A Study Of Learners' Beliefs About English Learning

Since the 1970s', the trend in second language learning research has been shifted from the exploration of optimal teaching method to the investigation of multiple individual learner variables involved in language learning. This is known as individual differences (IDs) research. Among learner variables, learners' beliefs have a profound influence on learning behaviors and then learning outcomes. So it is necessary for learners to reflect on their own language learning beliefs.A total of 188 junior middle-school students from two schools (Longyan Senior Middle School and Longyan Xiaochi Middle School) participated in the study. Mainly based on Horwitz's study on language learning beliefs and her BALLI (The Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory), the author designed an inventory of 32 items and by using the Likert five-point scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) during class time assessed the students' beliefs about English learning in five major aspects: the difficulty of language learning, foreign language aptitude, the nature of language learning, learning and communication strategies, and motivations and expectations.The present study was designed to address three questions as follows: (1) What beliefs do the junior middle-school students hold? (2) Do the male and female students have different beliefs concerning English language learning? If the answer is "Yes", what are those beliefs? (3) Do the students from the city and those from the countryside have different beliefs concerning English language learning? If the answer is "Yes", what are those beliefs?After the data analysis entailing descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis and T-test, several substantial findings came to light. (1) Chinese junior middle-school students hold positive as well as negative language learning beliefs. That some subjects' responses to the items were neutral indicates that their beliefs are not so definite. They have quite strong motivation and expectation to learn English though some of them have not enough confidence in their foreign language competence. (2) Chinese junior middle-school students are influenced heavily by the Chinese culture, which resulted in their preferring to traditional teaching approaches. Most of the subjects stressed the importance of grammar rules, and vocabulary. (3) The students tend to have stronger instrumental motivation than integrative motivation. For example, many students want to perform well in the exams. (4) More and more junior middle-school students are confident about their foreign language aptitude, their choice of learning strategies are more flexible, and they pay more attention to the function and communication of the language. (5) With respect to the comparison of the males and females' beliefs, Independent-sample T test demonstrates the beliefs variations between the two groups. The results indicate that English are more difficult for males than for females to learn; females are much more optimistic about children', females' and the Chinese abilities for learning English; females hold a significantly stronger belief in strategy beliefs than males; females are more motivated than males to learn English; more males endorse the belief that the most important part of learning English is translation. (6) The results reveal that certain belief differences also exist between the students from the city and rural students. Students from the city demonstrate stronger confidence about their English learning aptitude, and their attitudes towards beliefs about learning and communication strategies tend to be positive. Rural students tend to have instrumental motivation, and they are more likely to endorse the importance of translation.In spite of the limitations, for instance, the sample group is not big enough, the survey will shed light on individual learner differences research and English teaching as well. It will help to sensitize both teachers and learners to the importance of language learning beliefs. Moreover, the author also put forth some tentative suggestions for teachers and learners alike in relevance to developing beliefs more conducive to language learning.