POOR AND GOOD LEARNERS' LANGUAGE BELIEFS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THEIR LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGY USE

Abstract

This study focuses on exploring poor and good learners’ language beliefs and their language strategy use in an attempt to see whether there is any significant relationship between the poor and good learners. This paper particularly seeks to examine to what extent language beliefs as a construct are reflected in learners’ language behavior, which consequently may provide some pedagogical implications for teachers to benefit in classroom applications. A total of 146 undergraduate subjects were involved in this descriptive study, 86 of whom were classified as “poor” and 60 as “good” Turkish adult learners of English as a foreign language in an intensive language program at undergraduate level. The data were obtained through using two questionnaires, the results of which were analyzed through SPSS version 15. The results demonstrate that good language learners significantly differed from poor learners in certain beliefs including perceptions about pronunciation, possessing special abilities and the nature of language learning. The findings indicate a possible relationship and correlation between learner beliefs and strategy use.

Keywords

• Language learning strategies; language beliefs; poor-good learners

POOR AND GOOD LEARNERS' LANGUAGE BELIEFS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THEIR LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGY USE

Öz

Bu çalışma, zayıf ve iyi öğrenciler arasında kayda değer bir ilişki olup olmadığını saptamak amacıyla, zayıf ve iyi öğrencilerin dil inançlarını ve onların dil stratejisi kullanımlarını keşfetmeye odaklanmaktadır. Bu çalışma özellikle bir kurgu olarak dil inançlarının ne derecede öğrencilerin dil davranışlarına yansıdığını incelemektedir ki bu sonuç olarak öğretmenlere sınıflarında yararlanabilecekleri bazı eğitimsel öneriler sunabilir. Bu betimleyici çalışmaya lisans düzeyinde yoğun bir dil programında İngilizceyi yabancı dil olarak öğrenen toplamda 146 yetişkin Türk lisans öğrencisi katılmıştır ki bunların 86’sı “zayıf” olarak ve 60’ı ise “iyi” olarak sınıflandırılmaktadır. İki anket kullanılarak veri toplanmıştır ve sonuçlar SPSS 15 kullanılarak incelenmiştir. Sonuçlar göstermektedir ki iyi dil öğrencileri zayıf öğrencilerden sesletim, özel yeteneklere sahip olma ve dil öğreniminin doğası gibi algıları da içeren belirli inançlarda anlamlı derecede farklılık göstermiştir. Bu bulgular öğrenci inançları ile strateji kullanımı arasında muhtemel bir ilişkinin ve korelasyonun olduğuna işaret etmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Dil öğrenme stratejileri; dil inançları; zayıf-iyi öğrenciler

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