A study of Chinese college English majors' beliefs about language learning and their learning strategies

This study sought to investigate the beliefs that Chinese adult learners, specifically college English majors, hold about English language learning and the learning strategies they employ for learning the language. It also investigated the differences between the successful and the unsuccessful learners regarding their beliefs about language learning and their learning strategies. Furthermore, the study attempted to learn the differences between the successful and the unsuccessful learners in their strategy use for specific tasks.;The study revealed that the subjects as a group hold positive as well as negative beliefs about learning a foreign language. In terms of strategy use, it was found that they made fairly frequent use of the learning strategies in the SILL and those brought up in the interview. However, they seemed to underuse certain strategies that could lead to opportunities for naturalistic practice and use of the language. The study also revealed that more successful learners seemed to hold positive beliefs about learning English whereas more unsuccessful learners seemed to hold misconceptions or negative beliefs.;With regard to the differences between the successful and the unsuccessful learners in their strategy use in general and for specific tasks, the findings indicate (a) the successful learners on the whole make more frequent use of learning strategies than the unsuccessful learners; and (b) the successful learners are more able to employ appropriate strategies. Besides, the successful learners are better at comprehending the learning tasks than the unsuccessful learners.;Based on the findings, an exploration of teaching implications was made in four thematic areas: the difficulty of learning English, fluency versus accuracy, American English versus British English, and learning-strategy training. The study concluded with suggestions for further research.;Twenty English majors of Qufu Teacher's University of China were selected for the study. They were requested to (a) complete a questionnaire containing the Beliefs About Language Learning Instrument (BALLI) by Horwitz and the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) by Oxford; (b) participate in a 20-minute interview; and (c) complete a supplementary questionnaire.