A considerable number of foreign as well as second language learners suffer from language anxiety when they step into the language classroom. What makes language learning environments, particularly English language learning situations, anxiety provoking has been well-established in language anxiety literature and the learners' perception of language anxiety deserve a special mention as they are one of the parties directly involved in learning process. To this end, this study aims at exploring learners' perceptions of language anxiety in speaking classes at a northeastern state university in Turkey. Through a purposive sampling procedure, 30 students from different proficiency levels were interviewed. Findings from the semi-structured interviews are discussed with reference to learners' perceptions of learning English. Possible sources and manifestations of language anxiety from the learners' perspectives are examined and their suggested ways to lower language anxiety are discussed.
There has been a longstanding debate over whether the use of mother tongue in EFL classes should be avoided or welcomed. To what extent the use of L1 facilitates L2 learning or poses a debilitating effect on learners has been a perennial issue in second language learning. In spite of a lack of substantial empirical evidence favoring or hindering the use of mother tongue, some avoid using L1(mother tongue) in foreign language classes due to the popular belief that the role of L1 in SLA gets in the way of or interferes with the learning of L2, while others take a different position for various reasons. The aim of this study was to explore the theoretical and practical positions of English teachers in the use of first language in their classroom instruction. A total of 44 teachers of English at Karadeniz Technical University were involved in the study. The data were collected by administering a questionnaire containing 35 items and analyzed in SPSS 16.00. An in-depth interview with 12 participants was also used to gain more insight into the teachers' current classroom practices. Overall analysis indicates that a great majority of the teachers were found to take a practical and pragmatic position in the use of L1 instead of adhering to popular beliefs on this topic.
Plagiarism continues to dominate the academic world as one of its greatest challenges, and the existing literature suggests cross-cultural investigation of this critical issue may help all shareholders who detect, are confronted by and struggle with this issue to address it. Therefore, the present study, drawing upon a cross-cultural investigation using a questionnaire, aimed to investigate the differences between three groups of students, namely, Turkish (n = 106), Georgian (n = 83) and German (n = 72) regarding their tendency to conduct academic theft. It also investigated ways in which to plagiarise and reasons for and awareness of this issue. The results show that lack of time, busy schedules and weak academic writing skills are the most frequent reasons for plagiarism. However, in contrast to previous studies, the role of the Internet was found to be minimal in relation to increasing plagiarism. It is also worth noting that the German participants were found to have a higher level of sensitivity to this academic malpractice and were seen to be much more successful at identifying it. The article concludes with workable suggestions on how to discourage academic theft at universities.
Despite the fact that personality factors and learning strategies are of great importance in success with language learning, the link between extroversion and introversion and languagelearning strategies has received little attention from researchers. Therefore, I investigated whether or not there is any correlation between these personality traits and language-learning strategies. Participants in the study were 106 extroverted and 94 introverted students. The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and the Strategy Inventory for Second Language Learning (SILL) were employed. The findings indicated that, with the exception of communicative strategies, introverted learners used a greater range of metacognitive and cognitive strategies than did extroverted learners.
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