An investigation into the roles of anxiety and uncertainty in language classes

It is obviously seen that positive and negative emotions play a significant role on learners' language learning process. Adverse feelings as widely known have negative effects on many areas in our world and it might be said to be the same for language learning. Among all of the emotions on language learning, anxiety and uncertainty, which exist in any language, are encountered innumerable anxious and uncertain situations while learning a language by foreign language learners. Anxiety and uncertainty are considered important and they influence foreign language learning. Taking into account this phenomenon, this study was performed to investigate uncertainty and anxiety experiences of the learners and the relationship between these two constructs in the language classroom. This study was conducted among 122 secondary school language learners at Tarsus SEV Middle School in Tarsus, Turkey. It examined the relationship between learners' language anxiety and uncertainty in the language learning environment. To achieve these aims, mixed method was used as a research method. Within this framework, quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques were used. Two data collection instruments and open-ended questions were employed: Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale designed by Horwitz (1986) and Uncertainty Questionnaire by Dağtaş (2018). The results of the study were obtained with descriptive and correlational analysis methods. The results of the study revealed that the learners' anxiety and uncertainty are at a moderate level. There was a significant relationship between students' anxiety and uncertainty levels. Therefore, the more anxiety increased, the more uncertainty level increased and vice versa. Additionally, according to the data gathered from the open-ended questions, students mentioned that there were some causes and effects of foreign language anxiety and uncertainty on the language learning process. They also indicated that the relationship between these feelings is undeniable in some ways. The findings of this study are discussed within the compass of relevant studies existing in the literature. Keywords: Foreign Language Anxiety, Uncertainty, Uncertainty Experiences, Appraisals of Uncertainty, Uncertainty Management