, there were 17 (20.4 %) students reported that inappropriate use of listening strategies was the factor that affect their listening ability the least. Related to anxiety, there were 26 students (31.1%) who reported that anxiety and stress affect their listening ability. There were also 3 students (3.6 %) gave their own factors that are related to low concentration, difficulty to focus, and nervousness. Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale (FLLAS) is used to collect data on students’ listening anxiety level. As stated earlier, this research aims to answer two research questions: (1) Do the students who have sufficient and low ability in listening experience listening anxiety? And (2) which item measured in the Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale do EFL learners face the most and least anxiety? EFL Learners’ Listening Anxiety To answer the first research question, the three different levels of anxiety: high, moderate, and low levels were calculated. High level of anxiety was calculated when most of students responded with Agree or Strongly Agree to the items in the questionnaire, while for low level of anxiety it was calculated when the majority of students answered Disagree or Strongly Disagree. The moderate level of anxiety was concluded when the participant chose neutral answer in the questionnaire. The frequency and percentage were calculated to find out the level of anxiety faced by the students for each item. The following table illustrates and summarizes the three different levels of listening anxiety. Table 5. Summary of the Three Different Levels of Listening Anxiety Listening Anxiety Levels Number of Items Total Number of Items Chosen Percentage High 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28 16 48.2 % Moderate 2, 3, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 29 11 44.8 % Low 7, 15 2 7 % TOTAL 29 100 % Table 5 shows that the students have chosen Strongly Agree (SA) and Agree (A) for 16 items (48.2%) of the FLLAS items which suggested a high level of anxiety. The students have chosen Neutral (N) for 11 items (44.8%) of the FLLAS items which indicated moderate level of anxiety. Three of these items were items 3, 18, and 24 whose scale 1 is considered as high level of listening anxiety and its scale 5 is considered as low level of anxiety. However, the students showed a low level of anxiety for only 2 items (7%). They answered with Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD). Therefore, it can be concluded that the participants have high level of listening anxiety because they have chosen 14 items with Strongly Agree (SA) and Agree (A) options. However, there was a slight difference between the students who have high level and moderate level of anxiety in listening with only 3.4 %. P a g e | 161 Noor Maulidiyah LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol.7 No.2 2017 Components of Listening Anxiety The second research question was: Which of the components measured in the Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale do EFL learners face the most anxiety? To answer this question, the data collected were grouped into three themes which were background knowledge, listening text and strategies, and listeners’ characteristics. The data on each theme are demonstrated in separate tables. Table 6 below illustrates the result from the first theme that is listening anxiety related to background knowledge. The items related to this theme were presented in items 1 to 8 of the FLLAS questionnaire. Table 6. Students’ Listening Anxiety Related to Background Knowledge No. Statements N Frequency and Percentage (%) Level of Anxiety SD D N A SA 1. When listening to English, I tend to get stuck with one or two unknown words 88 0 9 (10.2%) 24 (27.2%) 43 (48.8%) 12 (13.6%) 55 (62.5%) High 2. I am nervous if I am not familiar with the topic when I am listening to English 88 5 (5.6%) 17 (19.3%) 34 (38.6%) 27 (30.6%) 5 (5.6%) 34 (38.6%) Neutral 3. It is easy to guess about the parts that I miss while listening to English 88 10 (11.3%) 25 (28.4%) 41 (46.5%) 11 (12.5%) 1 (1.1%) 41 (46.5%) Neutral 4. If I let my mind drift even a little bit while listening to English, I worry that I will miss important ideas 88 4 (4.5%) 3 (3.4%) 0 34 (38.6%) 47 (53.4%) 81 (92%) High 5. During