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- Title
College learner's English learning beliefs in Taiwan EFL context.
- Authors
Wang Weipei; Chee Su
- Abstract
Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages (Wenzao) in Kaohsiung, Taiwan has run the 36-credit General English courses for seven years. Although it has collected information about the students' language proficiency, it has not, until now, collected information about students' beliefs about language learning. This paper reports on a survey of the beliefs about English language learning (ELL) of a group of tertiary level students learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at Wenzao. The survey instrument, the Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) developed by Horwitz (1987), was designed to collect information about students' beliefs in the following areas: language learning aptitude, difficulty of language learning, the nature of language learning, learning and communication strategies, and motivation and expectations. Data were collected from the 38 freshmen attending one of one of Wenzao's 36-credit English program classes. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), a t-test being performed in the analysis of the learners' responses. The findings reveal that survey participants overall have a strong instrumental motivation for learning English and that most of them believe that they will ultimately succeed in speaking it very well. Even so, many of them appeared to have unrealistic expectations, with as many as 37% reporting believing (or strongly believing) that it is possible to become fluent in English in less than one year if you spend one hour a day learning the language. Among the most surprising findings were the fact that as many as 34% reported believing (or strongly believing) that learning English as a foreign language is mostly a matter of translation, and as few as 39% reporting believing (or strongly believing) that learning vocabulary is essential to learning English.
- Subjects
TAIWAN; ENGLISH as a foreign language; ENGLISH language education; CHINESE people; NATIVE language; COLLEGE students; EDUCATION
- Publication
He Puna Korero: Journal of Maori & Pacific Development, 2009, Vol 10, Issue 2, p66
- ISSN
1175-3005
- Publication type
Article