Foreign Language Anxiety in Learning English: Students’ Perspectives and Experiences of Learning from Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The corona virus disease (COVID-19) pandemic forced all schools in Indonesia to carry out the online learning since March 2020 which could certainly make the students feel anxious. So, within this paper, the writers report a study which explored the sources and effects of Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) through perceptions and experiences of junior high school students in grade eight of MTs Nurul Huda Mereng, Warungpring, Pemalang regency during learning from home due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The design of this study is descriptive qualitative research. The data were collected through the perspectives using interviews and getting the responses to open ended questions of ten students. The findings indicate that in general, students exhibited suffering from anxiety more than benefiting learning English school subject from home. In conclusion, following the foreign language anxiety especially when students learn English from home during the COVID-19 Pandemic can be said as an essential necessary for the English teacher in contributing to the teaching evaluation and reflection.