Speaking Anxiety of Students Learning Turkish as a Foreign Language: Instructors’ Experiences

The purpose of present research is to examine the speaking anxiety observed by the instructors in their students in teaching Turkish as a foreign language settings. For this aim, phenomenology, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. The participants of the research are the instructors working in the Turkish teaching centers of various state universities who were reached through the snowball sampling technique. A semi-structured interview was used to collect the data from these tutorials. To analyze the data a content analysis technique with MAXQDA 2020 program was utilized. Instructors of Turkish as a foreign language stated that material and instructor proficiency are the most common factors in foreign language teaching, while motivation, attitude and anxiety are the most common internal factors. According to the results of the study, speaking is the language skill most affected by anxiety. It was concluded that the most common causes of speaking anxiety experienced by the students were the fear of being ridiculed, the thought of failure, and the lack of personal development. Instructors think that speaking anxiety occurs mostly with a shy attitude while speaking. In addition, the instructors stated that they took various measures to solve this situation in their students who they thought had speaking anxiety. These are mostly creating a flexible and relaxing learning environment, applying interesting activities, and allocating special time for the student.


Introduction
Foreign language teaching process has a multivariate structure. There are many factors that can affect learning in this process. An effective combination of several factors is necessary to ensure success. These factors can be classified as internal and external factors according to their sources. In terms of learners, learning environment, teaching material, teaching method are external factors; students' motivation and willingness are considered as internal factors (Turanlı, 2007). Gonzales (2001: 3) states that internal factors in learning are biological, physical, psychological, cognitive and social characteristics, and external factors are social characteristics such as school, family, occupation. In the context of language learning, Brown Speaking Anxiety of Students Learning Turkish as a Foreign Language: Instructors' Experiences (2007) states that internal factors determined by each individual and student such as motivation, attitude, personal practice and study habits. On the other hand, the common feature of external factors is that they all depend on external situations beyond the student's control (Brown, 2007). Özer and Korkmaz (2016), state the factors affecting success in foreign language teaching as teachers, students, coursework, environment and education system. All of the mentioned factors must be in harmony. However, it can be said that the learner-based situations among the factors are very important in terms of ensuring learning. Because it is stated that the individual psychological characteristics of the learners have a great impact on language learning (Özer & Korkmaz, 2016). Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 47) state that "learning a language is an emotional experience, and the feeling that the process of learning evokes will have a crucial bearing on the success or failure of the learning." In addition, when Dil (2009) investigated the difficulties in foreign language classroom he reported that one of the biggest psychological obstacles is anxiety for learners.
Anxiety is generally defined as "subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system" (Spielberger, 1983: 15). Anxiety is also addressed in the context of language teaching. "Language anxiety can be defined as the feeling of tension and apprehension specifically associated with second language contexts, including speaking, listening, and learning" (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994: 284). Arnold and Brown (1999) state that anxiety is associated with negative emotions such as restlessness, selfdoubt, fear, and tension that prevent learning. Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) report that foreign language anxiety consists of three components: communication anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, and test anxiety. Young (1991) states that language anxiety is a complex, multidimensional phenomenon and manifests itself quite differently in students depending on ethnicity, previous language experience, student personality and classroom conditions. Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) stated that students with anxiety were worried, afraid, had concentration disorders, and avoided lessons.
In a meta-analysis study conducted by Teimouri, Goetze and Plonsky (2019) with 97 reports from 23 countries, it was determined that language anxiety has a negative role in second language learning. In addition, in the meta-analysis study conducted by Zhang (2019), it was determined that foreign language anxiety had a negative effect on foreign language performance. However, it is stated that the most anxiety-provoking activity in a foreign language is speaking (VonWörde, 2003).
