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

Yıl 2015, Cilt: 6 Sayı: 3, 40 - 58, 24.10.2015

Ali Merç

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

• challenging tasks in their classrooms leading to better input for students. The circularity of
• these findings do not represent a vicious circle unless the teacher training programs do not
• help their student teachers with their self-efficacy beliefs and the anxieties they experience:
• higher efficacy beliefs and lower anxiety levels leading to better teaching.
• Given the present day world and the manner in which virtual world has practically taken
• over all kinds of communication milieu, it will not be wrong to assume that English has
• become a Lingua Franca in many interactions. There is a need for good English language
• skills in many levels of the workforce and different businesses. Looking at the global picture,
• it is no surprise that there is a need for good language teachers. Besides, according to
• Seidlhofer (2005: 340), “the features of English which tend to be crucial for international
• intelligibility and therefore need to be taught for production and reception are being
• distinguished from the (‘non-native’) features that tend not to cause misunderstandings and
• thus do not need to constitute a focus for production teaching for those learners who intend to
• use English mainly in international settings”. A good language teacher enriches his/her
• students’ future in terms of quality of life by means of good income, good reputation and
• recognition. If the economic input of good language teachers worldwide is to be calculated,
• the monetary values would be staggering. There are also other factors that cannot be
• calculated by economic formulas: A good language teacher saves time that would otherwise
• be wasted by non-standard teaching; saves energy which can be effectively used elsewhere in
• the learners’ lives; and engrains linguistic self-confidence in the learners that enables them to
• better plan for their future and/or enhance their careers.
• The present research supports and confirms the existing research on the importance of pre
• service teacher education. As suggested by Le Cornu and Ewing (2008), teacher training is a
• continuum that begins with pre-service education but continues for a teacher’s whole career.
• To conclude, the hero’s journey is full of obstacles, but it has a sublime objective: becoming a
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