The analysis of the attitudes towards learning and foreign language anxieties of Turkish language learners as a foreign language

The aim of this study is to define the relationship between foreign language anxiety levels and attitudes towards the learning of the students who learn Turkish as a foreign language. In addition to this, students' foreign language anxiety and attitudes towards learning were analyzed in terms of various variables. The target population consists of 115 students at C1 level learning Turkish as a foreign language in Kilis, Gaziantep and Hatay provinces in this research in which correlational survey model was used. A literature review was carried out and the existing scales were tested in order to determine the foreign language anxiety and attitudes towards learning of students who study Turkish as a foreign language. For this reason, "Turkish Learning Anxiety Scale of Foreigners" developed by Sevim (2019) and "The Scale of Attitudes Toward Learning" developed by Kara (2010) were used as a tool to collect data. Students' foreign language anxiety and attitudes towards learning were discussed in terms of age, university, and educational status variables; and it was investigated whether there is a meaningful relationship between these variables and their attitudes towards learning and anxiety about learning foreign languages. It has been concluded that there is no significant difference in the attitudes towards learning and foreign language learning anxiety of students studying at C1 level in terms of gender and the province in which they study. In terms of educational level, a significant difference on the sub-dimensions of expectation for learning and openness to learning on behalf of postgraduate students and on the sub-dimension of anxiety related to learning on behalf of graduate students has been identified. Considering data obtained from the sub-dimensions of the foreign language anxiety scale in terms of education level, it was found that there is a significant difference in the comprehension-expressing sub-dimension for undergraduate students. On the basis of the relationship between learning attitudes and foreign language learning anxieties, it is seen that as students understand the nature of learning, their learning anxieties decrease, their learning standards increase, and they become more responsive to learning. In addition to this, the use of Turkish in everyday life increases and comprehension- expression skills develop as the course process increases. In contrast to this, increasing the course process and developing comprehension-telling skills are among the acquired results, which increase the anxiety experienced by students. With reference to the obtained results, it will be beneficial to separate lessons / units especially for the nature of learning for the students learning Turkish as a foreign language. Furthermore, it is assumed that educating students about anxiety at the beginning of the process would positively impact the process in order to build knowledge of foreign language anxiety.