AN ANALYSIS OF UNIVERSITY EFL LEARNERS’ ANXIETY IN POST-

PANDEMIC ENGLISH CLASS

A. RESEARCH BACKGROUND
At the beginning of 2020 the world was shocked by the global transmission of
a disease called COVID-19. It caused by the Coronavirus where this virus was for the
first time known from Wuhan, China at the end of 2019 (Lixing, Z., 2020). Covid-19
is intensively spread through physical contact where if the sufferer experiences
symptoms of cough and fever, it will transmit the Coronavirus to the interlocutor.
Referring to this phenomenon, the Ministry of Health urges for limiting all activities,
exceedingly outside. People are struggling to survive the havoc by wearing masks,
avoiding crowded areas, minimizing physical contact, and maintaining cleanliness.
This is intended to reduce the rate of increase of Covid-19.
The highly spread of the Coronavirus has resulted in adversity in various
sectors. The Corona virus has delayed the rate of public transactions and interaction in
the commerce, health, and education sectors. The World Health Organization (WHO)
advises the public to adapt social distancing to decrease the number of death. Social
distancing is a new paradigm that requires people to maintain a minimum distance of
one meter between themselves and stay away from crowds. In order to deal with this,
the Coronavirus urged the government to create new policies by completely closing
outdoor activities including education. As a result, UNICEF anticipates the younger
generation to be deprived of education as the consequence of the losses caused by the
pandemic (UNICEF, 2020).
Besides economy and health, education has received a huge impact due to the
pandemic (Lapada at al., 2020). The increasingly widespread of the Coronavirus has
brought a major revolution, especially in educational institutions in Indonesia. The
government transformed all activities and work schedules, including the teaching and
learning as the part of the great revolution. This formation applies entirely starting from
kindergarten, elementary school to university. As a result, learn from home (LFH) is
being the only preference to continue in providing education that involves teachers or
lecturers and students. Online learning is one of the facilities and infrastructure
demanded for the successful implementation of LFH.
Actually we are very familiar with the term of online learning. Apparently
nowadays, everything is done instantly via online network. For instance, purchases and
payments have been managed through online. Additionally, applications and websites
related to online learning may be simply accessed on Google. But offline and online
learning remain different organizational systems. Moreover, online learning has never
been held in schools yet. Therefore, the only option, for teachers and students, is to
perform distance learning through online learning even though they have never
conducted before. Online learning is an asynchronous activity carried out through an
sophisticated electronic device where students can access learning resources according
to their personal requirements (Amiti, 2020).
Online learning is practiced due to the limited movement caused by the
transmission of the Coronavirus. Education has restriction that influence all aspects and
school management. This restriction has resulted in classes that are normally conducted
in schools and face to face into online learning. In addition, the method of educative
interaction that takes place naturally between teachers and students is obstructed. This
has led to an increase in the workload of teachers and staff as well as limited educational
resources due to the forced closure of schools and universities (Dhawan, 2020; Rapanta
et al., 2020). Teachers must be able to learn and implement new learning resources
provided through online learning. Not only teaching and learning activities, but school
management and administration are also ensured to switch into online era.
The 2020-2021academic year is believed to be the hardest and challenging
period. Based on Leaflet Number 4umber 4 of 2020 concerning The Implementation of
Education Policies during Covid-19, the government has implemented a distance
learning policy through intermediary applications or online platforms (Education
Ministry Adjusts Several Policies Amid COVID-19, 2020). In this case, teachers should
incorporate ICT into their teaching and learning practices. Online platforms have been
utilized by teachers to connect with students. Webinars have replaced classrooms.
Suddenly, education is supposed to be adaptable in finding a new learning system that
is in accordance with the challenges of the world. Teachers face several obstacles in the
unexpected and unplanned transition. Up to now, applications and ICT have not been
used optimally as learning media in schools.
Online learning comes in variety of problems and challenges. In this situation,
not all teachers can operate computers or gadgets in online learning activities. Besides
teachers find difficulties to manage every activity and ensure students' understanding
of the material. This is due to the absence of students which the teacher not being able
to directly observe students' responses. Challenges in online learning are also faced by
students. Widayanti & Suarnajaya (2021) refer to their study where students experience
challenges in online learning because they feel not adaptive to pandemic situations and
get more suitable when offline class. Additionally the enthusiasm of students in reading
online materials is also low.
Presently online learning has an impact on all educational institutions starting
from kindergarten, elementary to college. Recently the pandemic still provides a vague
view of the appropriate strategies and methods to be developed in this struggle period.
In order to deal with that situation, there are many studies that discuss the problems of
online learning during the pandemic. Besides to find the better solution, this is
confirmed to give the new insight of the online learning. Furthermore, several studies
explored the concerns of online learning, including the strength and the weakness of
online learning, the impact of certain apps as online learning media and the effect of
online learning on students' anxiety (Rosalina, Nasrullah & Elyani, 2020; Nappu, Dewi,
Hasnawati & Hamid, 2021; Mohammed & Mudhsh, 2021).
