A STUDY OF ANXIETY EXPERIENCED BY EFL STUDENTS IN PRESENTING PROPOSAL SEMINARS AT ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM

This descriptive qualitative research aimed to find out the factors that cause anxiety in EFL students when presenting proposal seminars. A number of 20 students who had carried out proposal seminars participated as the subject of this research. Video and audio recording were conducted during the interviews to find out the factors of students’ anxiety during the presentation of the proposal seminars. The interviews revealed that, there were several factors that cause students’ anxiety in presenting proposal seminars, such as fear of failure, fear of negative criticism, lack of vocabulary, lack of grammar, poor pronunciation, fear of losing the thread of material, fear of being stopped, negative thinking, fear of making mistake, fear negative evaluation, and feel incompetent or appearing awkward in front of many people. It is suggested that EFL students who intend to conduct proposal seminars consider those factors to minimize anxiety. The finding of this research at the same time can be as a reference to create a better proposal seminar presentation. The last but not least, material mastery, presentation practices, watching some similar videos of seminars presentation, hard effort, and determination are truly essential factors contributing to the success of any proposal seminars presentation.


A. INTRODUCTION
Anxiety is a concern and fear. (HORWITZ et al., 1986)Fear in relation to Anxiety can also be a positive influence for students, because with anxiety that students feel when they want to do a proposal seminar; students can prepare to care more about the task. For example a students those who feel anxious before delivering a presentation can be helped by that feeling to prepare for the presentation well by studying it silently, or presenting it to someone else first . Repeated efforts like this will increase confidence and chances for success and motivate to work to full potential. In this sense, a certain amount of anxiety can actually make students more aware of what they are doing.
Presentation is speaking or communicating in front of many people to convey an idea and material. (Erdiana et al., 2020) The presentation must be carried out properly so that every intention conveyed by the presenter can be understood and attracts the attention of the audience. With presentation lectures or students can transfer knowledge and share what they know. (Asnur., 2010 ) divide factors of anxiety in presentation, namely internal factors and external factors, Internal factors are fear of failure, fear of criticism, conflicting emotion, speech anxiety, negative experiences, fear of losing the thread of material, fear of being stopped, negative thinking. External factors are condition of presentation room, failing to practice and physical factor. (Asysyfa et al., 2019)The purpose of the presentation is so that students can speak or communicate fluently and systematically in both of formal and informal situation. The presentation is also a form of communication that requires students to be able to speak in public to bring out their ideas. The presentation is the average communication that can be adjusted to various talk situations. Presentations can help speakers to share what is read by the speaker of the read and they listen to their book or another people.
The proposal seminar is part of the advances stage to present the thesis plan that student will work on. The purpose of the presenting proposal seminar to understand the background of the research, develop adapt appropriate methods, and summarize the state of the project as a proposal. Every student certainly wants to pass the proposal exam fluently. But of course when making a presentation there are factors that make students feel anxious when presenting a proposal seminar, causes this is a first time their presenting a seminar proposal, the factor that causes students to be anxious during presentations such as lack of material mastery, many of the students have not done preparation for the proposal exam , making informative power points, and predicting questions that might arise from the examiner lecturer, students who do not have much knowledge of vocabulary will feel anxious, students do not have confident in pronunciation of word fear of being wrong, grammatical problem, students feel afraid to speak English when speaking English with accurate grammar, and most students fear to get a low score because they were not sure that they could answer or respond to test in the form of question or statements given to them, Fear of negative evaluation, this is a condition were students are worried about getting a bad assessment of lecturers or audiences, in addition, this feeling appear because everyone in the seminar room will make them a center of attention.
Proposal came from the English word the 'to propose 'which mean to send. Then a proposal is a proposal activity plan On other hand, it is assumed that some foreign language learners or EFL students of English Study Program of English Education Muhammadiyah university of Bengkulu who present their research proposal, following the hard ways to become a great public speaker in it . In the presentation they need to transfer their topics and materials in front of many people very well, especially when they are being tested is a tricky thing to do. Therefore, they become very nervous with when they present their research proposal.
Feeling anxious can make students stuck in the middle of presentation and make presentation not run well, such as difficult to concentration, nervous and going blank. This will certainly be a very serious problem for students. (Haidara, 2016) Therefore, this condition cause anxiety in English performance especially in presentation seminar proposal is important to investigated, it is important to know what factors contribute students' anxiety in presenting proposal seminars.
As a preliminary data, interviews were conducted to several students who had carried out proposal seminar presentation taken on June 27 th 2022. The interviews were intended to dig up information dealing with anxiety experience by the students in proposal seminar presentations. They state the anxiety factors they experienced during the proposal seminar presentation were that they felt nervous because it was their first experience doing a proposal seminar presentation, but they had prepared their material for their proposal seminar as well as possible. When presenting proposal seminar using English, they were afraid for making mistakes in their vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. In discussion session of proposal seminar, at first they were a little worried, because they were afraid they could not answer the question from the examiners, they fear of getting a low score, get major revision and negative evaluation from examiners. There are still many factors contribute to the success of proposal seminars presentation. Those factors are; are fear of failure, fear of negative criticism, lack of vocabulary, lack of grammar, poor pronunciation, fear of losing the thread of material , fear of being stopped, negative thinking, fear of making mistake, fear negative evaluation, and feel incompetent or appearing awkward in front of the audiences.
Anxiety is believed as an essential factor contributing to the success of any proposal seminar presentations. Minimize anxiety is the appropriate way to conduct better proposal presentations. However, this is not a simple thing to do. The students have to consider some factors contributing to their selfconfidence during seminars proposal presentation, namely hard efforts, determination, regular presentation practice, etc. Therefore, the research aimed to identify and elaborated some anxiety contributing to the success of EFL proposal seminars presentation. Thus, this descriptive qualitative research explored some factors dealing with anxiety experienced by EFL Students of English Study Program Muhammadiyah University of Bengkulu in proposal seminars presentation.

B. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Descriptive qualitative method was applied in this research. It was designed to identify and to describe anxiety experienced by EFL students in seminar proposal presentation. Descriptive qualitative research is means referred to a survey research, determines and describe how things are. It aims to understand the existing phenomena experienced by research subjects such as attitudes, perception, motivations, actions, etc. (Maxwell, 2016)Descriptive research is used to investigate various educational problems and issue. The data is in the form of words and sentence, not in number.
Descriptive qualitative research was defined and explained from the perspective of this research. The researcher chose this method because descriptive qualitative was a suitable design and interpreting research observations. The reason for adopting this method is to help researcher easily understand the overall outline of the research.
The list of questions about anxiety experienced by EFL students in presenting proposal seminar at English Study Program Muhammadiyah University of Bengkulu.

C. Finding And Discussion
The data from the interview were explored to find out what factors contributed to the anxiety problems experienced by EFL students in conducting proposal seminars presentation

Communication Apprehension
Comprehension apprehension is one of the factors toward foreign language anxiety. (HORWITZ et al., 1986) Their feel ashamed and can't do their best especially in deliver a presentation. Students were anxious to have a communication with the contributors or audience because of several things. The first is lack of vocabulary. Second is concern about pronunciation students do not have confident in pronunciation of word fear of being wrong , The last is grammatical problem , students feel afraid to speak English when speaking English with accurate grammar.
Factors that contributes students anxiety in presenting seminar proposal was communication apprehension. Students fear of make a mistake, from the interview result several students fear of making mistakes, because this is the first time their presentation proposal seminar. They were afraid of making mistake such as change the tittle, and worried about unclear pronunciation, and lack of grammar and vocabulary. So, the results of the research are the same as the theory.

