An analysis of prospective teachers' anxiety about listening and speaking, the expression of their emotions, and their communication skills

In order to establish effective communication in an educational environment, teachers are expected to be individuals with developed communication skills who can express their thoughts and feelings without being carried away by negative emotions such as anxiety. In this context, the purpose of the research is to determine the relationships between the listening anxiety, speaking anxiety, emotional expression levels and communication skill levels of prospective teachers who continue their university education. The study, which employed a relational screening model in which the relationships between the variables and their sub-dimensions in question were determined, included 427 participants from different branches. As a result of Pearson Correlation, Multiple Linear Regression, Mann Whitney U, One-Way ANOVA and Kruskall Wallis analyses, it was determined that female participants had higher levels of speaking anxiety and its sub-dimension environmentally focused anxiety, as well as emotion expression and its sub-dimensions emotional expressiveness and impulse strength, than males; and the predicted variable of the study, communication skill and its sub-dimension competence, and the level of concealment of emotion expression, were higher in favor of males. There was a moderately negative correlation between speaking anxiety and its sub-dimensions speaker-focused anxiety, environment-focused anxiety, speech psychology levels, listening anxiety level and the communication skill sub-dimension competence level; A moderate positive correlation was found between the level of disability and the level of anxiety. Another result indicated that the levels of speaker-focused anxiety, environmental anxiety, and speaking psychology, as well as listening anxiety, within the sub-dimensions of speaking anxiety, together influenced the levels of competence and disability, and although the disclosure rate was limited, valuing and body language levels within the sub-dimensions of communication skills. It is believed that prospective teachers should be guided through their education by educational content that supports the prevention or reduction of anxiety and enhances their self-confidence. They should also be directed to internships and volunteer projects that provide them with community communication experience.