Examining the level of anxiety experienced by refugee students studying in secondary schools while learning English

Purpose: In this study, the level of anxiety experienced by refugee students in secondary schools while learning English was analysed. In addition, it was tried to de-termine how refugee students cope with this anxiety, and by giving place to the thoughts of the English teachers who teach these students, the studies they carried out in this context, the methods and techniques they used, the problems they encountered and how they dealt with these problems were investigated. Method: In this study, which aims to examine the level of anxiety experienced by refugee students in secondary schools while learning English, a mixed-method re-search was used. Within the scope of quantitative research method, the Foreign Lan-guage Learning Anxiety Scale (FLLA) designed by Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope in 1986 was applied to refugee students.Within the scope of qualitative research method, after the questionnaire was administered, data were collected by interviewing 10 English teachers who teach refugee students and 20 students, one female and one male, who are taught by these teachers, using semi-structered interview forms prepared in advance. Results: At the end of the study, communication anxiety, fear of negative evalu-ation, exam anxiety and total anxiety experienced by refugee students studying in sec-ondary schools were found to be at an average level. In total anxiety and subgroup anxi-ety, boys were found to be more anxious than girls. It was tested whether there were significant differences between the anxiety experienced by refugee students and various variables and a significant difference was found between anxiety and age; no significant difference was found between anxiety abd clas level, being in Turkey. As a result of the interviews with the students, information was obtained about the students' aims of learning the target language, the factors affecting their motivation, the difficulties experienced in learning the target language, the ways of coping with these difficulties, the expectations of the students from their teachers in the language learning process, the skills that are thought to be the most successful, and the effects of the opinions of those around them while learning the language. As a result of the interviews with the teachers, information was obtained about the problems experienced with refugee students, ways of coping with these problems, the problems experienced by refugee students from the teachers' perspective, what is done to help students cope with these problems, communication with students' families, students' competences in language skills and what is done to improve students' language skills. Conclusion and Suggestions: As a result of the questionnaire applied to stu-dents in this study, it was concluded that the anxiety levels of the students were at an average level. No significant differences were found between the gender, age and class level of the students and their anxiety levels. It was concluded that Iraqi students expe-rienced more communication anxiety and fear of negative evaluation than students from Afghanistan; Iraqi students experienced more exam anxiety than students from other countries; Iraqi students' total anxiety levels were higher than students from other coun-tries. It was concluded that students who have been in Turkey for 1-4 years have higher anxiety levels than other students. I n this study, as a result of the interviews with refugee students, it was conclud-ed that refugee students studying in secondary schools learn English in order to com-municate when they go abroad, to find a job, to contribute to their education and to play games on the internet. It was concluded that the difficulties experienced by the students during the learning process were lack of time and opportunities to practise, not knowing how to make sentences, unfamiliar and difficult subjects, not having someone to support them outside the school, many unknown words, problems of access to resources, and coming from different mother tongues. Multicultural students consider themselves most successful in reading, listening, speaking, writing and grammar. As a result of the interviews with the teachers, it was concluded that the prob-lems experienced by the teachers with the refugees are the lack of a common language that they can understand with the students, illiteracy, reluctance to learn, introversion, disciplinary problems. From the teachers' point of view, the most important problems experienced by the students are economic problems, language incompatibility, cultural incompatibility, lack of support at school and at home. In order to help students cope with these problems, they encourage them to use the language, direct them to literacy courses, and refer them to the guidance service to help them cope with their negative experiences. Based on the results of the study, it can be suggested that refugee students should receive both Turkish education and literacy training for illiterate children before starting the language learning process. It can also be suggested that English teachers should be informed about the problems experienced by refugees and the activities that can be done to address these problems. Supportive courses can be provided to help ref-ugee students cope with the cognitive and psychological difficulties they face. Academ-ic, cognitive and behavioural assessments of refugee students in English language learn-ing can be made to check their progress. It can also be suggested to provide refugee stu-dents with resources for language learning during the education process. Finally, it can be suggested to provide language courses and trainings for the families of refugee stu-dents. Keywords: Refugee Students, Anxiety, Foreign Language, Foreign Language Anxiety