It is known that in studies dealing with anxiety in teaching Turkish to foreigners, speaking skills are mostly focused on (Polatcan, 2019). It can be considered as a normal result that anxiety occurs most in speaking skill, and a special examination of anxiety experienced in this skill. To put it simply, the restlessness, tension, fear, anxiety, avoidance, and concentration disorder that occur especially during speaking can be evaluated as speaking anxiety. Melanlıoğlu and Demir (2013) state that speaking anxiety can manifest itself emotionally in the form of sadness, anger, fear, or physically in the form of rapid heartbeat and sweating. In the related literature, speaking anxiety in foreign language teaching, the causes of speaking anxiety, and ways of coping with speaking anxiety are examined (Alrabai, 2015;Balemir, 2009;Çağatay, 2015;Debreli & Demirkan, 2015;Duman, Göral & Bilgin, 2017;He, 2017;Liu , 2007;Köse, 2020;Marzec-Stawiarska, 2015;Öztürk & Gürbüz, 2014;Sadighi & Dastpak, 2017;Tüm & Kunt, 2013;Yılmaz, 2018), in which speaking anxiety was examined in terms of various variables (Boylu & Çangal, 2015;Şen & Boylu, 2015;Tunçel, 2015;Öztürk & Gürbüz, 2013), there are various studies examining the relationship between speaking anxiety and various performance tools (Gökhan, 2020;Mede & Karaırmak, 2017;Serraj & Noordin, 2013;Vural, 2017). As can be seen from the studies, speaking anxiety in foreign language teaching has been examined by researches. In the literature review, no study was found in which speaking anxiety in teaching Turkish as a foreign language was examined in terms of instructors.
Instructors, who are the practitioners of the courses, are one of the most effective factors in ensuring success. The purpose of this research is to examine the speaking anxiety observed by the instructors in their students in teaching Turkish as a foreign language. The research is considered important in terms of providing an explanation for speaking anxiety from the perspectives of the instructors. Thus, it will be possible to reveal the ideas of course practitioners about speaking anxiety. In current study the factors affecting teaching Turkish as a foreign language according to the instructors, the place of anxiety among these factors, the skill most affected by anxiety, the effect of speaking anxiety, the possible causes of speaking anxiety, the measures taken when speaking anxiety is detected, will be examined.

Design
Phenomenological approach was used in the research. The phenomenology is "a form of qualitative research that tries to understand how one or more people make sense of a phenomenon" (Johnson & Christensen, 2014: 48). "A phenomenological approach is well suited to studying affective, emotional, and often intense human experiences" (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016: 28). The phenomenon examined in this study is the speaking anxiety situations that instructors of Turkish as a foreign language encounter with students in their classes. Thus, the state of speaking anxiety experienced in the learning-teaching process was tried to be examined.

Participants
The participants of the research are the instructors working in the Turkish teaching centers of various state universities. Snowball sampling technique was used to determine these instructors. In the snowball sampling technique, a few reference people related to the study subject are selected and other people are reached through these people (Gay, Mills & Airasian, 2011: 143). As the reference group, the instructors in the Turkish teaching centers in the universities where the authors work were selected. The reference group consists of 7 instructors. The reference group and other instructors voluntarily participated in the study. The instructors in the reference group were asked to invite the instructors who teach Turkish to foreigners they know to the study. Thus, a total of 19 participants were reached. Detailed information about the participants is given in Table 1 below.

Instruments and procedure
In order to collect the data, a semi-structured interview form was created by the researchers. The draft form includes 9 questions written by examining the relevant literature in order to collect information about speaking anxiety. In order for this form to be valid and reliable, firstly, opinions from various field experts were taken. The form was presented to the opinion of 3 Turkish Education, 1 Guidance and Psychological Counseling and 1 Curriculum Development experts in its printed form. Various corrections were made as stated in the forms collected after 5 days. 4 out of 9 questions were rearranged according to the opinions of field experts. After the arrangement, the second version of the form was applied to 2 instructors working in the Turkish teaching center for pilot application. As a result of the pilot application, it was deemed appropriate to add an explanation to 3 questions. Thus, the semi-structured interview form created was conveyed to the other instructors through the determined reference group. The instructors, who constituted the reference group of the study, were interviewed and during these interviews, explanations were given to the instructors about the content, purpose and why it was important. The questions that the instructors wondered about the research subject were answered. In addition, these explanations have been added to the interview form. An e-mail address was provided to the participants outside the reference group in order to answer their questions about the interview form. Since the distance education activities continued at the end of the 2020-2021 academic year, the data were collected online due to COVID-19 pandemic (via Google Forms).