English listening test, I get nervous and confused when I do not understand every word 88 9 (10.2%) 7 (7.9%) 27 (30.6%) 35 (39.7%) 10 (11.3%) 45 (51.1%) High 6. I fear when I have inadequate background knowledge of some 88 5 10 34 33 6 39 topics when listening in English (5.6%) (11.3%) (38.6%) (37.5% (6.8%) (44.3%) High 7. Listening to new information in English makes me uneasy 88 21 (23.8%) 30 (34.09%) 23 (26.1%) 12 (13.6%) 2 (2.2%) 51 (57.9%) Low 8. I get annoyed when I come across words that I do not understand while listening to English 88 4 (4.5%) 17 (19.3%) 22 (25%) 34 (38.6%) 11 (12.5%) 45 (51.1%) High Table 6 shows that for the background knowledge component, the items in which the students showed a high level of anxiety were item 4, 81 (92%), followed by item 1, 55 (62.5%). Items 5 and 8 have the same percentage showing high level of anxiety that is 45 (51.1%), followed by item 6, 39 (44.3%). For items 3 and 2, the participants demonstrated a moderate level of anxiety: item 3, 41 (46.5%), and item 2, 34 (38.6%). There was only 1 item that was chosen by the participants which shows a low level of anxiety that was item 7, 51 (57.9%). Thus, it can be concluded that the highest percentage that demonstrates the highest level of anxiety was for item 4 and the lowest level of anxiety shown was for item 7. Next, table 7 below demonstrates the result from the second theme that is listening anxiety related to Listening text and strategies. The items related to this theme were presented in items 9 to 16 of the FLLAS questionnaire. Table 7. Listening Anxiety Related to Listening Text and Strategies No . Statements N Frequency and Percentage (%) Level of Anxiety SD D N A SA 9. I get nervous if a listening passage is read only once during listening tests 88 0 9 (10.2%) 12 (13.6%) 35 (39.7%) 32 (36.3%) 67 (76.1%) High 10. When someone pronounce words differently from the way I pronounce them, I find it difficult to understand 88 2 (2.2%) 8 (9.09%) 24 (27.2%) 41 (46.5%) 13 (14.7%) 54 (61.3%) High P a g e | 163 Noor Maulidiyah LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol.7 No.2 2017 11. When a person speaks English very fast, I worry that I might not understand all of it 88 2 (2.2%) 2 (2.2%) 16 (18.1%) 35 (39.7%) 33 (37.5%) 68 (77.2%) High 12. When I am listening to English, I am worried when I cannot watch the lips or facial expressions of the person who is speaking 88 6 (6.8%) 24 (27.2%) 41 (46.5%) 10 (11.3%) 7 (7.9%) 41 (46.5%) Neutral 13. When listening to English, it is difficult to differentiate the words from one another 88 3 (3.4%) 17 (19.3%) 44 (50%) 18 (20.4%) 6 (6.8%) 44 (50%) Neutral 14. I feel uncomfortable in class when listening to English without the written text 88 4 (4.5%) 20 (22.7%) 48 (54.5%) 13 (14.7%) 3 (3.4%) 48 (54.5%) Neutral 15. When listening to English, I usually end up translating word by word without understanding the contents 87 4 (4.5%) 36 (41.3%) 27 (31.03%) 18 (20.6%) 2 (2.2%) 40 (45.9%) Low 16. When listening to English, I often understand the words but still cannot quite understand what the speaker means 87 2 (2.2%) 12 (13.7%) 25 (28.7%) 40 (45.9%) 8 (9.1%) 48 (55.1%) High Table 7 illustrates that for the listening text and strategies component, the items in which the students showed a high level of anxiety were item 11, 68 (77.2%), followed by item 9, 67 (76.1%), item 10, 54 (61.3%), and item 16, 48 (55.1%). For item 14, 48 (54.5%), item 13, 44 (50%), and item 12, 41 (46.5%), the participants demonstrated a medium level of anxiety. Then, there was only 1 item that was chosen by the participants which shows a low level of anxiety that was item 15, 40 (45.9%). In short, the highest percentage that shows the highest level of anxiety was for item 11 and the lowest level of anxiety shown was for item 15. The next table is table 8 below which illustrates the result from the third and last theme that is listening anxiety related to listeners’ characteristics. The items related to this theme were presented in items 17 to 29 of the FLLAS questionnaire. Table 8. Listening Anxiety Related to Listeners’ Characteristics No . Statements N Frequency and Percentage (%) Level of Anxiety SD D N A SA 17. I have difficulty understanding oral instructions given to me in English 8 8 4 (4.5%) 26 (29.5%) 33 (37.5%) 23 (26.1% ) 