YABANCI DİL BENLİĞİNİN YORDAYICILARI OLARAK, BAŞARI, ÖĞRENİLMİŞ ÇARESİZLİK VE KAYGI

Abstract

This study, conducted during the 2023-2024 academic year, aims to investigate the relationships among achievement, learned helplessness, anxiety, and foreign language self in university preparatory class students in Ankara. The sample group of study consisted of students actively enrolled in preparatory classes in Ankara during the 2023-2024 academic year. Based on URAP (University Ranking by Academic Performance) 2023 data, six out of sixteen universities offering preparatory education in Ankara were selected using random sampling, and a total of 1,015 students were included in the study. Data were collected through a scale comprising questions measuring learned helplessness, anxiety, and foreign language self. The results of the research revealed that success in learning English, learned helplessness, and anxiety have significant impacts on the perception of foreign language self. Learned helplessness negatively and significantly affects students’ perceptions of their ideal self, while anxiety negatively increases the perception of their ought-to self. In the group of unsucessful students, the relationships between achievement and self-concept were weakened, and significant effects disappeared. Analyses with the multiple-group structural equation model demonstrated that the interaction of these variables differs between successful and unsuccessful students. In the unsuccessful student group, the effects of learned helplessness and foreign language anxiety on achievement were found to be more pronounced. This research highlights the role of affective factors in shaping the foreign language self-concepts of preparatory class students. The findings underscore the importance of considering affective factors as a key strategy in foreign language teaching.