Foreign Language Teaching Anxiety and Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Turkish Pre-Service EFL Teachers

Öz

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the level of language teaching anxiety experienced by pre-service EFL teachers and their language teaching self-efficacy beliefs. The participants of the study were 117 pre-service EFL teachers completing their teaching practicum as a requirement for graduation at Anadolu University, Turkey. A  Foreign Language Student Teacher Anxiety Scale (FLSTAS) and a Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (SEQ) together with semi-structured interviews were used as research instruments. The results of the analyses showed that student teachers experienced a relatively low level of anxiety in general and their perceived self-efficacy was high in their overall scores. Although gender and type of practicum school were not predictors of anxiety and self-efficacy beliefs, certain correlations were found among the components of the anxiety and self-efficacy beliefs.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Foreign language teaching anxiety, teacher self-efficacy, pre-service EFL teachers, teacher education

İngilizce Öğretmen Adaylarının Yabancı Dil Öğretme Kaygısı ve Öz Yeterlik İnançları

Öz

Bu çalışmanın amacı İngilizce öğretmen adaylarının yaşadığı yabancı dil öğretme kaygısı ile yabancı dil öğretimine ilişkin öz yeterlik inançları arasındaki ilişkiyi saptamaktır. Çalışmaya Anadolu Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi’nde öğretmenlik uygulaması yapan 117 öğretmen adayı katılmıştır. Verilerin toplanması için Öğretmen Adayı Yabancı Dil Öğretme Kaygı Ölçeği, Öz Yeterlik Anketi ve yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmeler kullanılmıştır. Verilerin çözümlenmesi sonucunda öğretmen adaylarının genel olarak düşük düzeyde öğretme kaygısı yaşadığı, öz yeterlik algılarının ise yüksek düzeyde olduğu saptanmıştır. Cinsiyet ve uygulama okulu türü kaygı ve öz yeterlik inancının nedenleri olarak ortaya çıkmamasına rağmen bu iki değişkenin belirli öğeleri arasında bazı ilişkiler bulunmuştur

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Yabancı dil öğretme kaygısı, öğretmen öz yeterliği, İngilizce öğretmen adayları, öğretmen yetiştirme

Kaynakça

1. challenging tasks in their classrooms leading to better input for students. The circularity of
2. these findings do not represent a vicious circle unless the teacher training programs do not
3. help their student teachers with their self-efficacy beliefs and the anxieties they experience:
4. higher efficacy beliefs and lower anxiety levels leading to better teaching.
5. Given the present day world and the manner in which virtual world has practically taken
6. over all kinds of communication milieu, it will not be wrong to assume that English has
7. become a Lingua Franca in many interactions. There is a need for good English language
8. skills in many levels of the workforce and different businesses. Looking at the global picture,

