How distinctive is the foreign language enjoyment and foreign language classroom anxiety of Kazakh learners of Turkish?

The present study focuses on foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) of 592 learners of Turkish as a foreign language (FL) in Kazakhstan. Mean levels of FLE and FLCA were found to be similar to previous studies in different settings with different target languages. In contrast with previous literature, a weak positive correlation was found between FLE and FLCA and the gender effect went in the opposite direction, with male participants reporting more FLCA than female participants. Multiple regression analyses revealed that FLE and FLCA were more strongly predicted by learners' attitude toward Turkish and teacher-related variables than by learner-internal variables, confirming previous research outside Kazakhstan. Attitude toward the FL, teacher's friendliness, strictness and frequency of use of the FL, attitude toward the teacher, participant's age and FL exam result explained a total of 25% of variance in FLE. Differing slightly from previous studies, FLCA was found to be only weakly predicted (6% of variance) by some learner-internal variables (FL exam result, attitude toward the FL) as well as teacher-centred variables (friendliness, strictness). The findings suggest that variation in FLE and FLCA among Kazakh learners of Turkish is quite similar to that established in other contexts.

Automated summary

The present study examines foreign language enjoyment and foreign language classroom anxiety among Turkish learners in Kazakhstan. The findings show that the levels of foreign language enjoyment and classroom anxiety are similar to those in previous studies. Interestingly, there is a weak positive correlation between foreign language enjoyment and classroom anxiety, and male participants report higher levels of anxiety. Factors such as attitude towards Turkish, teacher-related variables, age, and exam results significantly predict foreign language enjoyment and classroom anxiety. These findings suggest that Kazakh learners of Turkish experience similar levels of enjoyment and anxiety as learners in other contexts.