Abstract :
The present study aims to identify German Language Teaching (GLT) students’ profiles, their self- reported difficulty levels in using language skills and their attitudes towards German. Considering the fact that in successful language teaching as well as the course material, method, and the learning environment, students’ attitudes are also determinant. Therefore, the study investigates students’ perceived difficulty levels and their attitudes towards the use of German. A questionnaire is conducted on 160 students studying their first, second, third, and fourth years in the GLT Department. The questionnaire consists of three sections. In the first part demographic information such as age, gender, year of study, starting age of learning German, place of learning the second language, other known languages, and language levels were inquired. In the second part, students were asked to self-report the difficulty levels in using the language skills in German. Finally, in the last part students were asked to indicate their attitudes towards German via a 25-item Likert type questionnaire. The data gathered from student opinions were analyzed through multiple comparisons and with statistical methods such as t-test. In the study, the students’ attitudes towards German and the language skills that are identified as difficult is compared with various variables and presented in a detailed way. The results gathered from the study indicates that students have the most difficulty in speaking, vocabulary, audio-visual comprehension in daily speech and speaking (monologue and dialogue) and vocabulary in academic language skills. In addition, the results also show that as the students’ year of study increases their perceived difficulty in the mentioned skills also increase. Moreover, although the students’ attitudes towards German were positive they show a tendency to decrease as the students move to upper classes.
NaturalLanguageKeyword :
German teaching , learner attitudes towards German , skills in German , learning German in Turkey.
