Examination of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety and Achievement in Foreign Language in Turkish University Students in Terms of Various Variables

Abstract

This correlational survey study aimed to investigate whether the Turkish prep-class students' foreign language classroom anxiety levels and foreign language achievement significantly differ in terms of such variables as their gender, their experience abroad, perceived level of income and any third language (other than Turkish and English) they knew. Moreover, the study also tried to identify whether the sub-dimensions of the foreign language classroom anxiety scalespeaking anxiety in language class, interest towards language class and anxiety of talking with native speakersignificantly differ in terms of the independent variables afore-mentioned. And the last aim of the study was to understand whether there is any significant correlation between the foreign language classroom anxiety and foreign language achievement. The participants of the study was consisted of 683 students who, having been registered to study at various engineering departments of Fırat University, were receiving compulsory English preparatory education at the School of Foreign Languages during the academic year of 2013-2014. In order to measure the students' foreign language classroom anxiety, the scale developed by Horwitz, Horwitz& Cope (1986) and adapted into Turkish by Gürsu (2011) was used. The grades of the students were taken from the School of Foreign Languages. For data analysis, such statistical tests as percentage, frequency, t-test, ANOVA, eta-squared and Pearson's Correlation were employed. As a result, it was understood that there is a negative correlation between foreign language classroom anxiety and foreign language achievement.

The prediction of undergraduates’ self-regulation strategies, motivational beliefs, attitudes towards English, and speaking anxiety on foreign language classroom anxiety

“…It is encountered often in the literature. And, since the preliminary study of Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) in this respect, many studies (Awan Azher, Anwar, & Naz, 2010;Demirdas & Bozdogan, 2013;Dogan & Tuncer, 2016;Proulx, 1991) have reported this result.…”

“…Yet, it was stated that the proficiency levels of learners and gender do not affect language anxiety. Furthermore, Tuncer and Dogan (2016) made a research so as to identify to what extent the Turkish students' English classroom anxiety affects their academic achievement in English language. And, the findings of the study were revealed that the students' anxiety evolving and ever-increasing during their English prep-education powerfully predicted their academic performance.…”

Ansiedad idiomática en Español como Lengua Extranjera y rendimiento académico en la Enseñanza Superior || Foreign language anxiety in Spanish as a Foreign Language and language achievement in Higher Education

“…Además, los investigadores no logran llegar a un consenso sobre su categorización y las relaciones entre variables (Dörnyei, 2018;Dörnyei y Ushioda, 2011). A pesar de la falta de consenso, sí existe acuerdo en destacar la ansiedad en el aprendizaje de idiomas o ansiedad idiomática como uno de los elementos relevantes de estudio (Alpaslan y Yalvac, 2017;Asif, 2017;Dogan y Tuncer, 2016;Horwitz, 2010;Ramos, 2017;Razak et al, 2017;Sánchez-Carrón, 2013).…”

“…Dentro de estos factores, un número creciente de docentes e investigadores señalan la ansiedad como la variable con mayor influencia negativa (Alpaslan y Yalvac, 2017;Asif, 2017;Bhatti y Memon, 2016;Dogan y Tuncer, 2016;Ramos, 2017;Razak, Yassin, y Maasum, 2017;Sánchez-Carrón, 2013;Santos, Gorter, y Cenoz, 2017). La ansiedad es un estado psicológico presente en la vida de las personas, con efectos tanto en lo fisiológico como en lo emocional, y que afecta al desempeño profesional y al rendimiento académico.…”

“…La ansiedad idiomática afecta al desarrollo de las actividades de enseñanza-aprendizaje en el aula de idiomas y posee un impacto muy negativo en el rendimiento del alumnado (Bhatti y Memon, 2016;Dewaele y MacIntyre, 2014;Dogan y Tuncer, 2016;Khodadady y Khajavy, 2013;Razak et al, 2017;Santos et al, 2017). En el contexto portugués de español como lengua extranjera (ELE), esta variable y sus relaciones con el rendimiento académico apenas ha sido estudiada, a pesar de la necesidad de estudiar los condicionantes propios del aprendizaje de ELE para grupos de estudiantes no nativos (Dörnyei y Ushioda, 2011).…”