Non-native EFL teachers' foreign language listening and speaking anxiety and their perceived competencies in teaching these skills


Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi, Yabancı Diller Eğitimi Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2011

Öğrenci: DUYGU KARAKAYA

Danışman: DENİZ ÇOPUR

Özet:

Firstly, in this study, foreign language listening and speaking anxiety levels of the non-native EFL instructors working at preparatory schools of two state and two private universities in Turkey were discovered. Next, if their L2 learning contexts, English-speaking country experience, the length of their teaching experience and the institution they work at affect their listening and speaking anxiety levels was scrutinized. Secondly, these EFL instructors’ perceived competencies in teaching listening and speaking skills were identified. In addition, the effect of different variables on their perceived competency levels such as their undergraduate departments, their participation in graduate studies and in-service teacher training programs, the length of their teaching experience and also the institutions where they work was analyzed. Besides, the relationship between the listening and speaking anxiety levels of these instructors, and their self-reported competency levels in teaching these skills was explored. Finally, this study identified the EFL instructors’ frequency of addressing listening and speaking skills in listening and speaking tasks in the lessons according to the curriculum of the institution where they work in order to discover its relationship with the instructors’ perceived competency levels in teaching these skills. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, both of which were used in a complementary fashion in this study. In addition, a total of 150 non-native EFL instructors participated in the questionnaire phase of the study and nine instructors from the participant universities were interviewed. The findings of this study indicated that the participant instructors experience moderate level of foreign language listening and speaking anxiety. Moreover, these instructors’ L2 learning contexts, English-speaking country experience and their length of teaching experience significantly influence their foreign language listening and speaking anxiety levels. Furthermore, the instructors perceive themselves as competent in terms of teaching listening and speaking skills and their participation in in-service teacher training programs, graduate studies and their length of teaching experience were found to be the contributors of their competence. In addition, a moderate level of negative relationship between foreign language anxiety levels of the instructors, and their self-reported competencies in teaching listening and speaking skills was identified. Finally, a positive relationship was explored between the frequency of the instructors’ addressing listening and speaking skills in the classroom considering the curriculum of their institutions and their perceived competency levels in teaching these skills. In this sense, the results demonstrated the effect of the institution and the curriculum on the instructors’ perceived competency levels in terms of teaching listening and speaking skills.