THE CORRELATION BETWEEN STUDENTS ANXIETY AND ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the relationship between students' anxiety and their English descriptive reading comprehension at SMAN 7 Pekanbaru during the 2024–2025 academic year. The research employed a quantitative correlational design, involving 35 eleventh-grade students selected as the sample. To collect the necessary data, two research instruments were used: the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) questionnaire, which was administered to measure students’ levels of anxiety while reading in English, and a 40-item descriptive reading comprehension test, which was designed to evaluate the students' understanding of English descriptive texts. The data obtained were analyzed using the Pearson Product Moment correlation formula. The analysis revealed a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.319, which falls into the category of a low or weak positive correlation. Additionally, the significance value (p) was 0.062, which is greater than the standard significance level of 0.05. Therefore, the result indicates that there is no statistically significant relationship between students’ reading anxiety and their descriptive reading comprehension. These findings suggest that anxiety may not be a major factor influencing reading comprehension in this context, and other variables—such as vocabulary mastery, reading strategies, or motivation—may contribute more substantially to students’ reading performance.