Evaluating Saudi University Students’ Beliefs about Learning English

Abstract

In this study, beliefs held by Saudi university medical students toward English and how it should be learnt will be elucidated through an experimental study. There is evidence that students bring their previous beliefs, experiences, learning strategies and attitudes to the classroom which are the main drivers for the actions that students perform to learn (Breen, 2001). It has been highlighted that students' beliefs is important, influencing their learning performance, motivation and learning strategies (Lowie et al., 2009;Horwitz, 1985). Results revealed that students reported more positive beliefs with reference to motivation and expectation statement, more negative beliefs with regard to learning and communication strategies and more uncertain responses to foreign language aptitude. Finally, the findings offered several pedagogical implications and recommendations for further research, especially at the university level.

Identification of Language Learning Beliefs Among Saudi EFL Learners

“…The second section of BALLI is related to 'difficulty of language learning' and it has six items to elicit the respondents' perceptions. The highest preference of the cohort of this survey partially confirm the results of Roomy (2015) who reports that Saudi university medical students have ranked it medium high mean value. The lower preference by medical students might be due to the fact that medical students concentrate mainly on their major subjects and English is not their first priority.…”

“…The data generated through the descriptive analyses of the various questionnaire items related to five categories of beliefs as classified in BALLI as perceived by EFL learners has significant implications. The first category is related to 'Foreign Language Aptitude' and the participants of this study state that they have high aptitude for learning a foreign language confirming the findings of Roomy (2015) who also report that Saudi medical undergraduates have also ranked this item the highest in this category. This seems quite a positive indicator that Saudi EFL learners bear high foreign language aptitude which should be exploited by English language teachers to inculcate and sustain high motivation to learn English language.…”

“…The findings also present a factor of great pedagogical significance that the participants of this study have assigned extremely low mean to the item that seeks their response to the supposition that it is easier to read and write English language than to speak and understand it. The same has been reported by Roomy (2015). This trend seems to the result of presence of strong oral tradition among Arab societies in general and Saudi society in particular.…”

“…This seems quite a positive indicator that Saudi EFL learners bear high foreign language aptitude which should be exploited by English language teachers to inculcate and sustain high motivation to learn English language. The second important finding is that the participants of this survey believe that it is easier for children to learn a foreign language as indicated by high mean value supporting the results of Roomy (2015) and Fujiwara (2011). The findings of these studies show that this seems an international belief that it is better to expose learners to the target language in the childhood to maximize their learning possibilities.…”

“…A unanimity of responses has been witnessed with quite low mean among Saudi EFL learners as well as EFL learners from other regions towards the beliefs about women and people who are good at math and science as better foreign language learners. Differences are found in their perceptions towards the belief that some people are born with special ability for foreign language learning: Saudi and Thai EFL learners do not support this belief but Iranian EFL learners assigned higher mean to it (Javid & Al-Malki, 2018;Roomy, 2015;Fujiwara, 2011).…”