THE INFLUENCE OF STUDENTS’ ANXIETY IN SPEAKING ENGLISH AT THE EIGHT GRADE STUDENTS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL Muhammad Astrianto Setiadi Department of English, Muhammadiyah University of Makassar Sultan Alauddin Street, Makasssar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia Email: astrianto@unismuh.ac.id Abstract: This research aimed in finding out whether or not the students‟ anxiety influence the speaking skill. The research applied descriptive quantitative method. The research subject is the eight semester students of SMP Negeri 02 Arungkeke Jeneponto in academic years 2020-2021 by using purposive sampling technique. The instruments of the research were questionnaire and speaking test. The questionnaire will be analyzed by using FLCAS Anxiety Scale and the speaking test will be analyzed quantitatively. The findings showed that t he students‟ anxiety affected on students‟ performance on speaking English at the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 02 Arungkeke Jeneponto. The influence of anxiety to the students speaking skill in terms of fluency is fairly, were when the students speak they have to make an effort for much of the time, often repeat the words which have already said before and students‟ expression was flat. While on accuracy is poor, were the students pronunciation was errors and many basic grammatical and lexical errors. It was proved by the mean score of students‟ anxiety levels, were the total percentage of students‟ anxiety were 87% from the highest score 100% points and total of question was 20 numbers. The most of correspondents be in very anxious classification with the total median was 4.35 points. It means the students agree that the students‟ anxiety is influence in students‟ speaking English ability. Keywords: Influence of anxiety, Speaking skill, Junior High School INTRODUCTION Many people, even students in the school or university who are learning the language, have anxiety in speaking in a foreign language or second language (L2) from the original language (L1) using every day to communicate with people around. In learning English, there are many things or difficulties experienced especially speaking. Most students still feel anxiety to speak English fluently, causal factors of this problem are such as lack of motivation, feeling nervous to speak English, lack of grammar mastery, lack of vocabulary, feeling afraid of making mistakes, nothing to say, un-confidence, especially in Indonesia. ANXIETY Anxiety is a general term for several disorders that cause nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worrying. These disorders affect how we feel and behave and can cause physical symptoms. Mild anxiety is vague and unsettling, while severe anxiety can seriously affect day-to-day living. Anxiety disorders affect 40 million people in the United States (U.S.). It is the most common group of mental illnesses in the country. However, only 36.9 percent of people with the condition receive treatment. The American Psychological Association (APA) defines anxiety as “an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried