Learners’ beliefs about English language learning

Abstract

This study explored the beliefs about English language learning demonstrated by Korean-speaking college students while sojourning in the United States. Adopting a contextual approach to learner beliefs, the study further examined the nature of changes in sojourners’ beliefs and what aspects of study abroad were related to such changes. To this end, the study drew on the participants’ accounts of their second language (L2) experiences in connection with different aspects of study abroad through episodic narrative interviews. A thematic analysis of the interview data suggests that sojourners’ beliefs about language learning are reminiscent of societal ideological structures and school or familial influences. During the sojourn, learner beliefs about L2 learning were reshaped by interactions with co-nationals and members of the host community as micro-level resources situated in the meso-level host program. Sojourners further demonstrated changes in their broad perspectives on what constitutes an in situ form of bilingualism in the sending and host countries.