SPEAKING ANXIETY OF FOREIGN LEARNERS OF TURKISH IN TARGET CONTEXT

Abstract

While there are many studies on speaking anxiety in English, speaking anxiety in Turkishlearned in target context remains under-examined. This qualitative study was intended toinvestigate the sources of speaking anxiety for foreign learners of Turkish as a secondlanguage and their coping strategies with these challenges. The data collected through semistructured observations and open-ended questions from ten foreign learners of Turkish. Theresults of the content analysis revealed that the participants favored the target context fortheir speaking development because of the available chances for exposure to and practice inthe target language. However, the participants also referred to some challenges increasingtheir speaking anxiety such as the fear of making mistakes, being negatively evaluated,immediate questions, self-comparison with others and self-evaluation. They also countedsuch anxiety-creating, context-specific factors as the fear of communicating with nativespeakers, having native-speaker teachers, accent of the local people, cultural differencesbetween themselves and other interlocutors. They also reported coping strategies likeconsidering mistakes as natural and beneficial, regarding the existence of native speakers andfriends from other countries contributory for language development and cultural enrichment,having self-preparation and doing individual listening or watching activities. In the light ofthese results, some practical suggestions were provided.