An Investigation Into The Factors That Lead To Speaking Anxiety Among Efl Learners

Öz

The aim of this study was to investigate the factors that cause speaking anxiety in English language learners. The participants of this case study were randomly selected 50 Turkish university students who are at the pre-intermediate language proficiency level of English at the Preparatory School of Istanbul Aydın University. Two main data collection instruments were used in this study. The first data collection instrument was a Foreign Language Anxiety Scale, which was developed by Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986). The second data collection instrument was the focus group interviews. Using the item categorization of the Foreign Language Anxiety Scale, the data of the study were analysed in four sections: self-perceived proficiency, self-comparison to others and competitiveness, fear of performance in test situation and learners' beliefs about making mistakes in English class. The findings on self-perceived proficiency showed that although the majority of the students have self-confidence and feel relaxed about speaking English in the class, there are a few students who have self-perceived low-level ability in learning a foreign language. We may conclude that being confident and feelings of comfort during speaking in foreign language are significant factors in speaking. With regard to the self-comparison to others and competitiveness category, we realized that more than half of the students don't think of others’ competence during the language learning process, while the rest of them compare themselves with the other students in the class. Those students stated that they don't get anxious about the English language examinations because they always prepare themselves for the examinations in advance on daily-basis. In addition, they mentioned that studying hard at home and also listening to the teacher in the class help them to become aware of the topics they are not good at. Moreover, they pointed out that their teacher is very good and that is why there is no need to get nervous about the examination time. But we cannot deny those learners who do have problems in test situation even though they represent the minority of the participants. Regarding the learners' beliefs about making mistakes in English class, we concluded that all of the students don't feel anxious about making mistakes in the English class. 

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Foreign language anxiety,speaking anxiety

Kaynakça

1. Aida, Y. (1994). Examination of Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope's Construct of Foreign Language Anxiety: The Case of Students of Japanese. The Modern Language Journal. 78, 155-168. Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
2. Aydin, B. (2001). A Study of Sources of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety in Speaking and Writing Classes. Doctoral Dissertation. Anadolu Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi Yayınları, Eskişehir.
3. Batiha, J., Mohd, N., & Mustaffa, R. (2014). Exploring the factors of classroom anxiety in the context of EFL Arab students.
4. Daubney, M. (2002). Anxiety and inhibitive factors in oral communication in the classroom: a study of third year English language specialists at the Catholic University in Viseu. Mathesis. 11, 287-309.
5. Hashemi, M., & Abbasi, M. (2013). The Role of the Teacher in Alleviating Anxiety in Language Classes. International Research Journal of Applied and Basic Sciences, 4(3), 640- 646.
6. Horwitz, E.K., Horwitz, M.B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125-132.
7. Keramida, A., & Tsiplakides, I. (2009). Helping Students Overcome Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety in the English Classroom: Theoretical Issues and Practical Recommendations. International Education Studies, 2(4), 39-44.
8. MacIntyre, P. D. & Gardner, R. C.(1989). Anxiety and second language learning: Toward a theoretical clarification. Language Learning, 39, 251-275.

9. Price, M. L. (1991). The subjective experience of foreign language anxiety: Interviews with highly anxious students. In E. K. Horwitz & D. J. Young (Eds.), Language anxiety: From theory and research to classroom implications (pp. 101-108). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
10. Toth, Z. (2007). Predictors of foreign-language anxiety: Examining the relationship between anxiety and other individual learner variables. In J. Horvath & M. Nikolov (Eds.), Empirical studies in English applied linguistics (pp. 123-148). Pecs: Lingua Franca Csoport.
11. Young, D.J. (1990). An Investigation of Students’ Perspectives on Anxiety and Speaking. Foreign Language Annals, 23(6), 539-567.
12. Young. D. J. (1991). Creating a Low-Anxiety Classroom Environment: What Does Language Anxiety Research Suggest? The Modern Language Journal, 75(4), 426- 439.