Data analysis
In the present research, the data accessed through the forms were analyzed with the content analysis technique. The basic process applied in content analysis is to gather similar data within the framework of certain concepts and themes and to interpret them in a way that the reader can understand (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2011). Categorical analysis, one of the content analysis types, was also used. In the application of categorical analysis, first the data was coded, categories were created and organized, and in the final stage, the findings were defined and interpreted (Robson, 2001). The MAXQDA 2020 qualitative data analysis program was used to conduct the content analysis. In order to ensure validity and reliability in the analysis of the data, the coding was carried out by two researchers (authors) and direct quotations were made from the instructors' views on the codes. After the analysis, the data was visualized and presented to the reader.
Open Journal for Educational Research, 2021, 5(2), 333-352. In Figure 1, the codes related to the effective factors in foreign language teaching according to Turkish as foreign language instructors are indicated. For this, the following question was asked to the instructors: "Which factors do you think are effective in foreign language teaching?". As shown in Figure 1, instructor's teach material (9), instructor competence (8), approach, method and technique (7), learner motivation (6), social environment (6), mother tongue skill (4), learning environment (4), readiness (3), teacher interest (3), need to learn the language (3), target language being similar to the mother tongue (2), learner age level (2), learner education level (2), learner's cognitive competence (1), learner profession (1) are among the most effective factors are in foreign language teaching. In this theme, direct quotations were not included, as only the affecting factors were listed by the instructors.

Figure 2. Effective internal factors in foreign language teaching according to Turkish as a foreign language instructors
In Figure 2 based on the question, "What do you think about the effect of internal factors in speaking a foreign language? (2.1. If you think it is effective, which internal factors can be effective?)", the codes related to the effective internal factors in teaching Turkish as foreign language were presented. Accordingly, the instructors think that motivation (7), attitude (4), anxiety (4), interest and will (3), self-confidence (3), psychological comfort (2), intelligence (2), readiness (1), ethnicity (1) are effective internal factors in learning. Figure 3. The effect of anxiety on foreign language teaching and speaking skills according to Turkish as a foreign language instructors Figure 3 shows "What do you think about the effect of anxiety in foreign language teaching? (3.1. Do you think anxiety affects foreign language teaching positively or negatively? Explain with reasons.)" and "What do you think about the effect of speaking anxiety on speaking skill? Please explain." The codes related to the effect of anxiety on foreign language teaching and speaking skills were given to Turkish as a foreign language instructors. Accordingly, the effect of anxiety on foreign language teaching was seen as completely negative by 7 instructors. While 12 instructors stated that low and high levels of anxiety have negative effects on teaching. There was no instructor who thought that anxiety had a positive effect. The codes obtained from the question about the effect of speaking anxiety on speaking skills were found to be making learning difficult (17), and a low level of anxiety has positive effects (2). In other words, 17 instructors think that speaking anxiety makes it difficult to learn in speaking skills, while 2 instructors think that having a low level of anxiety will have positive effects on speaking skills. Direct Quote low and high levels of anxiety have negative effects P2: Anxiety is definitely effective. We can see concretely the effects of anxiety, especially on listening and speaking skills. Anxiety is definitely effective. We can see concretely the effects of anxiety, especially on listening and speaking skills. Both high anxiety and low anxiety affect learning negatively. If the anxiety is high, the student hesitates to speak and develops a negative attitude towards speaking. Or they may not be able to express what they know. He may miss words while listening due to high anxiety, and may have trouble making sense of them. She may make speech mistakes.