9. it is no surprise that there is a need for good language teachers. Besides, according to
10. Seidlhofer (2005: 340), “the features of English which tend to be crucial for international
11. intelligibility and therefore need to be taught for production and reception are being
12. distinguished from the (‘non-native’) features that tend not to cause misunderstandings and
13. thus do not need to constitute a focus for production teaching for those learners who intend to
14. use English mainly in international settings”. A good language teacher enriches his/her
15. students’ future in terms of quality of life by means of good income, good reputation and
16. recognition. If the economic input of good language teachers worldwide is to be calculated,
17. the monetary values would be staggering. There are also other factors that cannot be
18. calculated by economic formulas: A good language teacher saves time that would otherwise
19. be wasted by non-standard teaching; saves energy which can be effectively used elsewhere in
20. the learners’ lives; and engrains linguistic self-confidence in the learners that enables them to
21. better plan for their future and/or enhance their careers.
22. The present research supports and confirms the existing research on the importance of pre
23. service teacher education. As suggested by Le Cornu and Ewing (2008), teacher training is a
24. continuum that begins with pre-service education but continues for a teacher’s whole career.
25. To conclude, the hero’s journey is full of obstacles, but it has a sublime objective: becoming a
26. ‘good’ teacher. All parties in the teacher training should be with and behind the hero in this holy quest.
27. Abu-Tineh, A.M., Khasawneh, S.A., & Khalaileh, H. A. (2011). Teacher self-efficacy and classroom management styles in Jordanian schools. Management in Education,25(4), 175-181. doi:10.1177/0892020611420597
28. Atay, D. (2007). Beginning teacher efficacy and the practicum in an EFL context. Teacher Development, 11(2), 203-219.
29. Aydin, S., Demirdöğen, B., & Tarkın, A. (2012). Are they efficacious? Exploring pre-service teachers’ teaching efficacy beliefs during the practicum. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 21(1), 203-213.
30. Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
31. Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: the exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
32. Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles in language learning and teaching. New York: Pearson Education Company.
33. Çakmak, M. (2008). Concerns about teaching process: student teachers’ perspective. Educational Research Quarterly, 31(3), 57-77.
34. Capel, S. A. (1997). Changes in students’ anxieties and concerns after their first and second teaching practices. Educational Research, 39(2), 211-228.
35. Charalambous, C. Y., Philippou, G. N., & Kyriakides, L. (2008). Tracing the development of preservice teachers’ efficacy beliefs in teaching mathematics during fieldwork. Educational Studies in Mathematics,67(2), 125-142.
36. Chepyator-Thomson, J. R., & Liu, W. (2003). Pre-service teachers’ reflections on student teaching experiences: lessons learned and suggestions for reform in PETE programs. Physical Educator,60(2), 2-12.
37. Clark, C. M. (2002). New questions about student teaching. Teacher Education Quarterly, 29(2), 77-80.
38. Coşkun, A. (2013). Stress in English language teaching practicum: the views of all stakeholders. Hacettepe University Journal of Education, 28(3), 97-110.
39. Csizér, K., & Piniel, K. (2013). Motivation, anxiety and self-efficacy: the interrelationship of individual variables in the secondary school context. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 3(4), 523-550.
40. Çubukçu, F. (2008). A study on the correlation between self-efficacy and foreign language learning anxiety. Journal of Theory and Practice in Education, 4(1), 148-158. Retrieved http://eku.comu.edu.tr/index/4/1/fcubukcu.pdf
41. Ealy, G. M. E. (1993). The relationship between anxiety and self-efficacy of urban elementary school teachers.Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University.
42. El-Okda, M., & Al-Humaidi, S. (2003). Language teaching anxiety and self-efficacy beliefs of student teachers of English. Proceedings of the 3rd National Conference of ELT in Oman: SQU.
43. Emmer, E. T., & Stough, L. M. (2001). Classroom management: a critical part of educational psychology, with implications for teacher education. Educational Psychologist, 36(2), 103-112.
44. Fives, H., Hamman, D., & Olivarez, A. (2007). Does burnout begin with student-teaching? Analyzing efficacy, burnout, and support during the student-teaching semester. Teaching and Teacher Education,23(6), 916-934.
45. George, J., Worrell, P., & Rampersad, J. (2002). Messages about good teaching: primary teacher trainees’ experiences of the practicum in Trinidad and Tobago. International Journal of Educational Development, 22, 291-304.
46. Ghanizadeh, A., & Moafian, F. (2011). The relationship between Iranian EFL teachers' sense of self-efficacy and their pedagogical success in language institutes. Asian EFL Journal, 13(2), 249-272.
47. Gibbs, G. R. (2002). Qualitative data analysis: explorations with NVivo. Buckingham: Open University.
48. Horwitz, E. K. (1996). Even teachers get the blues: recognizing and alleviating language teachers’ feelings of foreign language anxiety. Foreign Language Annals, 29(3), 365- 372.
49. Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, A. J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety’’. In E. K. Horwitz & D. J. Young (Eds). Language anxiety: from theory to research to classroom implications. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
