An Examination of Immigrant Primary School Students Target Language Listening and Reading Anxiety

This study examined the Target Language Listening Anxiety (TLLA) and Target Language Reading Anxiety (TLRA) of immigrant primary school students in Türkiye. The primary objective was to modify two instruments, initially developed to assess reading and listening anxiety in the target language among adult learners, for use with immigrant primary school students, addressing a gap in receptive skills measurement. The second was to analyse the students’ TLLA and TLRA levels based on gender, grade level, and native language alphabet, and to examine predictive influence of TLLA on TLRA. In line with these two research purposes, the study was conducted in two phases. In Study 1, after assessing content validity, construct validity of the scales was ensured using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were conducted on distinct groups, with samples of 132 and 219 immigrant students, respectively. Participants were selected through convenience sampling from foreign students enrolled in private and public schools during 2022-2024. In Study 2, the analyses utilized data from the sample group employed for confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Independent sample t-test was conducted to examine the differences in means between TLLA and TLRA with respect to gender. Additionally, one-way ANOVA was employed to compare the means of TLLA and TLRA across different grade levels and native language alphabets. Furthermore, simple linear regression analysis was utilized to determine whether the TLLA of immigrant primary school students serves as a significant predictor of their TLRA. The findings revealed that immigrant primary students exhibited moderate-high anxiety in TLLA and TLRA. No significant differences in TLLA emerged across gender, grade level, or native language alphabet. TLRA was consistent across grades and native alphabets but differed by gender. Furthermore, TLLA emerged as a significant predictor of TLRA. This study may provide valuable insights for researchers, administrators, and educators into immigrant primary school students’ listening and reading anxiety, and can pave the way for further scholarly inquiry, offering measurement tools to identify receptive language-related anxiety affecting target language comprehension and acculturation.