Test Anxiety
The next factor of foreign language anxiety during presenting proposal seminar is text anxiety, the EFL students were anxious of being tested by contributors since they consideration of that test. Students anxiety about the test requires students to get perfect score in the test, because if they get a bad score in the test, they assume it is a failure. Then EFL students experienced fear to get a low score because they were not sure that they could answer or respond to test in the form of question or statements given to them. Last, what makes test anxiety appear is that the students were afraid of getting lost or failed from the low score obtained in the research of the proposal seminar.
Factors that contribute students anxiety in presenting seminar proposal was test anxiety. Based on the results of interviews, many students said they were afraid of negative evaluation. This is a condition where students are worried about getting a bad assessment of contributors or audiences. Some students who have been interviewed stated the factors that made them afraid of evaluation was getting a low score, can't answer the question from the examiners, changing title, theories what were not appropriate, many revision, and then not being able to answer the question given by examiner. So, the results of the research are the same as the theory.

Fear of Negative Evaluation
This is a condition where students are worried about getting a bad assessment of contributors or audiences. It can be shown from students who feel foolish, awkward or incompetent in front of some people. In addition, this feeling appear because everyone in the seminar room wil make them a center of attention. (HORWITZ et al., 1986) Factors that contributes students anxiety in presenting seminar proposal was fear of negative evaluation. Based on the results of interviews, students answered feeling incompetent or appearing awkward in front of many people, because they feel be attention and feel like being the center of attention.

Fear of Failure
The speaker fears of social blunder (or possibility of blundering). (Sahid et al., 2018) Factor causing students anxiety from the result of interview the researcher found many students fear of failure when presentation proposal seminar, their afraid make a mistake, afraid of getting a low score and can't answer the questions given by examiner. So, the results of the research are the same as the theory.

Fear of Negative Criticism
This is a common cause of public speaking anxiety. Individuals may fear that people may not pay attention to what they have to say, or that their speech won't be welcomed. (Sahid et al., 2018) Factors contribute to students anxiety in proposal seminar presentation was fear of negative criticism. The reason the respondent afraid of criticism because it's the first time presenting proposal seminar so they afraid of negative criticism, negative criticism can make down, for example criticism about presentation is not good, because the respondent afraid of get negative feedback from examiners about their proposal.

Conflicting Motion
Some speakers experienced conflicting emotions in mind, where the participants want to be successful in the presentation, but they were also afraid to make a mistake in the presentation.
The third finding was conflicting motion, students think make a mistake when presenting proposal seminar because This is the first time they presenting proposal seminar so make nervous and make a mistake and afraid to make a mistake when presentation in English because they did not know much of vocabulary, lack of grammar, so make them felt anxious and nervous when making mistake of grammar, and poor of pronunciation, poor pronunciation making students speak less clear.

Speech Anxiety
Some speaker worried about their linguistic competence such as their vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. The more nervous they will be, and the less likely they are to perform well at speaking thus resulting in a vicious circle. Individual may feel anxious about their way of speaking, worrying that they may stutter or forget their speech.
The cause students anxiety in presenting proposal seminar is speech anxiety, Some students who have been interviewed stated was nervous and anxious to see the examiner face and because the presentation use English, so afraid to give wrong explanation so that there is misunderstanding with the examiner . So, the results of the research are the same as the theory.

Negative Experience
It is common for people who have had negative experiences in public speaking to experience anxiety the next time they're in front of an audience. The individual may replay the negative incident in the past and relive this experience.
Negative experience of the students in carrying out the presentation may also hamper their performance. Negative experience that have been felt by students when presenting seminar proposal such as can't display power point in in focus, and seminar outdoors just by reading proposal, and cannot answer the questions from examiners when presenting proposal seminar. The speakers are afraid if they forgot the material will be present or their speech, thus it increases their anxiety. The factor of anxiety is related with speakers failure of practice and strategy on preparation, because if they failed to practice their speech and lack of preparation, they would make them lost their words and forget according Asnur (2010).

