German speaking anxiety of students studying in German language departments in Turkey

Speaking a foreign language poses a problem for people who study in this field as it does for many people. One of the biggest problems that causes this is thought to be anxiety. The primary aim of the study is to develop a valid and reliable scale in order to determine the German speaking anxiety of students who are actively studying in departments related to German language in Turkey. Another aim of the study is to measure the students' German speaking anxiety with the developed scale and to determine the factors that predict the students' German speaking anxiety. A 26-item German Speaking Anxiety Scale which consists of three factors (physical, affective, and behavioral responses) was developed to measure German speaking anxiety of students. A total of 792 students participated in this research, who study German Language Teaching or German Language and Literature actively in various universities from Turkey. Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed on the data collected from the first sample group, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed in the second sample group to test the accuracy of the data obtained from first group. As a result of the analyzes, the 3-factor structure of the scale with 26 items was confirmed. Cronbach's Alpha (α) and Mcdonald's Omega (ω) were calculated for the reliability analysis of the scale. Cronbach Alpha (α) of the scale is 0.97; Cronbach Alpha (α) and Mcdonalds' Omega (ω) reliability coefficients of each sub-factor are above 0.80. The data suggest that the reliability of the scale is quite high. Based on the results, a valid and reliable German Speaking Anxiety Scale was obtained. For another purpose of the study, the Independent Simple T-Test and One-Way ANOVA were conducted to determine the German speaking anxiety levels of the students according to the variables of gender, age, class and length of stay in Germany. According to the findings, it was seen that the students' German speaking anxiety was at an average level. It was determined that the students' German speaking anxiety changed significantly according to gender, age and the duration of their stay in Germany and it did not change significantly according to the class. It was concluded that the students experienced anxiety mostly in the affective aspect, then in the physiological aspect, and least in the behavioral aspect, among the subscales of German speaking anxiety.