What If I Mispronounce o Word?: A Linguistic Case Study of Pronunciation Anxiety

Öz

Foreign language anxiety is the state of feeling emotional or physical discomfort for language learners (Kralova & Mala, 2018). Language learners’ anxious emotional reaction to a foreign language is often remedied by reducing and balancing the affective filter by language experts and educators (Yaoqing, 2021). From a scientific perspective, the current research indicates that pronunciation anxiety is quite common among language learners regardless of their proficiency levels (Kafes, 2018). Within the same context, this research study specifically investigates the underlying motives that cause pronunciation anxiety among highly-accomplished language learners. A speech analysis technique, an effective method of applied linguistics, is applied to analyze the underlying reasons that cause pronunciation anxiety. This linguistic study hypothesizes that Turkish EFL learners mostly experience pronunciation anxiety in the English language when they come across sounds that are not present in the Turkish language. Thus, it is significant to investigate the impact of the first language interference on pronunciation anxiety levels of language learners through an effective speech analysis technique. This scientific study highlights the correlation between pronunciation anxiety and first language interference. The results indicate that there is not direct correlation between first language interference and pronunciation anxiety; however, the participants of this study showed consistency in the fact that Turkish language learners experience pronunciation difficulty when they come across with sounds that are not present in their native language, Turkish. In parallel, other cross-linguistic interactions across other language combinations can be explored for future research studies

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Applied linguistics
• highly-accomplished English language learners
• pronunciation anxiety
• speech analysis.

Ya Bir Kelimeyi Yanlış Telaffuz Edersem?: Telaffuz Kaygısına İlişkin Dilbilimsel Bir Örnek Olay İncelemesi

Öz

Yabancı dil kaygısı, dil öğrenenlerin duygusal veya fiziksel rahatsızlık hissetme durumudur (Kralova ve Mala, 2018). Dil öğrenenlerin yabancı dile karşı kaygılı duygusal tepkisi, genellikle dil uzmanları ve eğitimciler tarafından duygusal filtrenin azaltılması ve dengelenmesiyle giderilir (Yaoqing, 2021). Bilimsel açıdan bakıldığında mevcut araştırma, dil öğrenenler arasında, yeterlilik düzeyleri ne olursa olsun, telaffuz kaygısının oldukça yaygın olduğunu göstermektedir (Kafes, 2018). Aynı bağlamda, bu araştırma çalışması özellikle yüksek düzeyde başarılı dil öğrenenler arasında telaffuz kaygısına neden olan altta yatan nedenleri araştırmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, telaffuz kaygısına neden olan altta yatan nedenleri analiz etmek için uygulamalı dilbilimin etkili bir yöntemi olan konuşma analizi tekniği uygulanmıştır. Bu dilbilimsel çalışma, İngilizceyi yabancı dil olarak öğrenen Türk öğrencilerin, Türkçede bulunmayan seslerle karşılaştıklarında çoğunlukla İngilizce dilinde telaffuz kaygısı yaşadıklarını varsaymaktadır. Bu nedenle, ana dil müdahalesinin dil öğrenenlerin telaffuz kaygı düzeyleri üzerindeki etkisinin etkili bir konuşma analizi tekniği ile araştırılması önemlidir. Bu çalışma, telaffuz kaygısı ile ana dil müdahalesi arasındaki ilişkiyi vurgulamaktadır. Sonuçlar, ana dil müdahalesi ile telaffuz kaygısı arasında doğrudan bir ilişki olmadığını göstermektedir; ancak bu çalışmanın katılımcıları, Türkçe öğrenenlerin ana dilleri olan Türkçede bulunmayan seslerle karşılaştıklarında telaffuz güçlüğü yaşadıkları konusunda tutarlılık göstermiştir. Buna paralel olarak, gelecekteki araştırma çalışmaları için diğer dil kombinasyonları ile diğer diller arası etkileşimler araştırılabilir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Uygulamalı dilbilim
• yüksek düzeyde başarılı İngilizce öğrenenler
• telaffuz kaygısı
• konuşma analizi.

Kaynakça

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