An Explanatory Mixed Method Study on Pre-Service Language Teachers' Communication Apprehension Towards Their Instructors

Abstract

Promoting higher communication efficiency among teacher candidates and acting as models are among the main professional responsibilities of teacher educators. This makes the task of teachers even more important in language education classes where students are prospective language teachers and their development as language teachers highly depend on the way teacher educators teach and communicate (Wen & Clément, 2003). This sequential mixed-method study examined Communication Apprehension (CA) levels of a convenience sample of pre-service language teachers at a state university with an emphasis on the influence of gender, year level, and achievement on CA towards lecturers. Given that CA is a psychological experience, a self-reported questionnaire, Communication Apprehension with the Lecturers Scale (CALS), (Eren-Gümüş & Kolburan-Geçer, 2008) was used for measuring participants' levels of CA with their instructors. In order to compare CA levels of students in each group, a cross-sectional survey design was selected (Creswell, 2002). Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, independent samples t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation coefficient. In addition to quantitative data analysis, the researcher purposefully elicited written comments of pre-service language teachers in order to gain deeper insights into the phenomenon. The data obtained through open-ended survey questions were subjected to qualitative content analysis. The findings indicate that communication should have a greater role in teacher education and teacher educators should refrain from exhibiting behaviors that can prevent prospective teachers from communicating with them.

Feeling nature in writing: environmental education in the EFL writing course

“…Zheng (2015) calls the combination of this design is a crosssectional explanatory sequential design. This is the same design used by Ivankova et al (2006) and Kavanoz (2017) in their research. These researchers investigated participants' variable levels by using a survey, then proceeded with a qualitative phase to gain more explanation.…”

Instructional Strategies Toward Real-Time Online Teaching at an Informal English Institution: An Explanatory Study on Instructional Strategies

“…The close-ended questionnaire was adapted from Ghanizadeh & Ghonsooly (2014) and Toering, Elferink-Gemser, Jonker (2012) with some modifications and utilized a five-point Likert scale, namely Strongly disagree = 1; Disagree = 2; Neutral = 3; Agree = 4; Strongly agree = 5. To support both the reliability and the validity of the instrument, prior research has provided adequate evidence for both (KAVANOZ, 2017). For example, we changed the original item from "I prepare classes to align with curriculum" to "To prepare the online classes, I follow the unit lessons and the teacher's manual in the book.…”

“It’s Pre-Service Teacher’s Time”: Shifting the Focus of Communication Apprehension (CA) Research

“…The historical use of CA in education research originated from the claim of placing communication as central role in teacher education [6]. US government welcomed this claim judging that communication skill was mandatory for students by including this expertise in K12 and American colleges.…”

“…A large and ever growing body of literature demonstrates that Communication Apprehension (CA) is fundamental to instructional communication [1]- [5] including in the discipline of language teaching [6]- [9] and those of business [10], maritime [11], and nursing education [12]. There is also a clear evidence indicating that CA is strongly associated with how people cope with anxiety to communicate in front of public.…”