Ya bir filolog İngilizce öğretmeni olursa? Yabancı dil öğretimi kaygısına ilişkin bir vaka incelemesi

Abstract

This study aims to find out the factors affecting ELL (English Language and Literature) senior students’ foreign language teaching anxiety and reducing-strategies. The participants were ELL senior students (n=50) who were enrolled in the pedagogical formation certificate program at a state university in Turkey. Additionally, mentors of the study group (n=9) contributed to the research comparatively. The ELL seniors’ teaching experience lasted 10 weeks and they grasped most of the teaching skills as their mentors suggested. Nevertheless, one of the phenomena was the dead hand of something which is called anxiety. In this study, the researcher referred to ELL senior students as prospective teachers. The instruments involve prospective teachers’ diaries, micro-teaching videos, and open-ended interview questions. In the data collection process, the researcher has employed ‘content analysis’ to determine the categories and calculate the number of instances into the determining categories (Silverman, 2000). Then, each category was named according to the repeated units of speech. Both the prospective teachers and their mentors were asked to describe the anxiety-provoking factors and coping strategies. The results revealed that both prospective teachers and their mentors share some of the common beliefs on FLTA (Foreign Language Teaching Anxiety). That is, both of them put forward that lack of experience is a factor that causes anxiety. Apart from this, mentors associated foreign language teaching anxiety with personality traits and academic inefficacy. According to the findings of the study, the prospective teachers’ foreign language teaching anxiety is presented under 5 headings as follows; classroom management, public speaking anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, being observed by the students, and lack of experience.