PDF《Teachers of English》

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119 focused on psychological features more than linguistic aspects. It is important to note that these studies attest to the linguistic insecurity even though they do not use the term. Labov set the stage for other scholars to go further and study several aspects of linguistic insecurity in psychological, sociolinguistic and educational fields. Linguistic insecurity is linked to the perception of speech styles in any community, and according to Labov (1966) it may vary based on socioeconomic class and gender. It is also especially pertinent in multilingual societies. Although the term linguistic insecurity may be felt as somewhat inadequate in order to refer to a process of evaluation of linguistic prestige, it would be justified by the consequences it has among speakers. Thus, hypercorrection, doubt, nervousness, self-correction, erroneous perception of one'

s own speech pattern, or an important fluctuation between different speech styles have been associated with the language usage of insecure individuals (Labov, 2006). Owens and Baker (1984) used the CILI (Canadian Index of Linguistic Insecurity) and ILI (Index of Linguistic Insecurity) test to conclude that women are more linguistically insecure than men. Out of a sampling data of

80 participants,

42 of which were female, women scored higher on the ILI and the CILI, a result which indicates high manifest linguistic insecurity. These findings are consistent with Labov'

s original New York study and lead to the conclusion by Owens and Baker that women display more linguistic insecurity than men. While the linguistic insecurity of speakers of a language is mostly related to their pronunciation, in the case of non-native teachers it is referred to the feeling of insecurity when teaching grammar, vocabulary and also pronunciation. Individuals may have preferences about teaching particular skills or components but obviously they seem to feel unsafe when teaching special skills or components if they feel linguistically insecure about that part. The emphasis on native speaking teachers'

correctness, whatever its source, seems to have the effect of arousing feelings of linguistic insecurity among non-native speaking teachers. For non-native teachers of English, it means their acceptance of the negative stereotyping of their English by the native speaking community, regardless of the fact the kind of English spoken between its native speakers, is not appropriate to most non-native speaking communities (Jenkins, 2004). According to Gagliardi and Maley (2010), almost 98% of Italian foreign language teachers are native Italian speakers who often describe their linguistic insecurity in the foreign language they teach as the major professional weakness affecting the development of their professional identity. As non-natives, they experience the uneasiness of teaching a language whose cultures they have seldom been extensively exposed to. It is not only the case with Italian foreign language teachers, but also with teachers in other countries. Most of foreign language teachers in each country seem to be native speakers of that country and the feeling of linguistic insecurity is common to all non-native teachers of foreign languages. Medgyes (1992) points out that NNESTs usually feel unsafe using the language they have to International Journal of English Language Education ISSN 2325-0887 2016, Vol. 4, No.

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120 teach. Due to this fear, they tend to adopt two kinds of attitudes: pessimistic or aggressive. Both of these feelings are deterrent and can disturb teaching process. To recognize and investigate the main sources of feeling high level of linguistic insecurity was the initial motivation of the researcher to conduct this research study. Linguistic insecurity of teachers with different nationalities may be affected by different factors. A review of the literature reveals that no research studies have been conducted dealing with the sources of linguistic insecurity in the case of Turkish EFL teachers. The present research study deals with some aspects that are expected to be influencing Turkish teachers'