İKİNCİ DİL ÖĞRENİMİNDE SINAV KAYGISI

Öz

TEST ANXIETY IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Öz

Learners’ experiences, teachers’ observations and the related literature indicate that test anxiety affect foreign language learning process negatively. This study aims to find the test anxiety level of Turkish students as EFL learners and to investigate its reasons, effects and results on foreign language learning. A test anxiety scale and survey questions were given to the sample group and the data gathered were analyzed statistically and descriptively. Three results were found: First, the learners usually have test anxiety. Second, test anxiety provoking factors are low level proficiency of the learners, negative attitudes of teachers towards test applications, students’ attitudes towards language learning, test invalidity, fear of negative evaluation, bad experiences on tests, time limitation and pressure, the difficulty of course contents and parental expectations. Third, test anxiety causes physical and psychological problems, affects motivation, concentration and achievement negatively, increases errors in learning process, prevents to transfer their real performance to test results and studying efficiently and decreases the interest towards language learning. It was recommended that foreign language teachers should be aware of the test anxiety level, its causes and results

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Learning, Test anxiety, English as Foreign Language

Kaynakça

1. Alcala, F. R. (2002). Making oral tests more human and less anxiety generating. Humanising Language Teaching. 4 (4): 1 – 3.
2. Dalkilic, N. (2001). An investigation into the role of anxiety in second language learning. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Turkey.
3. Ellis, R..(1994). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
4. Gardner, R. C. (1985). Social Psychology and second language learning: The role of attitudes and motivation. London: Edward Arnold.
5. Gardner, R.C. & MacIntyre, P.D. (1993). On the measurement of affective variables in second language learning. Language Learning. 43, 157-194.
6. Horwitz, E.K. and Young, D.J. (Eds.). (1991). Language Anxiety: From Theory and Research to Classroom Implications. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
7. Horwitz, E.K., Horwitz, M. B. and Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. Modern Language Journal, 70/2, 125-132.
8. Jackson, P. (2001). Test taking doesn’t have to lead to test anxiety, Florida Times Union. Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=61&did

9. Koralp, S. (2005). A Retrospective Analysis of the English Language Learning Anxiety Experienced by Prospective Teachers of English. Unpublished MA Thesis. Turkey.
10. Ohata, K. (2005). Potential Sources of Anxiety for Japanese Learners of English: Preliminary Case Interviews with Five Japanese College Students in the U.S., TESL-EJ, Volume 9, Number 3, 1 – 21.
11. Phillips, J. K. (1991). Upgrading the target language proficiency levels of foreign language teachers. ERIC Digest. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics.
12. Sarason, I. G. (1980). Test anxiety: Theory, research, and applications. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
13. Sarason, I. G. (1984), Stress, anxiety, and cognitive interference: Reactions to Tests. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 929-938.
14. Sarason, I. G. (1986). Test anxiety, worry, and cognitive interference. In R. Schwarzer (Ed.), Self-related cognition in anxiety and motivation (pp. 1933). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
15. Young, D. J. (1999). Affect in foreign language and second language learning. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
16. Young, D.J. (1991). Creating a low-anxiety classroom environment: what does the language anxiety research suggest? Modern Language Journal, 75/4, 426-437.