Abstract:

This study aims to investigate the effect of anxiety on foreign language teaching by examining the views and experiences of foreign language teachers about foreign language speaking anxiety in depth and to reveal clues for developing anxiety management strategies. The research employed phenomenology design, which is one of the basic qualitative research methods. The study group was selected with the convenience sampling technique. Considering that the anxieties of experienced teachers may have decreased in the process and that they did not have experience and anxiety, 11 foreign language teachers who were in the first five years of their profession and working in different institutions were included in the study. Research data were collected using a semi-structured interview technique. In the interview form, there are seven questions about how the participants make sense of foreign language speaking anxiety and their views and experiences on foreign language speaking anxiety. Data analysis was carried out in parallel with the data collection process. In the analysis of the data, content analysis was performed using the NVivo Program. The findings regarding the opinions of the participants participating in the research were grouped under four themes: opinions on foreign language speaking anxiety, opinions on factors that cause foreign language speaking anxiety, opinions on factors that increase foreign language speaking anxiety, and opinions on factors that reduce foreign language speaking anxiety. The results of this study are thought to contribute to adopting more conscious and practical approaches to anxiety in the field of language teaching practice and teacher education.

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