2 (2.2%) 33 (37.5%) Neutral 18. I feel confident when I am listening in English 8 7 5 (5.7%) 12 (13.7%) 40 (45.9%) 23 (26.4% ) 7 (8.04%) 40 (45.9%) Neutral 19. When I am listening to English, I often get so confused I cannot remember what I have heard 8 7 2 (2.2%) 15 (17.2%) 36 (41.3%) 24 (27.5% ) 10 (11.4%) 36 (41.3%) Neutral 20. My thoughts become jumbled and confused when listening to important information in English 8 8 5 (5.6%) 23 (26.1%) 36 (40.9%) 21 (23.8% ) 3 (3.4%) 36 (40.9%) Neutral 21. I get worried when I have little time to think about what I hear in English 8 8 0 7 (7.9%) 26 (29.5%) 44 (50%) 11 (12.5%) 55 (62.5%) High 22. I get worried when I cannot listen to English at my own pace 8 8 1 (1.1%) 8 (9.09%) 19 (21.5%) 44 (50%) 16 (18.1%) 60 (68.1%) High 23. It is difficult for me to listen to English when there is even a little bit of background noise 8 8 1 (1.1%) 5 (5.6%) 22 (25%) 43 (48.8% ) 17 (19.3%) 60 (68.1%) High 24. English stress and intonation seem familiar to me 8 7 8 (9.1%) 17 (19.5%) 46 (52.8%) 12 (13.7% ) 4 (4.5%) 46 (52.8%) Neutral 25. It frightens me when I cannot catch a key word of an English 8 8 1 11 18 39 (44.3% 19 58 P a g e | 165 Noor Maulidiyah LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol.7 No.2 2017 listening passage (1.1%) (12.5%) (20.4%) ) (21.5%) (65.9%) High 26. I am worried about answering questions in listening class because if my answer is wrong, I would feel embarrassed 8 8 9 (10.2%) 13 (14.7%) 31 (35.2%) 25 (28.4% ) 10 (11.3%) 35 (39.7%) High 27. If I cannot answer questions in listening class, I am afraid that the teacher would give me a low evaluation 8 7 4 (4.5%) 13 (14.9%) 27 (31.03%) 30 (34.4% ) 13 (14.9%) 43 (49.4%) High 28. I am afraid my listening comprehension will suffer as I am not good at grammar 8 8 5 (5.6%) 17 (19.3%) 19 (21.5%) 40 (45.4% ) 7 (7.9%) 47 (53.4%) High 29. I feel more worried if the listening exercise is subjective like completion and short answers questions 8 8 2 (2.2%) 7 (7.9%) 51 (57.9%) 19 (21.5% ) 9 (10.2%) 51 (57.9%) Neutral Based on table 8, it is seen that for the listeners’ characteristics component, items 22 and 23 showed the same percentage which indicated high level of anxiety: items 22 and 23, 60 (68.1%). This followed by item 25, 58 (65.9%), item 21, 55 (62.5%), item 28, 47 (53.4%), item 27, 43 (49.4%), and item 26, 35 (39.7%). For the rest of the items, the participants portrayed a moderate level of anxiety: item 29, 51 (57,9%), item 24, 46 (52.8%), item 18, 40 (45.9%), items 19, 36 (41.3%), item 20, 36 (40.9%), and the last is item 17, 33 (37.5%). Therefore, it is concluded that the highest percentage that shows the highest level of anxiety were for items 22 and 23. No item was found to indicate low level of anxiety in this component. Discussion In the first part of the questionnaire that was Background Information Questionnaire, the participants were asked to self-report their ability in listening. The majority of students answered that they had sufficient ability, 33 (40.2%) then poor ability, 25 (30.4%). According to their scores in listening middle and final tests, the participants were actually had sufficient and poor listening scores. Next, the participants were asked to report their own listening anxiety level. Based on the result, most of the students see themselves as having moderate level of anxiety, 51 (61.4%), and 24 students (29%) see themselves as having low level of anxiety. There were only 6 students (7.2%) who reported that they have high anxiety level. However, based on the result of the Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale, the majority of students showed high level of anxiety since they chose the responses of “Strongly Agree” and “Agree” the most. This might be because the participants did not know what the components of anxiety are. The third part of the Background Information Questionnaire asked the students related to their interest in listening. Most of the students showed a moderate interest in listening, 42 (50.6%), and 23 students (27.7%) reported that they had high interest in listening. The fourth part of the (BIQ) is related to the factors that may affect students’ listening ability. Based on the result, the factors of small vocabulary and fast speaking speed had the highest percentage, (73.4%) and (71%) respectively. In relation with the students’ listening anxiety level, the participants were asked to respond on the Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Level. It was found that among the 29 items in the questionnaire, there were 16 items that were chosen by the respondents indicating high level of anxiety in listening, 11 items were chosen showing moderate level of anxiety in listening, and only 2 items were chosen by the students that demonstrate low level of anxiety in listening. This is in line with the previous study of Tahsildar and Yusoff (2014). The first item that was chosen by the students showing highest level of anxiety was item 4, 81 (92%). This item was related to worrying to miss important ideas. The students seemed that they tried their best to focus and concentrate on the listening passage. They worried a lot if they lose concentration. If they let their mind strays, they will miss important ideas from the listening text. This is the point that made the students have high level of anxiety. The second item that was chosen by the participants showing high level of anxiety was item 11, 68(77.2%). This item was about fast speaking speed. Fast speaking speed makes the students anxious. This is in line with the result of the self-report of the factors that may influence the students’ listening ability. The point of fast speaking speed was chosen by the students as the second highest factor that influences their listening after small vocabulary factor, 59 (71%). The third item that was chosen by the students that portrays high level of anxiety was item 9, 67 students (76.1%). This item is related to playing the listening passage only once. This point makes the students worried and anxious in listening exams. The next items that show the students’ high level of anxiety were items 22 and 23 with the same number of students who chose the items and same percentage that is 60 students P a g e | 167 Noor Maulidiyah LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol.7 No.2 2017 (68.1%). These two items were related to the previous items discussed. Item 22 was similar to items 11 and 9. The students get worried when they cannot listen to English listening passage at their own pace or speed. In other words, they get anxious when they cannot control the speed of the listening passage and listen to it several times. For item 23, the students become worried when they listen with a lot of background noises. The next item that was chosen by the participants demonstrating their high level of anxiety was item 25, 58 (65.9%). This item showed that the students were anxious when they cannot catch the key word of an English listening passage. The next item were item 1, 55 (62.5%) and item 21, 55 (62.5%). Item 1 was about having small vocabulary. When the students listen to unknown words, they tend to get stuck and become worried and anxious. Similar items that were related to small vocabulary were item 5, 45 (51.1%) and item 8, 45 (51.1%). The following item that showed students’ high level of anxiety was item 10, 54 (61.3%) related to words and the pronunciation of words. The next item was item 16, 48 (55.1%) that was related to comprehending the listening passage. Sometimes the students do know the words but they do not understand the general meaning of the listening passage. Inadequate background knowledge of some topics also makes the students become frighten and anxious. This point is seen in item 6, 39 (44.3%). The participants also showed a high level of anxiety as they responded “Strongly Agree” and “Agree” the most to item 26, 35 (39.7%), item 27, 43 (49.4%), and item 28, 47 (53.4%). The students showed less confidence, embarrassment, and fear when answering listening questions. The items that were chosen by the students that indicated their low level of anxiety were only two items. The first item was item 7, 51 (57.9%). This item was related to whether they were worried of listening to new information in English or not. The majority of students responded that this will not make them anxious. The second item that demonstrated the students’ low level of anxiety was item 15, 40 (45.9%). This item was related to the strategy they use when listening that is translating word by word without understanding the content. This