50. Keavney, G., & Sinclair, K. E. (1978). Teacher concerns and teacher anxiety: a neglected topic of classroom research. Review of Educational Research, 48(2), 273-290.
51. Kesen, A., & Aydın, Z. (2014). Anxiety levels of novice and experienced EFL instructors: İstanbul Aydın University case. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 116, 880- 883. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.314
52. Kwo, O. (1996). Learning to teach English in Hong Kong classrooms: patterns of reflections. In D. Freeman & J. C. Richards (Eds). Teacher Learning in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
53. Le Cornu, R., & Ewing, R. (2008). Reconceptualising professional experiences in pre-service
54. teacher education… reconstructing the past to embrace the future. Teaching and
55. Teacher Education, 24(7), 1799-1812.
56. Lin, Y. H., Chen, C. Y., & Chiu, P. K. (2005). Cross-cultural research and back-translation. The Sport Journal, 8(4), 1-8.
57. Mau, R. (1997). Concerns of student teachers: implications for improving the practicum. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 25(1), 53-65.
58. Merç, A. (2004). Reflections of Pre-Service EFL Teachers throughout Their Teaching Practicum: What Has Been Good? What Has Gone Wrong? What Has Changed? Unpublished MA Thesis. Eskişehir: Anadolu University.
59. Merç, A. (2010). Foreign Language Student Teacher Anxiety. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Eskişehir: Anadolu University.
60. Mergler, A. G. & Tangen, D. (2010). Using microteaching to enhance teacher efficacy in pre‐ service teachers. Teaching Education,21(2), 199-210.
61. Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: an expanded sourcebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
62. Mills, N., Pajares, F. & Herron, C. (2006). A reevaluation of the role of anxiety: self‐efficacy, anxiety, and their relation to reading and listening proficiency. Foreign Language Annals, 39(2), 276-295.
63. Montuoro, P., & Lewis, R. (2015). Student perceptions of misbehavior and classroom management. In E. T. Emmer & E. J. Sabornie (Eds). Handbook of Classroom Management (2nd Ed). New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis.
64. Oxford, R. L. (1999). Anxiety and the language learner: new insights. In J. Arnold (Ed). Affect in language learning. Cambridge: CUP.
65. Öztürk, G., & Saydam, D. (2014). Anxiety and self-efficacy in foreign language writing: the case in Turkey. Başkent University Journal of Education, 1(2), 10-21.
66. Paese, P. C. (1984). The effects of cooperating teacher interventions and a self-assessment technique on the verbal instructions of an experienced physical education teacher: a single-subject analysis. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 3(3), 51-58.
67. Preece, P. F. W. (1979). Student teacher anxiety and class-control problems on teaching practice: a cross-lagged panel analysis. British Educational Research Journal, 5(1), 13-19.
68. Richards, J. C., & Crookes, G. (1988). The practicum in TESOL. TESOL Quarterly, 22(1), 9- 27.
69. Rieg, S. A., Paquette, K. R., & Chen, Y. (2007). Coping with stress: an investigation of novice teachers’ stressors in the elementary classroom. Education, 128(2), 211-226.
70. Sammephet, B., & Wanphet, P. (2013). Pre-Service teachers’ anxiety and anxiety management during the first encounter with students in EFL classroom. Journal of Education and Practice, 4(2), 78-87.
71. Schwarzer, R., & Hallum, S. (2008). Perceived teacher self‐efficacy as a predictor of job stress and burnout: mediation analyses. Applied Psychology, 57(1), 152-171. doi:10.1111/j.1464-0597.2008.00359.x
72. Scovel, T. (1978). The effect of affect on foreign language learning: a review of the anxiety research. Language Learning, 28, 129-142.
73. Seidlhofer, B. (2005). English as a lingua franca. ELT Journal, 59(4), 339-341. doi:10.1093/elt/cci064
74. Skaalvik, E. M., & Skaalvik, S. (2010). Teacher self-efficacy and teacher burnout: a study of relations. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(4), 1059-1069. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2009.11.001
75. Tang, S. Y. F. (2002). From behind the pupil’s desk to the teacher’s desk: a qualitative study of student teachers’ professional learning in Hong Kong. Asia- Pacific Journal of teacher Education, 30(1), 51-65.
76. Tsai, C. C. (2013). The impact of foreign language anxiety, test anxiety, andself-efficacy among senior high school students in Taiwan. International Journal of English Language and Linguistics Research, 1(2), 31-47.
77. Tschannen-Moran, M., & Hoy, A. W. (2001). Teacher efficacy: capturing an elusive construct. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17(7), 783-805.
78. Tum, D. O. (2012). Feelings of language anxiety amongst non-native student teachers. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 47, 2055-2059. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.06.948
79. Valdez, A., Young, B. & Hicks, S. J. (2000). Preservice teachers’ stories: content and context. Teacher Education Quarterly, 27(1), 39-58.
80. Veenman, S. (1984). Perceived problems of beginning teachers. Review of Educational Research, 54(2), 143-178.
81. Woolfolk, A. E., & Hoy, W. K. (1990). Prospective teachers’ sense of efficacy and beliefs about control, Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 81-91.
82. Yuksel, H. G. (2014). Becoming a teacher: tracing changes in pre-service English as a foreign language teachers' sense of efficacy. South African Journal of Education, 34(3), 1-8.
83. Yuksel, I. (2008). Pre-service teachers’ teaching anxiety: its reasons and coping strategies. Proceedings of the IASK International Conference: Teaching and Learning 2008.