ABSTRACT
Speaking English is something that is often considered scary because of the
anxiety and unpreparedness experienced when speaking. At a time, when the
corona virus case was endemic throughout the world, where everyone was doing
virtual activities. Likewise with the virtual learning process in all courses,
especially in the Academic Speaking course. Researchers want to explore the
extent to which virtual learning activities can reduce students' speaking anxiety.
There are several factors that influence someone on speaking anxiety. Factors that
affect students' speaking anxiety are internal factors and external factors. Internal
factors are stage fear, lack of confidence, and shyness factor or afraid of making
mistakes. External factors are language factor, grammar factor, and pronunciation
factor. This study aims to determine students' speaking anxiety, what factors
influence it, whether virtual speaking can reduce speaking anxiety and the extent
to which virtual learning can reduce speaking anxiety. The subjects of this study
were students who had studied Academic Speaking in semester 4th of the English
Education Department in a university. The method used in this study is a
qualitative descriptive method. This study used questionnaires and interviews to
obtain data. From the average score of the questionnaire, the average score that
virtual speaking can reduce students' speaking anxiety is 83.3% which is a
positive thing for them. Based on these factors, most students prefer virtual
speaking, reducing speaking anxiety on internal factors, specifically stage fear.
Keywords: Speaking Anxiety, Virtual English, and Internal External Factor.