Teaching the anxiety of learning a foreign language that influences high school students in learning French as a second foreign language “The case of Denizli”

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the reasons of anxiety levels of high school students who learn Frenchas a second foreign language. The sample of the study consisted of four hundred fifty-six students from two highschools in Denizli province in 2015–2016 academic year. In this study, the effects of variables such as learners’gender, class level, parents’ educational background and occupation on the level of foreign language anxiety areexamined. The results revealed that learners’ anxiety levels are not affected by abovementioned factors.However, it was found that medium- and low-level of anxiety have a positive impact on the student’s learningprocesses. It was observed that anxiety levels of secondary school students influenced their academicperformance. In conclusion, it was found in line with the literature that, depending on the level, anxiety has bothpositive and negative effects upon foreign language learning/teaching processes.