The objectives of this study are: (1) to know the level of speaking anxiety among Indonesian undergraduate EFL students; (2) to identify the factors that affect students’ speaking anxiety; and (3) to explore students’ strategies for coping with their speaking anxiety in EFL classroom.

This study was conducted at one of universities in Surakarta, Indonesia. The participants were the 3rd semester students of English Education Department. A qualitative research method in the form of a case study was applied in this study. The data were collected through a passive participant observation, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) questionnaire adapted form Horwitz et al. (1986), and a semi-structured interview. To obtain the validity of the data, the researcher applied methodological triangulation and member checking. Furthermore, the qualitative data was analyzed by using an interactive model proposed by Miles and Huberman (1984). The steps were data collection, data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing or verification.

The study revealed that: (1) 81.82% of the students suffered from moderate-level anxiety, in which students became nervous or agitated when their speaking performance seemed to be hampered, but they could still solve their anxious problem; (2) the three most significant causes of students’ speaking anxiety were low English proficiency, fear of making mistakes, and the role of language teachers; and (3) the students used four effective strategies such as preparation, relaxation, positive thinking, and peer-seeking to cope with their anxious feeling.