Dealing with Turkish EFL learners’ speaking anxiety
Turkish EFL learners’ speaking anxiety
Abstract
The study examined the speaking anxiety of Turkish English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners to find out the reasons for their anxiety and to suggest ways to cope with it. For that purpose, qualitative data were collected from 20 Turkish students attending an English Preparatory Program at a state university in central Turkey. Data gathered through semi-structured interviews and were analyzed via inductive coding data analysis techniques and procedures. The results show that some of the potential causes of Turkish EFL learners’ language anxiety are inexperience and cultural inhibitions in dealing with the teaching methods used in ELT classes, negative prior experience, differences between the first and target languages, the perfectionist nature of learners, fear of being evaluated, poor command of lexis, limited speaking opportunity, social pressure and social status. The study also offers several suggestions for teachers working with Turkish EFL learners to reduce the anxiety level of their learners.References
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