On The Relationships Between Learners' Beliefs And Learning Achievements Of Non-English Major Freshmen

Studies on learners'beliefs pioneered by Horwitz and Wenden have yielded insightfulfindings for language teachers and students as well. As a part of metacognitive knowledge,learners'beliefs influence how the learners go about their learning, how much effort theywould invest in language learning, how long they would persist in the learning process, etc.These findings, although insightful and convincing in many cases in the second languagesettings, may not be applicable to a foreign language setting in China. Moreover, relativelyless effort has been made concerning the relationships between learners'beliefs and learningachievements, especially from the perspective of non-English majors. Therefore, it is ofgreater importance to focus the study on non-English majors because they account for a largerpercentage of the English learning group in China. In light of this, an attempt is made toexplore learners'beliefs about English learning from non-English majors and the relationshipsbetween beliefs and English learning achievements.In this study on learners'beliefs about English learning, 120 engineering freshmenparticipated in the survey, and their beliefs about English learning are examined in depth, byusing a modified version of"Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory"(BALLI) proposedby Horwitz. Then the correlations analyses are conducted between the learners'beliefs andEnglish achievements of a placement test for the purpose of finding out how the learners'beliefs are related to English learning achievements.The findings from this tentative study inform us that students are generally optimisticand self-autonomous learners. They harbor the correct beliefs about the nature and difficulty,of English learning that reflected their past learning experience, though with some misconceptions. They believe in the important role of effective learning strategies and selfreliancein the success of English learning. The learners are more integratively motivated andthey showed much interest in the target culture for English learning. The correlations analysesfound that beliefs about difficulty of English and mother tongue transfer are negatively relatedto the learning achievements whereas beliefs about the nature of English and motivations arepositively related to the learning achievements. Learners are also found to harbor somemisconceptions about English learning which are harmful to English learning success.Based on these findings suggestions are made that teachers should help students build upcorrect beliefs that cater to the college English learning, motivate student in a right directionand introduce cultural learning in their teaching process. On the part of the learners, effortsshould be made to negotiate with teachers in order to come to a consensus on English learning.Students should also be aware of their own responsibilities for learning. It is emphasized thatnegotiation and cooperation with each other are of vital importance in the process of Englishteaching and learning.