The relationship between mindfulness and foreign language anxiety at a University context

Language learning has become a must in today's world due to various reasons. Thus, foreign language learning has become one of the most widely studied topics in social sciences. When considered about foreign language learning, one of the most frequently studied term is foreign language anxiety (FLA). As it is seen as an inhibitor to language learning process, researchers aim to find alternative solutions in order to reduce the harmful effect of FLA. Recently, a term called mindfulness has started to be studied in educational contexts in addition to medical and psychological contexts. Most of the studies revealed that mindfulness help individuals manage anxiety and stress effectively. In accordance with a similar purpose, mindfulness and foreign language anxiety were investigated together in this study. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between mindfulness and foreign language anxiety with 157 students at a state university in central Anatolia. The data was collected by means of Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and semi-structured interviews. During the analysis, descriptive statistics, independent two samples t-tests, one-way ANOVA and Pearson correlation were utilized in order to analyse the quantitative data while content analysis was made to comprehend participants' responses to the interview questions. As a result of descriptive statistics, the participants were found to have a moderate level of FLA and mindfulness. Qualitative findings also demonstrated that the participants were moderately anxious. However, the level of mindfulness was found higher according to qualitative findings. As for the relationship between mindfulness and FLA, mindfulness was observed to affect the level of FLA among university students.