Sources Selected - About Learners' Beliefs in Secondary Language Learning

DB used: Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts

Keywords used: 1. ( (internation*) or (secondary) or (foreign) ) and (language*) and (belie*)

2. ( (secondary language*) or (EFL) ) and (belief*) and (student*)

Both of the articles were found in the "Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts" database. I used the 2 sets of keywords listed above to search the database. While using the 1st set of keywords, I found an article, which has the title "Second Language Learners' Beliefs About Grammar Instruction and Error Correction". This article was used as a source of one of my peers, so I tried to looking into the reference of that article, and find my 1st selection. Then, I used the 2nd set of keywords, and found the 2nd selection of my articles.

1st Source --

Title:

The relationship between EFL learners' beliefs and learning strategy use

Abstract:

How are foreign language/second language learners' beliefs about language learning related to their learning strategy use? The present study addresses this question by investigating the relationship between college EFL (English as a foreign language) students' beliefs about language learning and their use of learning strategies. This study found that language learners' self-efficacy beliefs about learning English were strongly related to their use of all types of learning strategies, especially functional practice strategies. Also, learners' beliefs about the value and nature of learning spoken English were closely linked to their use of formal oral-practice strategies. The results of this study suggested cyclical relationships between learners' beliefs and strategy use. A theoretical construct of learners' beliefs was then proposed and pedagogical implications were discussed.

APA Citation:

Yang, N. (1999). The relationship between EFL learners' beliefs and learning strategy use. System, 27, 515-535

Justification:

There are 3 reasons why I choose this article. First, this article was written by a researcher who got her Ph.D. in US about language learning in 1992, but teaches in the NTU now (my home country), so her study was using the college EFL (English as a foreign language) students in Taiwan as cases. Maybe the result of her study will be useful to a person like me. Second, this article discussed about the relation between learners' beliefs and the learning strategies they use (especially functional practice strategies), that's also close to the article we read in class. Third, she also discussed some theoretical construct of learners' beliefs in this article. That will be useful when we try to understand more about learners' beliefs and the influences of them.

2nd Source --

Title:

University Students' Beliefs and Attitudes regarding Foreign Language Learning in France

Abstract:

This study is based on a survey of 1,305 university students enrolled in English & other foreign-language classes across year levels in four major universities in France. It explores the factors that promote or hinder multilingualism, with special attention to the following questions: What are the beliefs & attitudes of students enrolled in various postsecondary institutions across France toward learning a foreign language? How do these beliefs & attitudes change as students progress from beginning first-year students to upper years? The results suggest that the reasons first-year students typically have for studying a foreign language have more to do with internal factors (e.g., personal attitude) than with external factors (e.g., social value). Moreover, this trend becomes more pronounced with upper-year students whose motivation to learn a foreign language compared with that of first-year students is influenced less by perceived societal beliefs & more by intrinsic reasons. Tables, Figures, Appendixes, References. Adapted from the source document.

APA Citation:

Piquemal, N. (2006). University Students' Beliefs and Attitudes regarding Foreign Language Learning in France. TESL Canada journal, 24(1), 113-133.

Justification:

There are 2 reasons why I choose this article. First, this study was based on the university students taking English or other foreign-language classes. Second, this article discussed not only about the beliefs & attitudes of students, but also about the change of these beliefs and attitudes while they learning.