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This research study aimed to explore the speaking anxiety of Turkish learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) and its relation to EFL speaking self-efficacy, fear of negative evaluation (FNE), self-perceived English speaking proficiency, and gender. 293 (132 females, 161 males) university-level EFL students completed the EFL speaking anxiety scale, EFL speaking self-efficacy scale, and FNE scale. Four main findings were obtained as a result of the statistical analyses: (1) students' speaking anxiety had a negative relationship with both self-perceived oral English proficiency and speaking self-efficacy; (2) a positive relationship was determined between FNE and speaking anxiety; (3) EFL speaking anxiety was found to be lower in boys than in girls; and (4) speaking self-efficacy, FNE, and self-perceived oral proficiency were identified as meaningful predictors of students' EFL speaking anxiety. In light of these findings, the study offers some pedagogical implications.

This study aimed to: (1) identify vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) employed by Turkish EFL learners; and (2) determine whether the use of VLSs varies by gender. To achieve these aims, the "vocabulary learning strategies scale" developed by Kocaman and Kizilkaya Cumaoglu (2014) was administered to preparatory school students (n=209) at a state university in Turkey. Descriptive statistics (means, standard deviation) and an independent-samples t-test were used for statistical analyses. The results revealed that the frequency of VLS use was at a medium level. In addition, analysis of the sub-dimensions of the scale showed that memory, cognitive, compensation and social strategies were used at a medium frequency level, while metacognitive and affective strategies were used at a high frequency. When VLS use was analyzed with respect to gender, a significant difference was seen between males and females, with female students having a higher total mean score than male students. Also, female students reported more use of memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive and affective strategies; however, no statistically significant gender difference was found regarding the frequency of the use of social strategies.

This paper reports on a study that intended to (a) reveal the extent of English Foreign Language(EFL) learners' foreign language enjoyment (FLE), their self-efficacy, and willingness to communicate (WTC) in English, and (b) try out a hypothesized model to find out whether FLE, self-efficacy and academic achievement predict learners WTC in English. A total of 257 tertiary-level Turkish EFL students participated in the study. The data were collected through three quantitative scales to elicit the constructs in question as well as the participants' English achievement test scores. Analysis of the data included the use of descriptive statistics to present the students' WTC, FLE, and self-efficacy levels while a path analysis was performed to verify the hypothesized model. The results showed that the participants had a moderate level of WTC and self-efficacy, and a favorable amount of FLE. More prominently, path analysis results revealed that FLE and English achievement predicted self-efficacy, and self-efficacy predicted WTC to a significant extent. In addition, FLE and English achievement indirectly affected WTC through the mediation of self-efficacy. FLE was also found to be a significant predictor of English achievement.

The main aim of this article is to determine Turkish EFL (English as a foreign language) students' perceptions about learning English through distance education (henceforth DE) during the COVID-19 pandemic. To realize this aim, the study adopted a qualitative research design and used the metaphor elicitation technique, semi-structured telephone interviews, and an online focus group interview to collect data. The results of the analysis show that most of the students prefer face-to-face English education in a classroom setting rather than online education. Despite some positive comments about DE like it being more comfortable for shy students, students' attitudes toward DE were found to be mostly negative because of the challenges they faced like technical problems, health and focus issues, a lack of interaction and speaking practice in the target language, feelings of anxiety and isolation and low motivation, and DE not addressing all learning styles effectively. Using several qualitative data collection tools, this study provides valuable insights into the thoughts and experiences of students about online English language learning, which can be taken into account to enhance future online language teaching and learning efforts. This study also offers some suggestions to make online EFL education more productive and effective.

This study aims to investigate tertiary EFL learners' stereotyped thoughts about foreign languages, the extent of their exposure to English, and the potential relationships between these variables, also in relation to their proficiency level. 124 EFL students in the preparatory school of a state university in Turkey participated in the study. Two quantitative data collection instruments were distributed to the participants: "Stereotyped Thoughts About Foreign Languages Scale" (Ünal, 2015) and "Exposure to English Scale" (Gökcan & Çobanoglu-Aktan, 2016). Descriptive statistics and correlations were used to analyze the data. The results showed that the participants held a moderate level of stereotyped thoughts and exposure to English. Moreover, significant and positive relationships were revealed between L2 exposure and (1) proficiency level and (2) the two dimensions of stereotyped thoughts: "collectivity" at a weak level and "trying to change people" at a moderate level. However, L2 exposure correlated significantly and negatively with "taking it personally" and "exaggerated generalization" at a weak level. Concerning the relationships between proficiency level and the dimensions of stereotyping, "the "Must" rule," "taking it personally" and "excessively self-sacrificing" showed significant and negative relationships with proficiency level weakly, while "exaggerated generalization" correlated with proficiency at a moderate level.

This study investigated whether encountering the target language words in variety of reading texts would have positive effects on vocabulary development or not. The participants of the study were 55 EFL learners from a state university in Turkey, and two classes were randomly assigned to a control (n=27) or an experimental (n=28) group. 58 English target words in total were chosen to be used in the study. The learners in the experimental group learnt the words through reading texts, and then they repeated them in different reading texts. That is to say, these students had the opportunity to meet the target words in different types of reading texts. Contrary to this, the learners in the control group encountered the words in reading texts only once, and then they repeated them in word lists out of context. A vocabulary test as pre-, post- and delayed post-test was used to measure vocabulary gain and retention. The data obtained from the vocabulary test were analyzed through paired-samples t-tests and independent-samples t-tests to see how the implementation affected the learners' vocabulary development. Additionally, a writing task was used to find out the effects of the implementation on the learners' vocabulary production. The findings showed that encountering words in different reading texts was more effective for vocabulary gain, use and retention.

This study investigates the role of peer interaction (PI) and peer corrective feedback (PCF) in developing EFL learners' grammatical competence regarding simple past tense. It is based on training university-level English preparatory class students in Turkey to interact with their peers and give oral corrective feedback to each other's target grammar errors during communicative tasks. Three classes (n=85) were randomly assigned to the peer interaction (PI) group, the peer interaction and recast (PI+Recast) group or the peer interaction and metalinguistic feedback (PI+MF) group. The PI group was only trained to do communicative tasks in pairs and did not receive any feedback training; however, the PI+Recast group and the PI+MF group were trained to give recasts and MF, respectively. Pairs of learners were audio-recorded while they were trying to complete communicative activities that required the use of the simple past tense. 21 hours of audio-recorded data obtained from the learners' dialogues were examined for instances of PCF. Furthermore, receptive and productive measures were used to identify the effects of the intervention. The findings show that the PI+Recast and PI+MF groups performed better than the PI only group in terms of receptive knowledge and accurate use of the simple past tense.

The main objective of the present study is to determine the type and frequency of reading strategies (RSs) used by Turkish EFL students. Besides, this study aims to find out a) whether there is a gender difference in terms of RS use, b) whether there is a relationship between self-reported RS use and reading self-efficacy. A total of 211 university-level English preparatory class students took part in the study. The participants completed questionnaires on RS use and reading self-efficacy. The obtained data were analyzed using quantitative methods. The results indicated that students reported using RSs at a moderate level, and problem-solving strategies were the most frequently employed RS when compared to global and support strategies. Additionally, the study found that female students reported significantly higher use of RSs than male students. Finally, this study demonstrates that there is a positive relationship between students' RS use and reading self-efficacy.

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Copyright of Cumhuriyet International Journal of Education is the property of Cumhuriyet University, Faculty of Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)