Speaking anxiety of international students learning Turkish as a second language

Speaking is the most commonly used language skill in interpersonal communication and information transfer. Anxiety about speaking skills affects people both in daily life and academically. For this reason, the anxiety about speaking skills affects the communicative skills and leads to negative situations. According to the Framework Recommendations for Common European Languages, speaking is one of the most important language skills. In this study, the speaking anxiety of international university students who came to our country from abroad and learning Turkish were examined. In this descriptive survey model, a foreign language speaking anxiety scale adapted from the class anxiety scale was used to measure speaking anxiety among international students learning Turkish. In this study, speech anxiety of individuals learning Turkish as a foreign language was examined in personal, educational and environmental dimensions. In addition, students' anxiety levels and causes of anxiety were determined from the total scale scores. In addition, the relationship between the dimensions and the whole scale with the variables of gender, nationality, course level, department of study and university were examined. This study was conducted in 11 different universities in different currencies and with 680 international students studying different departments in Turkey. The data obtained from the study were analyzed with SPSS 20.0 program. According to the findings, it is observed that the students who learn Turkish as a foreign language generally have low speaking anxiety levels. When the data obtained from the scale were examined according to gender variable, no significant difference was found in educational and environmental sub-dimensions and total scale scores. There is a significant difference in the personal sub-dimension of the gender variable. According to the findings of the study, significant differences were found in the variables of the countries where the students came to our country. It was found that the students who had the lowest Turkish speaking anxiety were from Central Asian countries. In addition, it is seen that the students who have the highest speaking anxiety are from the Far East countries. When the scale is examined within the scope of the course levels seen in Turkish language, it is observed that the anxiety of speaking in Turkish language decreases as the course level increases in the sub-dimensions and total scale. When the relationship between the students' higher education areas and the scale is examined, it is seen that there is no significant difference. When the university variable studied in terms of Turkish language anxiety is examined in the findings obtained from the scale, it is seen that there are significant differences.According to the university variable, it was concluded that the students who had the lowest Turkish anxiety were educated at Aksaray University. As a result, the speaking anxiety of Turkish students learning Turkish as a second language was low. According to the gender variable, it was concluded that women in the personal dimension had higher anxiety in speaking Turkish than men. It was concluded that the speaking anxiety of Turkish students from Central Asia to our country was lower than other students. One of the reasons for this is thought is that the mother tongue of the students came from the common language family with Turkish. The study also includes recommendations for researchers and learners of Turkish as a foreign language. Keywords: Teaching Turkish As A Second Language, Speaking Skill, Speaking Anxiety. Anahtar Kelimeler: İkinci Dil Olarak Türkçe Öğretimi, Konuşma Becerisi, Konuşma Kaygısı.