Revisiting Beliefs about Foreign Language Learning¹

Abstract

Research on the beliefs of American university students about foreign language learning has been limited in three ways: First, students surveyed have generally been drawn only from beginning language classes. Second, research in this area has been conducted almost exclusively with students of French, German, and Spanish, the beliefs of learners of other languages —such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian — have been largely ignored. Third, published studies have focused on the beliefs of learners at only one institution, rather than at a number of institutions; the results of such studies are, therefore, also likely limited by the local conditions of the given institution. This paper presents an investigation of these three issues. The study is based on a survey of over 1,000 learners of 10 different languages at different levels of instruction in three different institutions. Data collected over a three‐year period are analyzed in order to compare the beliefs about language learning reported by learners in the present study with those held by learners in Horwitz's 1988 study, “The Beliefs about Language Learning of Beginning University Students.” Moreover, this paper presents comparisons of the beliefs of learners in their first year of instruction with the beliefs held by learners at other levels, of the beliefs of learners of commonly versus less commonly taught languages, and of the beliefs of learners at a public research institution with the beliefs of learners at small, private liberal arts colleges.

Learners’ Beliefs About Corrective Feedback in the Language Classroom: Perspectives from Two International Contexts

“…First, as observed by Dörnyei (2005), while gender and age can affect one's success in language learning, they are problematic individual differences (ID) in that "they affect every aspect of SLA process, including virtually all the other ID variables" (p. 8). In fact, several researchers (e.g., Bernat & Lloyd, 2007;Rifkin, 2000;Tercanlıoğlu, 2005) have argued that not only gender but other factors such as stage of life, context, personality, intelligence, motivation, anxiety, self-efficacy, and many others, alone or in combination, can affect expressed beliefs. Second, there is currently little research investigating male and female beliefs about language learning, and the results are inconsistent.…”

Reflection of Teacher Cognition in EFL Vocabulary Instructional Practices in Indonesia

“…In addition, they argue that teachers' beliefs are derived from their prior experiences, school practices, educational theory, reading, their individual personalities, and a number of other sources (Richards, Gallo & Renandya, 2001). Moreover, Rifkin (2000) explains that teachers' beliefs about the learning/teaching process are "of crucial importance to the success or failure of learners' efforts to master a foreign language" (p. 394). Furthermore, Richards (1998) sees teachers' belief systems as "the information, attitudes, values, expectations, theories, and assumptions about teaching and learning that teachers build up over time and bring with them to the classroom" (p. 66).…”

The Relationship between Iranian EFL Learners’ Beliefs about Language Learning and Their Use of Learning Strategies

“…He noted 'beliefs' influence both the process and product of learning. Rifkin (2000) asserts that learners' beliefs about the learning process are "of critical importance to the success or failure of any student's efforts to master a foreign language" (p. 394). It has also been illuminated through literature that successful learners hold insightful beliefs about the processes of language learning, their own capabilities and the nature of language, conversely, learners may have mistaken or negative beliefs which might lead to less effective strategy use, poor cognitive performance and classroom anxiety (Horwitz, Reid & Hresko, Victori & Lockhart as cited in Bernat, 2007).…”