Foreign language reading anxiety: A Turkish case

Abstract

This paper examines a Turkish graduate student’s academic reading process and describes his reading habits both in his native Turkish and in English, his foreign language, the difficulties that he experiences in academic reading and the reading strategies that he applies. Data was gathered from one twenty-seven year old Turkish student throughout an autumn semester of his graduate study, through interviews, recall protocols, think aloud protocol and text analysis. The result of this study indicates that the participant experiences difficulty in focusing on, and being able to maintain a satisfactory level of academic reading. It is likely that unfamiliar vocabulary or contexts trigger reading anxiety, which blocks his reading comprehension.

Keywords

• foreign language reading, academic reading, reading anxiety

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