point does not make them anxious or worried. These results illustrated that the students’ anxiety was mostly caused by their lack of background knowledge particularly lack of new vocabulary and new information in the listening text, lack of repetition when listening to the English text, unfamiliar English pronunciation, speech speed and low level of self-confidence. The findings of the present study are in line with other previous studies such as the research of Tahsildar and Yusoff (2014) and also Kim (2000). Both research found that unfamiliar words, unfamiliar pronunciation and speed of delivery were primary concerns of foreign language listeners together with lack of background knowledge and learners’ low level of confidence. The findings of this research are also in line with Fang (2011) research results. His study also found similar results and emphasized that nature of speech, level of difficulty and lack of repetition are the major sources of listening anxiety. Thus, the findings of this research add on to the research findings that foreign language learners do experience listening anxiety. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS This research aims to answer two research questions. The first research question was: (1) Do the students who have sufficient and low ability in listening experience listening anxiety? And (2) which of the item measured in the Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale do EFL learners face the most and least anxiety? Based on the result of the questionnaire, it can be concluded the following: 1. The third semester students who participated in this research, who have low ability in listening shown by their score in listening middle and final tests, do experience high level of anxiety. Most of the students have chosen 14 items out of 29 items that indicated high level of anxiety, while there were 13 items chosen that indicated moderate level of anxiety, and only 2 items that were chosen that indicate low level of anxiety. 2. Among the three themes of FLLAS questionnaire, the theme of listening anxiety related to background knowledge has the item which demonstrates the highest level of anxiety that the students face that is item 4, 81 (92%). This item was related to worrying about missing important ideas when the students let their mind and attention drift or stray a little bit while listening to English. On the other hand, the theme of listening anxiety related to listening text and strategies has the item that shows the students’ lowest level of anxiety which is item 15, 40 (45.9%). This item is related to translating the listening text word by word when the students do not understand the content. In terms of the most number chosen for high level of listening anxiety was in the listening text and strategies component. Suggestion Based on the result of this research, the writer proposes the following suggestion: P a g e | 169 Noor Maulidiyah LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol.7 No.2 2017 1. Teachers and lecturers should find out and use effective and appropriate methods, techniques and strategies in teaching listening to decrease the students’ level of anxiety in listening. 2. Students themselves should practice listening more. They should learn more vocabularies and listen to various accents of English in different speed. These help learners to reduce their level of anxiety in listening. REFERENCES Fang, X. (2011). Anxiety in EFL Listening Comprehension. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 1-3. Kim, J. (2000). Foreign Language Listening Anxiety: A Study of Korean Students Learning English. Austin: University of Texas. Sudijono. (2001). Pengantar Statistik Pendidikan. Jakarta: PT. Raja Grafindo Persada. Yusoff, M. N. (1014). Investigating L2 Students’ Listening Anxiety: A Survey at a Malaysian University. International Journal of Applied Linguistics (IJLEAL), 1, 45-55. Dornyei, Z. & Skehan, P. (2003). Individual Differences in Second Language Learning. In C.D. Long (Ed.), The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition (pp. 589-630). Oxford: Blackwell. Zhai, L. (2015). Influence of Anxiety on English Listening Comprehension: An Investigation Based on the Freshman of English Majors. Studies in Literature and Language, 11 (6), 40-47.