How I Overcame My Anxiety In Teaching English For Junior High School Students: A Self-Reflective Study

Abstract

How I Overcame My Anxiety in Teaching English for Junior High School Students: A Self-Reflective Study; Gigih Suryatama; 180210401007; 2025; 33 pages; English Education study program; Language and Arts Department Faculty of Education; Jember University. Pre-service teachers face various challenges, including the need to master subject knowledge, classroom management, instructional techniques, and student assessment. A common issue among them is anxiety, which significantly affects their teaching abilities, especially during their first interactions with students. Anxiety arises from feelings of nervousness and uncertainty, particularly in challenging teaching scenarios, such as teaching English through English or managing uninspired students. This anxiety can hinder language development and is often linked to concerns about self-competence. Research by Maulimora (2019) indicates that many pre-service English teachers experience anxiety regarding their teaching skills, language abilities, and classroom management, primarily due to a lack of confidence. The study aims to explore teacher anxiety through self-reflective study, focusing on how pre-service teachers can recognize and address their anxiety, particularly in the context of Junior High School teaching. This approach seeks to fill a gap in existing research by emphasizing self-reflection as a means to manage anxiety. Based on the results of this study, some evidence of the results of video journaling was found. The findings are divided into 2 parts, namely 1) Some Circumstances When I Feel Anxious While Teaching, and 2) How I Reduce My Anxiety. Circumstances when I feel anxious while teaching has 4 themes; the cause, the characteristics, the immediate solutions, and the delayed solutions. The cause of what caused me to feel anxiety was explained during the class. Especially the first time I entered the classroom, I felt an instant sense of anxiety. They look at me with curious eyes, wait for me to say something, and sometimes don't smile at the jokes I tell. I also feel afraid of answering the wrong questions they ask which makes me worry if I am underestimated. The characteristics of the anxiety that occurs. The behaviors and the feelings I felt when experiencing anxiety such as my heart beating faster and my palm sweating. In some situations, my hands are shaking, my legs involuntarily moving, and my hands constantly squeezing the markers. The most severe anxiety trait I experienced was in the first meeting where I had a little trouble breathing and felt dizzy. The immediate solutions show how I manage the situations when I am anxious as soon as possible. Sometimes I used some activities such as ice breaking and tasks to melt down the strain condition in the class. Based on the results of this study, I summarized how I reduced my anxiety. When I first started teaching students, I felt very nervous, but as I got to know each of their characters, my nervousness slowly began to fade. Activities such as playing games, reading student worksheets, and temporarily shifting students' focus can help me reduce my anxiety when teaching. When I first encounter students, I try to distract them by doing things like writing on the board and doing small movements like squeezing markers and moving my feet. One of the activities that can make my anxiety decrease drastically is playing games with students. It can make me feel relaxed in the classroom. In the next meeting, I was able to make jokes that they liked and it made me almost have no anxiety in front of them anymore.