Exploring Students' Perceptions of English that Trigger Psychological Problems in Paragraph Writing

Abstract

This research intended to explore students’ perceptions towards English that triggered psychological problems while they were doing English paragraph writing activity. The research design was qualitative. The research participants (n=12) were the students of junior high school. The results show that only 3 students said English is easy, 3 students said English is medium, 6 students said English is difficult. They experienced difficulties in comprehending English tenses because of lack of reading practice, English grammar, and of vocabulary mastery. Thus, the students’ perceptions yields the fact that they were in; doubt (9 students), anxiety (9 students), shyness (6 students), current mood (3 students), discouragement (6 students), lack of interest (4 students), lack of motivation (5 students).