A Study On Language Learning Beliefs Of Non-english Majors In An Independent College

From1970s, the importance of individual differences of language learnershas been realized by most of researchers in the learning and teaching process.Learners’ belief, as one of the individual differences, plays a crucial role and hasa direct impact on learning behaviors and achievements in the process oflanguage learning. Therefore, it is essential to understand the whole condition oflanguage learning beliefs.This research, based on relevant studies on LLB carried out at home andabroad, adopted quantitative methods to investigate language learning beliefs of243non-English major sophomore students enrolled in Science and TechnologyCollege of Jiangxi Normal University. All of the subjects had taken part in thenational English proficiency test (CET-4) and Language Learning BeliefQuestionnaire developed by Liu&Dai (2003). This research was conducted tofind out the general beliefs of language learning held by the students ofnon-English major in independent college. It also attempted to distinguish thedifferences in the beliefs of language learning between male and female, betweenhigh achievers and low achievers.The study revealed a number of major findings regarding students’ languagelearning beliefs. First, the results showed that the sophomores of non-Englishmajors in the independent college generally held relatively positive beliefs ofself-management and language learning strategy; most of the students owned arelatively weak sense of self-efficacy about language studying. On the whole, theyhad stronger instrumental motivation than integrative motivations. Secondly, thefindings showed that male and female students had significant differences inself-management belief and language learning strategy belief. Finally, the study alsoascertained the significant differences of language learning beliefs between high-achievers and low-achievers.Based on the above findings, several pedagogical implications have been putforward. Firstly, teachers should know language learning beliefs held by thesestudents thoroughly, and adjust the teaching method to suit the students’ languagelearning developing. Secondly, teachers should try to help students build correct andpositive beliefs, which will lead to effective learning and minimize negative andincorrect beliefs. Thirdly, the language teachers should help their students build theirconfidence and a positive self-image. Fourthly, teachers should convince learners tounderstand the significance of cultural knowledge and combine language instructionwith culture teaching in their teaching process. Lastly, since females and males,high-achievers and low-achievers hold different beliefs on language learning, teachersshould treat their students differently in the process of language teaching. Only in thisway can both language learning and teaching be improved.