Exploring the Perceptions of EFL Learners on Ambiguity Tolerance: Sakarya University Sample

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the perceptions of learners’ tolerance of ambiguity in the process of learning a foreign language. One of the language learning variables is ambiguity tolerance (AT) which can be defined as an attitude to understand the target structure with insufficient knowledge and to what extent learners tolerate the unknown items in the target language. Reacting the “ambiguous” structure shows whether a language learner is tolerant or intolerant; or to what extent learner tolerates the structure and how the feelings of the learners affect and shape their achievement on the degree of tolerance. A total of 109 students (43 preparatory class and 66 first-year) in English Language Teaching (ELT) department have responded to a 12-item questionnaire of Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale (SLTAS) which was modified by Erten and Topkaya (2009) for the purpose of shedding light on this issue. In order to highlight a more detailed perception, the scale was implemented on different levels of students to see their levels of avoiding ambiguity tolerance. The results indicated that students do not appear to tolerate ambiguous language structures well because of their high level of ambiguity tolerance. In addition, results have revealed that there is no significant difference between preparatory classes and first-year students’ levels of ambiguity tolerance. A open-ended questions consisting of four open-ended questions was carried out with six preparatory class and five first-year students with the aim of measuring the consistency between the statistical results and the results of the content analysis. The data obtained from the open-ended questions on tolerance of ambiguity revealed parallel results with some of the the studies reviewed in the current study.

Keywords

• Tolerance,ambiguity,language learning,perception,foreign language

YDİ Öğrenenlerin Belirsizlik Toleransı Üzerine olan Algılarını Keşfetme: Sakarya Üniversitesi Örneği

Öz

Bu çalışma, yabancı dil öğrenim sürecinde öğrenenlerin belirsizlik tolerans algılarını araştırmayı amaçlamaktadır. Dil öğrenme değişkenlerinden biri, hedef yapıyı yetersiz bilgi ile anlamaya yönelik bir tutum ve öğrenenlerin hedef dilde bilinmeyen maddelere ne ölçüde tolerans gösterdiğini belirleyen belirsizlik toleransıdır (AT). “Belirsiz” yapıya tepki vermek, bir dil öğrenicisinin bu yapıyı tolere edip edemediğini gösterir; ya da öğrencinin yapıya ne derece hoşgörülü davrandığı ve öğrenenlerin duygularının başarıya etkilerini ve tolerans derecesine göre nasıl şekillendiklerini şekillendirir. İngilizce Öğretmenliği bölümünde (İÖ) öğrenim gören toplam 109 öğrenci (43 hazırlık sınıfı ve 66 birinci sınıf) çalışma konusuna ışık tutmak amacı ile Erten ve Topkaya (2009) tarafından adapte edilen İkinci Dil Tolerans Değeri Ölçeği (SLTAS) 12 maddelik bir anket doldurmuştur. Belirsizlikten kaçınma ölçeği farklı seviyelerde öğrenciler üzerinde algı seviyelerini ayrıntılı görmek için uygulanmıştır. Sonuçlar, öğrenenlerin yüksek düzeyde belirsizlik toleransı nedeniyle belirsiz dil yapılarını iyi tolere etmediklerini göstermektedir. Ayrıca, sonuçlar, hazırlık sınıfları ile birinci sınıf öğrencilerinin belirsizlik tolerans düzeyleri arasında anlamlı bir fark olmadığını ortaya koymuştur. İstatistiksel sonuçlarla içerik analizi sonuçları arasındaki tutarlılığı ölçmek amacıyla altı hazırlık sınıfı ve beş birinci sınıf öğrencisi ile dört açık uçlu sorudan oluşan yapılandırılmış bir görüşme gerçekleştirilmiştir. Belirsizlik toleransı üzerine yapılan görüşmelerden elde edilen veriler, mevcut çalışmada belirtilen bazı çelışmalarla paralel sonuçlar ortaya koymuştur.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• belirsizlik,dil öğrenme,algı,Tolerans,yabancı dil

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