Using rasch model to assess the foreign language speaking anxiety scale (flsas) among university students in Salatiga, Indonesia

Abstract

This research was aimed to investigate the use of the instrument Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety Scale (FLSAS) with Rasch measurement model approach. About 46 Arabic Language Education students have participated in the study. Rasch model provided some analysis to examine the quality aspect of an instrument reliability and validity. The findings revealed that both value of person (0.90) and item (0.92) reliability are considered very high. There were 2 misfit items in the questionnaire based on the criteria of acceptable value in Outfit MNSQ, Outfit ZSTD and Point Measure Correlation, therefore, they were eliminated. The value of raw variance of the questionnaire was 49% and the unexplained variance index of it did not exceed 15%. This result indicated that the questionnaire was valid in terms of its internal validity and it can be used to measure students’ anxiety in speaking Arabic language. Regard to rating scale analysis, it is revealed that one of the five-point rating scale need to be collapsed. The Wright map showed one item which was placed on the top of the map that represented the situation where students did not feel anxious when speaking Arabic language. On the other hand, the map also showed an item at the bottom of the map which means that most of students get anxious when speaking Arabic language in that situation. Overall, FLSAS instrument is appropriate to be used by the foreign language teachers to measure students’ speaking anxiety.