PDF《Teachers of English》

International Journal of English Language Education ISSN 2325-0887 2016, Vol.

4, No.

2 www.macrothink.org/ijele

117 A Study of Linguistic Insecurity among Turkish Teachers of English Giti Ehtesham Daftari Institute of Educational Sciences, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey Tel: 90-537-054-6485 E-mail: [email protected] Received: June 13,

2016 Accepted: August 6,

2016 Published: August 12,

2016 doi:10.5296/ijele.v4i2.9874 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/ijele.v4i2.9874 Abstract This study was designed in order to investigate some aspects of the linguistic insecurity of Turkish EFL teachers and its possible sources. In the light of these aims, the study was conducted with

152 Turkish teachers at different language institutes during fall semester of 2015-2016 academic year. The study was conducted in a twelve week period and the data were collected through a questionnaire. Although the results revealed that Turkish EFL teachers experienced a low level of linguistic insecurity in their classrooms, it was found that teaching pronunciation, low level of target language proficiency and low level of knowledge on culture of target language are linguistic insecurity provoking factors. Keywords: linguistic insecurity, Turkish EFL teachers, questionnaire, linguistic insecurity provoking factors International Journal of English Language Education ISSN 2325-0887 2016, Vol. 4, No.

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118 1. Introduction The growing importance of English language and thereupon, the increasing number of English language learners necessitate the presence of prepared and educated EFL teachers. It is an undeniable fact that the number of non-native English-speaking teachers is steadily increasing all over the world and the number of non-native English-speaking teachers overwhelms native English-speaking teachers. In the field of English language teaching (ELT), a growing number of teachers are not native speakers of English (Maum, 2002, p.1). On the other hand, non-native speakers of a language are frequently confronted with negative feelings which stem from socio-cultural, racial and socioeconomic differences between them and the native speakers of that language. These feelings can affect the non-native speakers'

self-perception and cause linguistic insecurity. In case of language teachers, lack of self-confidence and linguistic insecurity can disturb the learning process to a high degree. Teachers must constantly look at how their personal beliefs and possible biases affect their ability to create the most effective environment for their students to learn and comprehend content. In the other words, teachers'

gender, culture, religion, mother tongue and many other factors can influence the final outcome of their teaching (Fraser, 2014). As the study of linguistic insecurity in case of non-native English teachers has started very recently, review of the literature reveals that no research studies have been conducted with the aim of investigating Turkish EFL teachers'

linguistic insecurity. The aim of this study is to examine some issues related to the linguistic insecurity among Turkish teachers of English and its possible sources. The present study will be guided by the following research question: 1. Which factors can affect linguistic insecurity of Turkish teachers of English? 2. Literature Review The anxiety or lack of confidence experienced by speakers and writers, who believe that their use of language does not conform to the principles and practices of standard language, is called linguistic insecurity. Bucci and Baxter (1984) define linguistic insecurity as the negative self-image of a speaker regarding his or her own speech variety or language. It might happen if the speaker compares his or her phonetic and syntactic characteristics of speech with those characteristics of what is perceived to be the correct form of the spoken language. Moreau (1994) defines linguistic insecurity in the frame of dominant and dominated languages in a particular society. She believes it is through the relations of subgroups to the dominant group that language becomes richer and more complex as people within the minority subgroups oppose themselves to the dominant culture. The study of linguistic insecurity is relatively recent since its emergence in 1960. The psychology specialists were the first to study the concept of linguistic consciousness among the French-English bilinguists in Canada in the 1960s. Canadian psychologists and linguists International Journal of English Language Education ISSN 2325-0887 2016, Vol. 4, No.