The Turkish equivalance, validity, and reliiability study of the foreign language classroom anxiety scale

This study aims to contribute the Turkish version of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) to education in Turkey. Due to the fact that the original language of this scale is English, it is a handicap for the researcher to use it in his / her studies since to understand and answer this scale; the participants should be capable of understanding items in English. This study contains the research on the validity, reliability, and the language equivalence of the Turkish version of FLCAS. 353 participants of students from Yıldız Technical University Basic English department were administered for this study. The students were from three different levels; 50 students from A level (intermediate), 101 students from B level (pre-intermediate), 151 students from C level (elementary), and also 51 students from C level (elementary) were administered both FLCAS and State Anxiety Scale to see the correlation between language anxiety and general anxiety. In addition to these students, 31 students from Yıldız Technical University, Faculty of Education, English Language Teaching department, who were in upper-intermediate level, were also administered to test consistency between answers of English and Turkish items after one week interval. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were also done. Exploratory factor analysis Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy value was found as .812, and Barlett?s Test of Sphericity Chi-Square value was found as 1416.87 (p<.001). In Confirmatory factor analysis, this three factor loaded scale was confirmed (?²/df=2.06, RMSEA=.06). Factor loadings on all factors range between .34 and .95 and test-retest correlation coefficient was found as .85. In addition to these, correlation between FLCAS Total and general anxiety was found as (r=.35, p=.011), and also correlation between Speaking Anxiety In Language Class and general anxiety was found as (r=.38, p=.006). The internal consistency reliability coefficient was .82. Thus, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale is found out to be a valid and reliable tool to measure Turkish students? anxiety towards English as a second language.Key words: Anxiety, foreign / second language anxiety, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale, speaking anxiety, validity, reliability.