A Study Of Non-English Majors' Beliefs About Language Learning

Ever since Rubin firstly described the common characteristics of good language learners, people have come to realize that no single method of language teaching would lead learners to success and they have begun to see the importance of individual variation in language learning. Therefore, western researchers attempt to explore various learner variables which are supposed to influence their learning outcomes. This is known as individual differences research. Learners' beliefs about language learning constitute one of the important inquiries in this field.The purpose of the present study is to undertake a comprehensive investigation into non-English majoring students' beliefs along a broad range of dimensions, and to probe the similarities and differences of some high- and low English achievers as well as their gender.The study comprised of two parts: quantitative and qualitative study. The present study was designed to address four questions as follows:1) What is the overall picture of language learning beliefs held by non-English majors?2) Are there any differences between high English achievers and low achievers in terms of principal dimensions of beliefs about language learning? And in what dimensions do the two groups represent a contrast and similarity respectively?3) Are the interview data consistent with the results from the questionnaire on learners' beliefs about language learning? Does interview turn out to be efficient in eliciting students' beliefs about language learning?4) Do learners' beliefs about language learning vary significantly with gender?Through data-analysis and comparison of the results, it comes to the following conclusions:1) Students on the whole possessed positive beliefs about self-management and important language learning strategies, while generally demonstrated negative attitude towards mother-tongue reliance beliefs.2) The result revealed that there existed modest but statically significant differenceson part of high- and low English achievers. The high-achievers demonstrated stronger confidence about their English level. The high-achievers showed high instrumental and integrative motivations for English learning. With respect to cultural learning, high-achievers endorsed it more strongly than low-achievers. On the other hand, the study found that there were a number of instances where low-achievers held similar beliefs with their high achieving peers.3) The qualitative part of the study turned out to be more revealing and constituted an indispensable supplement to the questionnaire data. It confirmed the result of quantitative study concerning the differences and similarities of high- and low-achievers' beliefs. Furthermore, the interview protocols also yielded more detailed information as well as insightful perspective for the maturation of language teaching practices.4) The result indicated that female students had a higher level of motivation and strategy use in language learning. In addition, female students agreed on language aptitude more firmly.