Evaluation of writing anxiety of learners of Turkish as a foreign language

Writing is a linguistic skill which enables permanence and conveyance of ideas, dreams or wishes within the framework of certain rules and within the scope of a plan through the use of certain signs which were previously agreed upon. Writing is a skill that creates pressure and leads to anxiety on the part of the writer since it is not only a skill in which mental activities are used at a high level but also it is permanent and more difficult than other skills. The aim of this research is to identify foreign students' anxiety about writing in Turkish in the light of certain variables. Research population is composed of foreign students studying in Turkey in the academic year of 2018-2019. Random sampling has been used to identify the sample to represent the research population. Sample population is composed of 200 foreign students who were studying at Gazi University, Fırat University and Gaziosmanpaşa University Turkish Language Teaching Center and were present in the classes on the application day of the research. Data have been obtained from volunteering students via "Turkish as Foreign Language Writing Anxiety Scale" prepared by Aytan and Tunçel (2015) and "Personal Information Form" prepared by the researcher. "Turkish as Foreign Language Writing Anxiety Scale" is a 35-item and 5-point likert scale. On the other hand, through "Personal Information Form" prepared by the researchers after reviewing the literature, information have been obtained about participants' universities, the alphabet used while writing in their mother tongues, ages, sexes, the number of foreign languages known apart from Turkish, whether they attended Turkish course before, their time span of learning Turkish and these information have been used as variables. IBM SPSS 22 statistical packet program has been used in data analysis. Data have been analyzed via Spearman-rho correlation coefficient in order to identify the relationship among frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, normal distribution analysis (Kolmogorov-Smirnov), Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskall-Wallis H test and sub-dimensions. The research has been carried out within the descriptive survey model based on quantitative research approach and findings have been interpreted in accordance with the body of literature. As the result of the research, examining the individuals' levels of anxiety about writing in Turkish as a foreign language, grammar and writing perception (X ̅= 2,72), attitude towards writing (X ̅= 2,86), in-class activities (X ̅= 2,71), writing self-sufficiency (X ̅= 2,59), levels of general anxiety about writing in Turkish as a foreign language (X ̅= 2,72) have been identified at the medium level. In accordance with the perceptions of self-sufficiency of the individuals participating in the research, the universities have been sorted in the order of Fırat University, Gazi University and Gaziosmanpaşa University. While no meaningful difference has been identified between participants' learning a new alphabet, sex, age, time span of learning Turkish and writing in Turkish as a foreign language, previously attending a Turkish course has decreased the level of anxiety about writing in Turkish as a foreign language and the difference between the number of foreign languages known and the anxiety about writing in Turkish has been stated in inverse proportion. Keywords: Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language, Writing Skills, Anxiety, Writing Anxiety