And it can affect other reading and writing skills as well. negative effect P1: Anxiety in foreign language teaching negatively affects learning. If the language learner has a high level of anxiety, the language learning process is negatively affected, and if the anxiety level is low, it is positively affected. Speaking Skill low level of anxiety has positive effects P13: I think that anxiety at the optimum level is necessary in all skill areas and has a nurturing aspect to the learning process, but the concept of speaking anxiety has negative connotations as it is and will definitely interrupt the fluency of the speech. Speaking anxiety can also stem from fear of being judged, being disgraced to others, and feeling worthless. making learning difficult P12: Speaking anxiety can prevent the speaker from using the language properly and properly by having diction problems. It can weaken the power to comment. By suppressing critical and creative thinking skills, it may prevent her from performing original and meaningful conversations. Figure 4. The skill area most affected by anxiety in foreign language teaching according to Turkish as a foreign language instructors In Figure 4 According to the question of "Which of the basic language skills do you think anxiety affects the most? Please explain with reasons.", the codes related to the skill area most affected by anxiety in foreign language teaching were presented. Accordingly, the codes related to the skill most affected by anxiety are as follows: speaking skill (18), writing skill (3), listening skill (2). Examples of direct quotations from the resulting codes are given in Table 3 below. Speaking P17: It is most effective in speaking. Anxiety about making mistakes in the target language, embarrassment when speaking, tongue stiffness, social phobia, and low self-efficacy beliefs are felt or revealed more in speaking skills. Writing P4: It affects speaking and writing skills. In writing skill, the student has the fear of making mistakes while writing his thought. On the other hand, in her speaking skill, she thinks that the people around her will not understand them, and she creates shyness. Listening P13: On the other hand, in her speaking skill, she thinks that the people around her will not understand them, and she creates shyness. Missing a few words while listening and being stuck there will cause the whole to slip out of hand. Figure 5. Causes of speaking anxiety in foreign language teaching according to Turkish as a foreign language instructors In Figure 5, according to the question of, "What do you think might be the reasons for the speaking anxiety you observe in your students?", the codes for the reasons for the occurrence of speaking anxiety in foreign language teaching were presented. The codes were formed according to: fear of being ridiculed (8), thought of failure (6), lack of personal development (6), family influence (4), teacher inadequacy and indifference (3), mental reasons (3), social inadequacy (2), cultural difference (2), be misunderstood (2), fear of criticism (2), lack of knowledge (1) and hereditary reasons (1). Examples of direct quotations for frequently occurring codes in this theme are presented in Table 4 below.  Figure 6. Observation of speaking anxiety in foreign language teaching according to Turkish as a foreign language instructors In Figure 6, according to the question of "What can you say about whether your students have speaking anxiety?" and "If you think they have speaking anxiety, can you explain the situations that caused you to think so?" codes for observing speaking anxiety are given. According to this, regarding the observation of speaking anxiety, many students have more or less speaking anxiety (7), some students have anxiety (6), anxiety occurs more at the beginning levels (3), anxiety occurs in classroom activities (3), successful students have more excessive anxiety (1). In addition, the following codes were formed in the sub-theme of situations faced with anxiety: shyness in speaking (6), excessive excitement (3), using text instead of speaking and asking questions (2), tremor (2), stuttering (1), not attending speaking classes (1), the student stated that he/she could not succeed (1). Direct quotations regarding the frequently repeated codes in this theme are presented in Table 5 below. Table 5. Direct quotations regarding the observation of speaking anxiety in foreign language teaching according to Turkish as a foreign language instructors Observation Code Direct Quote many students have more or less speaking anxiety P1: Almost all of the students have more or less speaking anxiety. The reasons for this may be different for each student. He does not speak well in his native language, so he may think that this will be the case in a foreign language as well. The culture of the society she grew up in can also be effective in this. some students have anxiety P13: I had students with speaking anxiety. Some of these students were students who spent most of their time alone outside of the classroom and participated in social activities at a limited level. Sometimes they were exposed to the laughter of their friends. They had arrived in a foreign environment and were leaving their country for the first time. Most of them were not in good financial condition and were deprived of the opportunity to participate in social activities. Situations Faced with Anxiety shyness in speaking P2: I can say that the students are shy during the speech, their excessive excitement, and their unwillingness to participate in the conversation. excessive excitement P12: I think some of my students have speaking anxiety. The body language they use and the behaviors they show, their voices hoarse, trembling, abnormal breathing, the shape of their faces, and stuttering make me think about this. using text instead of speaking and asking questions P11: I had students who I thought were anxious, I tried to communicate with them more one-on-one rather than at the center of the class crowd, and tried to support them. This is what I thought when the student pulled back in the lesson or had something he wanted to say, instead of saying it directly, he called him and wrote it on a paper.

