Author :
Abstract
Bu çalışmanın amacı yabancı dil sınıflarındaki kaygının rolünün incelenmesidir. Çalışma özellikle yabancı dil sınıflarındaki kaygının kız ve erkek öğrenciler arasında bir farklılık gösterip göstermediğini araştırmaktadır. Konuşma becerisi de yabancı dil sınıflarındaki kaygının bir kaynağı olarak inceleme altındadır. Katılımcılar İngilizce dersi ile ilk kez karşılaşan 4. Sınıf ilkokul öğrencileridir. Veriyi toplarken sınıftaki kaygı düzeyleri göz önüne alınarak kız ve erkek öğrenciler arasında bir farklılık olup olmadığını bulmak için anket kullanılmıştır, ayrıca en kaygılı ve kaygı derecesi en düşük öğrencilerle görüşme de yapılmıştır. Sonuçlara göre kız ve erkek öğrenciler arasında yabancı dil sınıfındaki kaygı açısından önemli bir fark olmadığı, fakat erkek öğrencilerin kızlara kıyasla biraz daha kaygılı olduğu bulunmuştur. Yabancı dil sınıflarındaki kaygının temel sebeplerinin iletişim korkusu, test kaygısı ve negatif değerlendirilme korkusu olduğu bulunmuştur. Bunun yanı sıra, konuşma etkinliklerinin de yabancı dil sınıflarındaki kaygı arttırıcı faktörlerden biri olduğu sonucuna varılmıştır.
Keywords
Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate the role of anxiety in foreign language classes. It specifically focuses on students’ gender in order to see if there is a significant difference between male and females in terms of foreign language classroom anxiety. Speaking skill is also under investigation as a source of foreign language classroom anxiety. The participants are 4th grade primary school students who have just been exposed to English for the first time. To collect the data, a questionnaire has been used in order to see if there is a difference between females and males regarding their anxiety levels in the class; an interview has also been conducted with highly anxious students and students with lowest anxiety level. Results show that there is not much difference between female and male students in terms of foreign language anxiety; however, males are found to be slightly more anxious than females. Communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation are found to be the main reasons of foreign language classroom anxiety. In addition, speaking is found to be an anxiety provoking situation in foreign language classrooms .
Keywords
- Aida, Y. (1994). Examination of Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope's construct of foreign language anxiety: The case of students of Japanese. Modern Language Journal, 78(2), 155-68.
- Ammara, A., 2011. A study of anxiety among the Graduation Learners of English as a Foreign Language in Pakistan. 1st International Conference on Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics May 5-7 2011 Sarajevo.
- Chan, D. Y. C., & Wu, G. C. (2004). A study of foreign language anxiety of EFL elementary school students in Taipei County, Journal of National Taipei Teachers College, 17 (2), 287 – 320.
- Dalkılıç, N. (2001). An investigation into the role of anxiety in second language learning. Published PhD Thesis.
- Daly, J. (1991). Understanding communication apprehension: An introduction for language educators. In E. K. Horwitz, & D. J. Young (Eds.), Language anxiety: From theory and research to classroom implications (pp. 3-14). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
- Dornyei, Z., & Clement, R. (2001). Motivational characteristics of learning different target languages: Results of a nationwide survey. In Z. Dornyei & R. Schmidt (Eds.), Motivation and second language acquisition (Technical Report #23, pp. 399-432).
- Horwitz, E. K. (2001). Language anxiety and achievement. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 21, 112-126.
- Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125-32.
- Lakoff, L. (1973). Language and woman's place. Language in Society, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Apr., 1973), pp. 45-80.
- MacIntyre, P.D., Baker, S.C., Cle´ment, R., Donovan, L.A., 2002. Sex and age effects on willingness to communicate, anxiety, perceivedcompetence, and L2 motivation among junior high school French immersion students. Lang. Learn. 52, 537e564.
- MacIntyre, P. D., & Gardner, R. C. (1994). The subtle effects of language anxiety on cognitive processing in the second language. Language Learning, 44, 283-305.
- MacIntyre, P. D, & Gardner, R. C. (1991a). Methods and results in the study of anxiety and language learning: A review of the literature. Language Learning 41, 85-117.
- Mahmoodzadeh, M. (2013). Investigating foreign language anxiety in Iranian classrooms: The effect of gender. International Journal of Research Studies in Language Learning 2013 January, Volume 2 Number 1, 61-70.
- Matsuda, S., Gobel, P., 2004. Anxiety and predictors of performance in the foreign language classroom. System 32, 21e36.
- McCrosky, J. C. (1977). Oral communication apprehension: A summary of recent theory and research. Human Communication Research, 4, 78-96.
- Mesri, F. (2012) The relationship between gender and Iranian EFL learners’ foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA). International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences June 2012, Vol. 2, No. 6 ISSN: 2222-6990.
- Park, G., & French, B. F. (2013). Gender differences in the foreign language classroom Anxiety Scale. System 41 (2013) 462-471.
- Piniel, K. (2006). Foreign language classroom anxiety: A classroom perspective. In M. Nikolov & J. Horváth (Eds.), UPRT2006: Empirical studies in English applied linguistics (pp. 39-58). Pécs: Lingua Franca Csoport.
- Öztürk, G. & Gürbüz, N. (2012). The impact of gender on foreign language speaking anxiety and motivation. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 70 ( 2013 ) 654 – 665.
- Scovel, T. (1978). The effect of affect on foreign language learning: a review of the anxiety research. Language Learning, 28(1), 129-42.
- Spielberger, C.D., 1983. Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Form Y). Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, CA.
- Tran, T. H. (2010). Gender and Language Use in the ESL Classroom. Online Submission.
- Von Wörde, R. A. (2003). Students’ perspectives on foreign language anxiety. Inquiry, Volume 8, Number 1, Spring 2003.
- Week, M., & Ferraro, R., 2011. Correlation between foreign language anxiety and gender. Psychology Journal, 2011, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 40-4
- Young, D. J. (1991). Creating a low-anxiety classroom environment: What does language anxiety researchsuggest? The Modern Language Journal 75, 426-439.
- Young, D. J. (1990). An investigation of students' perspectives on anxiety and speaking. Foreign LanguageAnnals, 23(6), 539-553.
- Zhang, X. (2004), Language anxiety and its effect on oral performance in Classroom. Retrieved January 25, 2011, from http://www.elt-china. Org
