RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ANXIETY LEVEL IN LEARNING THE FIRST FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND ACEDEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE FIRST (ENGLISH) AND SECOND (GERMAN) FOREIGN LANGUAGES
ZUSAMMENHÖNGE ZWİSCHEN ANGSTNİVEAU BEİM LERNEN DER ERSTEN FREMDSPRACHE UND AKADEMİSCHER LEİSTUNGEN İN ERSTER (ENGLİSCH) SOWİE ZWEİTER (DEUTSCH) FREMDSPRACHEN

Author : Orhan HANBAY
Number of pages : 358-365

Abstract

The aim of this empirical study is to determine whether there are relationships between anxiety in learning the first foreign language English and academic achievement (1) in the first foreign language English and (2) in the second foreign language German. The sample of this quantitative study consists of 43 girls and 37 boys (total 80) from grade 11 from a high school in Istanbul / Turkey. The data on the academic achievements were the average scores of the first (English) and second (German) foreign languages of the school year 2013-14. The data on the Anxiety Level of learning the first foreign language were collected during the school year 2014-15 by a questionnaire developed by Doğan (2008). This questionnaire with 27 items is designed in the form of 5-scale and is suitable for measuring the level of anxiety of the first foreign language English. Although the questionnaire had a high degree of reliability, it was analyzed again statistically using the method of internal consistency using SPSS. According to the statistical analysis, the Chronbach's alpha value of the questionnaire was 0.951. The collected data on the mean scores of English and German as well as the data on anxiety in learning English were analyzed by Spearman correlation coefficient using SPSS. The differences between two groups (pupils) were analyzed by t-test for independent samples. As a result, it became clear that there are (1) negative and significant relationships between anxiety in learning the first foreign language and academic achievement of the first foreign language English among the girls (r = - 533) and boys (r = -, 712). (2) The relationship between anxiety of learning the first foreign language and academic achievement of the second foreign language German among the girls (r = -, 363) and boys (r = -, 221) showed low values. (3) Finally, it became clear that there was no significant difference in the mean values of the girls (X = 2.16) and boys (2.32) in the context of anxiety level in learning the first foreign language English.

Keywords

Foreign language, multilingualism, anxiety

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