Figure 7. Examination of speaking anxiety by instructors
In Figure 7, the codes formed for the examination of speaking anxiety by Turkish as a foreign language instructors were presented with the question of "Do you do any work to measure the anxiety level of your students or to reveal the reasons? If so, what tools do you use?". Accordingly, 11 instructors do not examine speaking anxiety by conducting a separate study. The remaining 8 instructors conduct examinations with some techniques. Observation (4), interview (3), scales (2), group work (1), experimental procedure (1), special feedback (1) codes were formed from the instructors who examined speaking anxiety by doing a separate study. In Figure 8, based on the question of "What kind of precautions do you take when you think your students have speaking anxiety?", measures for speaking anxiety in foreign language teaching were examined. Thus, creating a flexible and relaxing learning environment (6), implementing interesting activities (4), allocating special time for students (4), trying to involve everyone in the process (3), not requiring precautions (2), encouraging social activities (2), matching with target language users (1), preventing ridicule (1), and referring to psychological support (1), a total of nine codes were formed. Direct quotations for frequently recurring codes are given in Table 6 below. Table 6. Direct quotations of measures for speaking anxiety in foreign language teaching according to Turkish as a foreign language instructors Code Direct Quote creating a flexible and relaxing learning environment P15: I'm trying to instill confidence. I support your speeches. I don't focus on mistakes. P1: I make the learning environment more flexible and comfortable. implementing interesting activities P2: I encourage students to participate in the conversation through fun activities. P7: After or before the lesson, I do some activities that motivate her. By changing the shape of the question and asking a question with a different grammatical structure, I try to focus on a structure directly and prevent it from worrying. I pave the way especially with descriptive sentences that start with "so".
allocating special time for students P8: I take care of my students personally. I think that I have gained 3 of my students very well. I think that I have achieved success on my students who do not attend the course. P13: I am in frequent contact with people who have speaking anxiety. trying to involve everyone in the process P3: I am in frequent contact with people who have speaking anxiety.

Discussion and conclusion
In the study, the speaking anxiety observed by Turkish language instructors in their students was examined. Data were collected by applying a semi-structured interview form to 19 instructors. Thus, it has been tried to explain the subject from the perspectives of Turkish language instructors.
Turkish as a foreign language instructors stated that material, instructor proficiency, approach, method and technical subjects are the most effective factors in foreign language teaching. Language learning methods are effective in preparing an independent learning environment suitable for the needs of students, and the targeted level of proficiency can be easily achieved with these methods (Baskın, İşcan, Karagöz & Birol, 2017). On the other hand, the importance of materials in the realization of formal teaching activities is undeniable. Because the materials prepared according to the program to be followed in the teaching process provide students with learning opportunities in accordance with the approach and method used. Demir (2015) stated that teaching materials are effective in making learning permanent. Barın (2004) evaluated the subject of material preparation within the general principles of teaching Turkish to foreigners and emphasized that the materials should be prepared according to the level of the student and the teaching purpose. Duman (2013) states that the well-prepared materials in teaching Turkish as a foreign language are important in achieving the teaching objectives, but also states that the competencies of the instructors who will apply these materials are a much more effective factor. Instructors play important roles in all stages of education, including planning, implementation and evaluation of educational activities (Mutlu, 2020). Thus, it is stated in various studies that the competencies of the instructors are an effective factor in achieving the objectives of the teaching activities (Ashton & Webb, 1986;Eryaman, 2007;Leigh & Mead, 2005;Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001;Woolfolk & Hoy, 1990). Approaches, methods and techniques related to how teaching should be done were also seen as an important factor by the instructors. The method is "the way chosen by the teacher to teach a content and to organize the efforts of the student to learn it in line with the determined strategy"; and the teaching technique as "the method of applying the methods chosen to achieve the goal" (Dal & Tatar, 2017, p. 27-28). Türkoğlu (2004) also discusses the method used among the factors affecting success in language teaching. According to these, the choice of approach, method and technique, which is seen as an important factor by the instructors, has a great importance in conducting the courses in line with the desired goals. Because all teaching activities are organized according to these. Göçen (2020) states that it is important for Turkish as a foreign language instructors to have knowledge about methods and to choose the most suitable method for learners.
