Exploring the influence of the Socrates Seminar Technique on anxiety, motivation, and reading comprehension in foreign learners of Turkish

Abstract

This research aims to study the effects of the Socrates Seminar Technique on foreigners' Turkish learning anxiety, motivation, and reading comprehension skills. For this purpose, a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design with a control group, which is one of the quantitative research methods, was used in this research. The study group of the research consists of 40 B2 level students learning Turkish at Bandırma Onyedi Eylül University, Turkish and Foreign Language Teaching Application and Research Center (BANÜ-TÖMER). To collect the research data, the Reading-Comprehension Achievement Test prepared by the researchers, the "Foreigners' Turkish Learning Anxiety Scale" designed by Sevim (2019a), and the "Motivation Scale for Learning Turkish as a Foreign Language" developed by Sevim (2019b) were used. Simple and predictive statistical methods were used to analyze data obtained via evaluation tools. After evaluating the findings obtained from the research, it was concluded that implementing the Socrates Seminar Technique in course activities led to increased reading comprehension achievement and enhanced motivation among students learning Turkish, while also reducing their anxiety levels associated with learning the language. Additionally, the study aims to provide concrete examples of course activities developed using the Socrates Seminar Technique in the realm of foreign language teaching. This study is intended to benefit both teachers and students, offering practical insights to enhance the teaching process in what is commonly perceived as a challenging domain.