Nowadays online learning is starting to transform back into offline learning
since the government declare about a new lifestyle called new normal. As we know, the
Minister of Health has held simultaneous vaccinations to reduce the number of
Coronaviruses spreading in order to stabilize interactions. According to Rita & Safitri
(2020) the new normal is a new way of communication that depends on specific
Standard Operational Procedures in order to prevent the spread of the virus when social
interactions are conducted in various sectors. This condition offers opportunities for
every sector from the economy, industry, tourism including education to improve the
bad situation due to the pandemic.
After approximately two years of experiencing a pandemic, the world is now in
the recovery phase. The Minister of Education and Culture plans to reopen all
educational institutions in Indonesia, including universities. Accordingly there have not
been many studies that have examined the impact of online learning where as long as
online classes are performed students are not permitted to interact face to face and are
constrained in socializing. Unfortunately when universities hold offline classes again,
students have to interact and socialize both with friends and lecturers considering they
have been isolated for almost two years and have less effective communication. Since
it is a new way of delivering lessons in the educational institutions mainly college,
accordingly the research will be held in English Education Department at a certain
university in Central Java. As a result, the focus of this research is to investigate the
 extent of the anxiety experienced by university EFL learners in post-pandemic English
classes.
B. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
According to the research background above, this research is conducted to
answer the following questions:
1. To what extent does online learning during Covid-19 pandemic cause anxiety
on the university EFL learners in post-pandemic offline learning?
2. What are the factors causing the university EFL learners’ anxiety in offline
learning particularly in the post-pandemic era?
C. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this research are:
1. To find out the extent of Covid-19 pandemic causes the anxiety of the university
EFL learners in post-pandemic offline learning.
2. To describe the factors causing the university EFL learners’ anxiety in offline
learning particularly in the post-pandemic era.
D. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE
The significance of this research is to prepare an overview of the impact or
condition of the anxiety of university EFL learners when post-pandemic offline learning
is held. Thus, it is hoped that teachers and students can understand the problems that
arise in post-pandemic offline learning. So that the appropriate solution can be gained.
E. RESEARCH LIMITATION
The researcher limits this research to the context of anxiety experienced by
university EFL learners in post-pandemic English class at the certain university in
Central Java. This research focuses on two discussions. First, to what extent of Covid-
19 pandemic causes the anxiety of the university EFL learners in post-pandemic offline
learning. Second, the factors that cause the anxiety of university EFL learners in offline
learning especially in the post-pandemic era. Therefore it is hoped that further research
can be carried out by other researchers, especially in the aspect of anxiety in post-
pandemic learning situations. So the more comprehensive view can be obtained.
Finally, the better solution can be found for students to overcome the problems of
anxiety.
F. CLARIFICATION OF TERMS
1. University EFL Learners
In order to specify the concept, it is worth to define what university
English Foreign Language (EFL) learners means. There is often a
misinterpretation of the terms between foreign language (FL) and second
language (SL). More specifically, Richards and Schmidt (2010) state the
distinction between foreign language and second language. Foreign language is
a language that is not extensively spoken in a specific nation or region. It means
FL is not used as a language of daily communication. FL is learned usually with
a specific purpose such as fulfilling educational needs or as an introductory
medium for someone to understand a certain reading. On the other side, a second
language is a language that is widely used as a daily conversation. However,
this SL is not the first language or mother tongue of a particular country, but a
common language and may coexist with other languages. For instance, SL is
frequently used by immigrants from other countries. In this case, this research
depends on foreign language learners majoring in English Education
Department. It focuses on fourth semester university EFL learners who take
English classes at the certain university in Central Java.
2. University EFL Learners’ Anxiety
Anxiety is closer with the terms of depression and stress. It looks like
similar but it has the different signs. Depression is characterized by several
symptoms such as hopelessness, low interest in life, low positive act, feeling of
gloomy, sleeplessness and impaired concentration. In addition, stress is
interpreted as the emotional feelings that pressure inside. Moreover irritable,
restless, and impatient are the vibes that apprear when the person becomes stress
(Tran TD, Tran T & Fisher J, 2013; Rehman U, Shahnawaz MG, Khan NH,
Kharshiing KD, Khursheed M, Gupta K, Kashyap D & Uniyal R, 2020).
Besides, based on Spielberger in Hortwiz, Elaine and Cope (1986) anxiety is a
subjective emotion that comes from inside and is defined as the pattern of
tension, fear, anxiousness, and panic which is associating with the stimulation
of the automatic nervous system. All of these psychological disorders
undoubtedly give the negative impact on language learning achievement.
Specifically this research aims at analyzing the anxiety. Anxiety affects on
determining language learning performance in achieving the target language, in
this context is English. In this study, the researcher wants to identify the anxiety
caused by English Foreign Language (EFL) learners at the particular university
in Central Java.