Bi̇ri̇nci̇ Ve Dördüncü Sinif İngi̇li̇zce Öğretmen Adaylarinin Konuşma Kaygisi

Abstract

Article Info Rapid developments in technology around the globe brought people closer which promoted English as a common language and created a need for adaptation to the requirements of the new world. However, affective factors, along with many others, seem to hinder the efforts to learn and speak a new language. Anxiety, as one of these affective factors, has an important role in the language learning process. Most of the research on language learning anxiety investigated language learners; however, prospective teachers' speaking anxiety is rarely studied. Thus, the present study aims to investigate speaking anxiety levels of prospective ELT teachers at a state university in Turkey. Designed as a sequential mixed method research, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from freshmen and senior prospective teachers. The quantitative data was collected via a questionnaire from 117 participants, 10 of which were interviewed afterwards. Dual and multiple comparisons were made to analyse the numerical data. The qualitative data was analysed via content analysis. The results showed that prospective ELT teachers had a moderate level of speaking anxiety, freshmen having higher level of anxiety. There were significant differences between female and male prospective teachers as well as the type of high schools' prospective teachers graduated from. It was also found that proficiency levels had a significant effect on the level of speaking anxiety and there was a negative correlation between them. The interview results revealed the causes of speaking anxiety from the perspective of prospective teachers. The study has implications for teacher trainers and trainees, not only to help prospective teachers to reduce their speaking anxiety but also to enable them develop awareness regarding the causes of anxiety to help their future students.

The Influence of Counsellor Trainee Support on Public Speaking and Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety in the Class Setting

“…Yet, there are strong reasons to believe that anxiety as an affective state are prevalent among those student teachers, especially as they approach the start of their teaching careers. On the other hand, studies that focused on foreign language anxiety among student teachers and foreign language teachers (see Gürsoy & Korkmaz, 2018;Horwitz, 1996;Ipek, 2007;Tüm & Kunt, 2013) were descriptive and did not aim to create interventions to decrease or eliminate anxiety. Hence, it is important to design intervention studies that support student teachers in coping with anxiety before they start their professional teaching career.…”