This thesis aims to investigate socio-psychological factors that affect foreign language learners&rsquo / pronunciation and focuses on the relationship between in-class injunctive norms for English pronunciation and Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE). Injunctive norms are a type of social norms that define the expected behavior from the group members and sanctions for disobedience. They are evaluative in their nature. FNE is one of the three components of foreign language classroom anxiety and experienced when a person is in an evaluative situation. For this study, the quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire developed by the researcher and the qualitative data were gathered from the interviews. Freshman students at the Department of Foreign Language Education at Middle East Technical University participated in the study. v The results indicated that speaking with native like or Turkish-like English pronunciation and having some pronunciation mistakes, which are commonly observed in the classroom, are approved according to in-class injunctive norms for English pronunciation. However, if speakers cannot achieve sounding native like when they are trying to emulate native pronunciation, or if they make pronunciation mistakes which are not commonly observed in the classroom or overemphasized by the instructors, these performances are not approved. Speaking with an English pronunciation in the classroom which is not approved according to these norms triggers FNE in the learners. Therefore, learners generally prefer speaking with Turkish-like English pronunciation, which is within the frame of inclass injunctive norms. The results also demonstrated that the pronunciation rules that teachers emphasize become a part of injunctive norms / therefore, teachers have an important role in the determination of these norms.

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Firstly, in this study, foreign language listening and speaking anxiety levels of the non-native EFL instructors working at preparatory schools of two state and two private universities in Turkey were discovered. Next, if their L2 learning contexts, English-speaking country experience, the length of their teaching experience and the institution they work at affect their listening and speaking anxiety levels was scrutinized. Secondly, these EFL instructors&rsquo / perceived competencies in teaching listening and speaking skills were identified. In addition, the effect of different variables on their perceived competency levels such as their undergraduate departments, their participation in graduate studies and in-service teacher training programs, the length of their teaching experience and also the institutions where they work was analyzed. Besides, the relationship between the listening and speaking anxiety levels of these instructors, and their self-reported competency levels in teaching these skills was explored. Finally, this study identified the EFL instructors&rsquo / frequency of addressing listening and speaking skills in listening and speaking tasks in the lessons according to the curriculum of the institution where they work in order to discover its relationship with the instructors&rsquo / perceived competency levels in teaching these skills. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, both of which were used in a complementary fashion in this study. In addition, a total of 150 non-native EFL instructors participated in the questionnaire phase of the study and nine instructors from the participant universities were interviewed. The findings of this study indicated that the participant instructors experience moderate level of foreign language listening and speaking anxiety. Moreover, these instructors&rsquo / L2 learning contexts, English-speaking country experience and their length of teaching experience significantly influence their foreign language listening and speaking anxiety levels. Furthermore, the instructors perceive themselves as competent in terms of teaching listening and speaking skills and their participation in in-service teacher training programs, graduate studies and their length of teaching experience were found to be the contributors of their competence. In addition, a moderate level of negative relationship between foreign language anxiety levels of the instructors, and their self-reported competencies in teaching listening and speaking skills was identified. Finally, a positive relationship was explored between the frequency of the instructors&rsquo / addressing listening and speaking skills in the classroom considering the curriculum of their institutions and their perceived competency levels in teaching these skills. In this sense, the results demonstrated the effect of the institution and the curriculum on the instructors&rsquo / perceived competency levels in terms of teaching listening and speaking skills.

Language anxiety (LA) is “the worry and negative emotional reaction when learning and using a second language and is especially relevant in a classroom where self-expression takes place” (Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2014, p. 14). In the present study, particular attention is drawn to the development of students’ communicative competence and speaking proficiency in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) classrooms. The prevalence and effects of foreign language speaking anxiety (FLSA) were examined among Swedish EFL lower secondary school students, reporting the triggers of foreign language anxiety (FLA) and FLSA from the perspective of pupils and teachers. A mixed-methods approach was applied to collect data from pupils (N=273) where a self-report questionnaire, a modified version of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) operationalised originally by Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986) is administered, plus open-ended semi-structured interviews with open-ended and closed questions were conducted with pupils (N=67) and teachers (N=5). The participants were grouped into three categories: low, medium and high anxiety, based on their scores. The results showed that 26% of the participants were assigned as low anxious learners; 59% of the students experienced medium levels of FLSA and 15% of the pupils were highly anxious language learners. Interviews with pupils and teachers explored the effects and the sources of the FLA and FLSA on pupils’ oral and general English language proficiency (fear of negative evaluation (FNE), affective variables, grades, teachers, classmates, pronunciation, and classroom atmosphere), noting that some pupils reported that monologic genres such as long episodes of speaking, evaluation situations and giving an oral presentation present the most anxiety-provoking contexts in EFL lessons.

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Assertiveness is a learned fundamental interpersonal communication skill that helps individuals to meet the social demands of society. Although various personality factors associated with assertiveness have previously been studied, no recently published studies were identified in the review of assertiveness literature. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between assertiveness and the five factors of personality (extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness), self-esteem, social anxiety, and shyness to update past research findings. Participants completed the College Self-Expression Scale, the IPIP representation of the NEO PI-R, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, and the Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale. It was hypothesized that assertiveness would correlate positively with extraversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and self-esteem. Assertiveness was further hypothesized to correlate negatively with neuroticism, social anxiety, and shyness. Results revealed direct relationships between assertiveness and self-esteem, extraversion, openness to experience, and conscientiousness, as well as inverse relationships to neuroticism, shyness, and fear of disapproval. No significant relationship was found between assertiveness and agreeableness. This study aimed to advance the understanding of the complex personality structure of low-assertive individuals.

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No description available.