An investigation of attitude, motivation and anxiety levels of students studying at a faculty of tourism towards vocational English course

Abstract

The aim of the study is to analyse attitude, motivation and anxiety levels of students at a state university studying at a faculty of tourism towards vocational English course. In the study, quantitative research and survey method were used. 325 students participated in the study voluntarily. Attitude Scale towards Vocational English Course, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) were used in the research to collect data. At the end of the study, the students' attitude and motivation levels towards vocational English course were at "Agree" level, and their anxiety levels were at "Slightly agree" level. Attitude, motivation and anxiety levels of students did not differ in terms of age. There was a significant difference between attitude, motivation and anxiety levels in terms of department, achievement and additional study. There was a significant difference in anxiety, while there was no significant difference in attitude and motivation levels in terms of gender. While attitude and anxiety did not differ, motivation differed in terms of tourism experience of the students.

Foreign language learning effort levels of students in English for Specific Purposes

“…Maximum, minimum, mean and standard deviation scores of four sub-scales and overall scale were determined. Class width formula (class range/number of classes) recommended by Tekin (2002) and used in many studies (Özer, 2019a;Özer, 2019b;Evin Gencel & Satmaz, 2017;Çavuşoğlu Deveci et al, 2016) was used in the assessment of mean scores. In other words, class width was calculated by the dividing the difference between the highest (5) and lowest score (1) by the number of classes (5).…”

“…However, the literature lacks the studies scrutinizing foreign language learning effort itself. In addition, effort was usually examined as the number of hours spent outside the classroom (Özer, 2019a;Aratibel & Bueno-Alastuey, 2015;Inagaki, 2014;Opare & Dramanu, 2002). As Yeung and McInerney (2005) pointed out, effort put forth in learning a foreign language was one of the most crucial contributors of achievement.…”

English use anxiety, motivation, self-efficacy, and their predictive effects on Chinese top university students’ English achievements

“…To quantify L2 learners’ anxiety, Gardner (1985) included a French Class Anxiety Scale in his Attitudes and Motivation Test Battery, which was later adapted and applied to foreign language learners of different levels in various countries, including secondary school students in Ireland ( Muircheartaigh and Hickey, 2008 ), college students in Myanmar ( Khaing, 2021 ), and vocational school students in Turkey ( Özer, 2019 ). Horwitz’s ( Horwitz et al, 1986 ) team, on the other hand, developed the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale, which had 33 items and was then applied in studies of non-western languages, including Chinese ( Sun and Teng, 2021 ), Japanese ( Aida, 1994 ), Korean ( Jee, 2016 ), and so on.…”