A CLIL-based model proposal for a solution to English-speaking anxiety of gastronomy and culinary arts students

Abstract

Proficiency in English is a critical requisite for gastronomy and culinary arts students and professionals seeking to excel in their profession. However, learners frequently encounter challenges such as anxiety, limited self-confidence, insufficient topic knowledge, fear of making errors, and concerns over peer judgment. Therefore, a mixed-methods study was conducted among 111 students enrolled in a gastronomy program at a Turkish state university during the 2023–2024 academic year, adopting an action research methodology to investigate English-speaking anxiety among this student cohort. A two-phase data collection approach was employed: first, a survey was administered to quantify students' anxiety levels while speaking English; subsequently, in-depth interviews were conducted to elicit reasons underlying their apprehensions. Following this exploratory phase, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)-based activities were designed and implemented to address the identified sources of anxiety, accompanied by reflection reports collected from participants after each intervention. These reports, coupled with expert feedback, informed revisions to the activities, allowing for a second measurement of anxiety levels post-intervention. The findings indicated that gastronomy students experienced English language anxiety stemming from perceived competence, fear of judgement, internalized psychological constraints, limited contextual learning, pedagogical and evaluation-based reasons. Notably, prospective female chefs exhibited higher anxiety levels compared to their male counterparts. Furthermore, the results revealed a significant decrease in anxiety levels among participants following the implementation of CLIL-based activities and tasks. These outcomes suggest that a CLIL-integrated gastronomy English course may effectively mitigate learners' anxiety during the learning process.