The instructors think that motivation, attitude and anxiety are the most effective factors among the internal factors in teaching Turkish as a foreign language. As can be seen, these factors are closely related to the psychological state of the students. It can be said that motivation is in a central position together with language ability in foreign language learning success (Acat & Demiral, 2002). Motivation is a very important factor in foreign language learning, which is affected by different variables (personality variables, students' attitudes, learning styles) (Gilakjani, Leong & Sabouri, 2012). Studies in the field of foreign language teaching related to attitude and anxiety have revealed that these psychological states affect learning (Genç & Kaya, 2011;Kazazoğlu, 2013;Saracoğlu & Varol, 2007;Teimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019;Zhang, 2019). According to these, the internal factors that Turkish as a foreign language instructors consider most important are also seen as important factors in the literature.
Turkish as a foreign language instructors stated that the speaking skill most affected by anxiety. Baş (2014) found that high school students generally get excited and worried about speaking activities in foreign language classes. VonWörde (2003) also stated that the most anxiety-provoking language activity is speaking. This may be because the speaking skill manifests itself in a more immediate way and the learner needs to respond in a limited amount of time.
The instructors explained the reasons for the speaking anxiety experienced by their students as the fear of being ridiculed, the thought of failure, lack of personal development, and the family effect. In the study conducted by Tekşan, Mutlu and Çinpolat (2019), it was stated that secondary school students in mother tongue teaching also experienced speaking anxiety most frequently due to the fear of being ridiculed. It can be seen from here that the fear of being ridiculed manifests itself not only in foreign language teaching but also in other course areas. This situation can be considered as a social problem. In the study of İşcan and Karagöz (2016a), it was determined that feeling inadequate in terms of knowledge and lack of self-confidence have an effect on the speaking anxiety of university students. In this study, the thought of failure of learners may have overtaken their self-confidence. In the study conducted by Erdoğan (2018), it was stated that the family has an effect on the communication anxiety of university students. In the Erdoğan's (2018) study, it was presented that the oppressive parental attitude in the family environment, where children gain their first socialization and communication skills, may have a negative effect. The lack of personal development and family effect revealed in this research can be combined at this point. Because, as a result of the negative impact of the family, children who cannot fully acquire their first socialization and communication skills may experience personal development deficiencies in later ages, so it can be said that this situation may cause speaking or communication anxiety.
Most of the instructors stated that many students have more or less speaking anxiety. They observed that this speaking anxiety mostly occurs with shy attitude and excessive excitement when speaking. In the study conducted by Duman, Göral and Bilgin (2017), it was stated that university students avoid speaking English when they experience foreign language speaking anxiety. It is stated that speaking anxiety can manifest itself emotionally in the form of sadness, anger, fear, or physically in the form of rapid heartbeat and sweating (Melanlıoğlu & Demir, 2013). Trembling and stuttering reached in this study can also be considered as situations in which anxiety manifests itself physically. In addition, trembling and stuttering can also be situations that can manifest themselves with excessive excitement.
There are a total of 8 instructors who examine the speaking anxiety of the learners by conducting a study. The other 11 instructors also stated that they did not examine the situation with a special study. It was determined that the instructors who examined the speaking anxiety state mostly observed, interviewed, and used scales. The fact that the instructors examine the situation by using more observation and interview techniques can be considered as a factor that will lead to more detailed results. Because in this way, the situation of the students in the classroom can be determined, and detailed answers can be obtained from the student's point of view by interviewing.
The instructors take various measures to solve speaking anxiety situation in their students. These are mostly creating a flexible and relaxing learning environment, applying interesting activities, and allocating special time for the student. In Polatcan's (2019) study, in which he examined the studies on anxiety in teaching Turkish as a foreign language, it was mostly focused on creating environments where the target language can be used in daily life, accepting anxiety as a factor in the education process and arranging the environment by taking this situation into account, various in-class activities. It has been determined that suggestions are made to eliminate the anxiety of the students, to pay attention to the level of interest and motivation. Mutlu and Süğümlü (2018) states that audio-visual materials are fun and interesting, so they are essential for effective language teaching. In this context, İşcan and Karagöz (2016b) drew attention to the fact that movies provide entertaining and instructive environments in classroom activities. In this research, the solution suggestions regarding the learning environment and activity stated by the instructors are in line with the results of the researches cited.
According to the results of the research, the following recommendations are presented: • In teaching Turkish as a foreign language, it may be beneficial to consider the internal factors by the instructors.
• It is necessary to determine the speaking anxiety states of the students and to take measures to prevent it.