Was Fear of Losing the Thread of Material
Factors that contributes students anxiety in presenting seminar proposal was fear of losing the thread of material, Some students who have been interviewed stated often forget the points of material because they were nervous and anxious so made blank and forget what they want to explain, especially presenting in English so sometimes they forget what they want to say or explain, so they overcome when they forget the point of proposal material by reading the proposal.

.Fear of Being Stopped
The factor that mostly influences the student anxiety is fear of being stopped Asnur (2010). They were afraid during they conducted their presentation the observer would stop their presentation because of their performance that might be not very well. They will be stopped by the examiners or the head committee of seminar and in consequences they have to conduct their presentation once.
The factors that contributes students anxiety in presenting seminar proposal was fear of being stopped. Because students afraid had a mistake in the presentation proposal so afraid to re-present proposal seminar and afraid to make a presentation once again because their presentation is not good.

Negative Thinking
Some speakers, who could not overcome their negative thinking before and during the presentation, failed on their performance. It is shown that what we think in our mind that is the thing that will happen to us.
Negative thinking was the factors that contribute students anxiety in presenting seminar proposal. Some students who have been interviewed stated before entering the room, nervous, restless, shaking imagine in the room later, how is the examiners face, how about the questions, afraid cannot answer the question, afraid succeeding or not, always negative thinking, afraid to make a presentation once again because there are still many mistake in proposal, and afraid of getting low score.

Condition of Presentation
The way of the audience, supervisors, and examiners stared and followed their presentation had also increase their anxiety. Some of them were also anxious by the new situation of the room. (Sahid et al., 2018) The factors that contributes students anxiety in presenting seminar proposal is condition of presentation. factor causing students anxiety from the result of interview the researcher found many students nervous it's like being the center of attention, even though there were only examiners, so nervous and forget, and for example when the examiners ask and want to answer, Some students when saw his face so confused about what they want to say. So, the results of the research are the same as the theory.

Failing to Practice
Failing to practice the speech and techniques of public speaking may cause public speaking anxiety because the individual may feel unprepared and unworthy to stand in front of the audience. Being a great public speaker takes a lot of practice in rehearsing the speech and exercising public speaking techniques. Inexperienced public speakers mostly feel this anxiety.
Factor is failing to practice, all students have prepared before carrying out the proposal seminar presentation. Because this is a proposal seminar presentation, so have prepared before presentation, starting from power point, material and infocus. So, the results of the research are not same as the theory. Because students must had prepared in advance before carried out the proposal seminar.

Physical Factor
The negative thinking once again leaves the presenter in anxious feeling and turn out in a poor performance. Unhealthy feeling of bad condition of speakers healthy will also make them anxious. The unhealthy condition will get speakers mind in negative thinking, such as worry if they will be fall down or unconscious during the presentation that their voice would not pass her lips, and such negative thinking as that.
The factors that contribute students anxiety in presenting seminar proposal is physical factor, students stated sweat, nervous, want to cry, afraid that the proposal will not be accepted by examiner and sweat during the presentation and Q and A session. According to Carlson, anxiety is "a feeling that comes with physiological reactions, for examples accelerated heart rate, sweaty palms, and tightness in the stomach. So, the results of the research are the same as the theory.

D. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
This chapter presents about the conclusions and suggestions of English students anxiety in presenting proposal Seminar at English Study Program Muhammadiyah University of Bengkulu.
In conclusion, the result of this research revealed that what the factors English students anxiety in presenting proposal seminar at English Study Program Muhammadiyah University of Bengkulu. Students anxiety in presenting proposal seminar was caused by several factors, such as fear of failure, fear of negative criticism, conflicting motion, lack of vocabulary, lack of grammar, poor pronunciation, speech anxiety, fear of losing the thread of material, fear of being stopped, negative thinking, condition of presentation, communication apprehension, fear of making mistake, test anxiety, fear negative evaluation, and feel incompetent or appearing awkward in front of many people.