An examination of primary school pre-service teachers' anxiety levels related to the first teaching reading and writing

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the anxiety levels of primary school preservice teachers about first teaching reading and writing and to determine their views on this subject. On the other hand, the level of anxiety of primary school preservice teacher related to the first teaching reading writing was analyzed whether it showed a significant difference according to the variables of university, general grade point average, gender, being a classroom teacher from first degree relatives, school experience and teaching practice at primary school first grade level. Mixed research method was used in this study. The population of the research consists of 4th grade students studying in the department of classroom teaching in the state universities in Turkey in the 2018-2019 academic years. The sample of the study consists of 818 students from 13 universities in 7 geographical regions of Turkey. In the study, Anxiety Scale for First Teaching Reading and Writing developed by the researcher and semi-structured interview protocol prepared by taking the opinions of experts in the field in order to determine the factors causing anxiety in first teaching reading and writing were used as data collection tools. In the analysis of qualitative data obtained in the study, descriptive analysis was used, and in the analysis of quantitative data, t - test and ANOVA test were used. According to the quantitative results of the study, it was seen that the preservice classroom teachers were concerned about the first teaching reading and writing. Concerns of primary school preservice teachers about the first teaching reading and writing do not differ according to gender, cumulative grade point average and whether there are primary school teachers in first degree relatives. Primary school preservice teachers' anxiety levels about the first teaching reading and writing are statistically differentiated according to the university they study, their experiences of observing or practicing at the first-grade level of primary school within school experience and teaching practice courses. According to the qualitative findings of the study, it was determined the factors that cause anxiety about the first teaching reading and writing in preservice teachers are deu to teacher, student and external factors.