Abstract:
This study investigated the use of WhatsApp to reduce students’ speaking anxiety in a
blended learning activity. This case study were conducted to the students at the tenth
grade of a Vocational School in Wanareja. The aims were to figure out the extent of the
use of WhatsApp reduces students’ speaking anxiety in blended learning activity and to
analyze the features of WhatsApp that can reduce students’ speaking anxiety during
blended learning activity. Based on the purposive sampling technique, the writer selected
the English teacher and the students at class X Agribisnis Pertanian dan Holtikultura that
consisted of 24 students as participants of this study. The data collected through the
questionnaire, the interview, and the observation. There were four techniques used by the
writer to analyze the data from research instruments, namely the frequency table, content
analysis, coding, and triangulation analysis. The findings showed that the use of
WhatsApp reduced students’ speaking anxiety in blended learning activity because of
some considerations based on the students and the teacher’s perceptions. The findings
also showed that six kinds of Whatsapp features were used by the teacher during the
implementation of blended learning activity. Those Whatsapp features were WhatsApp
group, photos, chat, WhatsApp document, voice messaging, and video. The conclusions
indicated that the students perceived positively on the use of WhatsApp reduced their
speaking anxiety in blended learning activity. The conclusions also indicated that six
kinds of Whatsapp features were used by the teacher during the implementation of
blended learning activity.
