Abstract:

Anxiety is the feeling that an individual is nervous that something bad will happen. Speech anxiety is the negative feeling that speech gives / will give. Intense physical, emotional, behavioral and cognitive reactions in these depressing moments make it difficult for the individual to establish a effective communication and may lead to avoidance of speaking. The aim of this study is to provide a valid and reliable scale that can be used to determine the speech anxiety levels of secondary school students (9-14 years old). The data were obtained from 1214 students studying at the secondary school level in 4 grades. The sample of the study consisted of 449 participants for the exploratory factor analysis (EFA), 450 for the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), 172 for the equivalent form application, and 143 for the test-retest application, with different students at each stage. As a result of EFA, a scale with 21-item cognitive, physical and emotional dimensions and a total variance value of 46.54% was obtained. In CFA analysis, the structure obtained as a result of AFA was confirmed (x²=303.23, sd=1.639, RMSEA=.038, NFI=.97, NNFI=.98, GFI=.94, AGFI=.92, CFI=.99, SRMR=.043). Cronbach's alpha Spearman-Brown and Guttman-Split Half two-half reliability values, as a result of the good reliability values obtained from the equivalent form and test-retest applications, it can be said that a 21item likert-type measuring instrument that measures the speech anxiety levels of middle school students was introduced in the literature.

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