Language Learner Belief In Language Learning

Everyone holds many different individual beliefs about the world which can be conceived as a network of concepts (nodes) and relationship (links) that sometimes becomes stronger or weaker than other people depending on the quality of underlying evidence and strength of the links (Shute, Jeong, & Zapata-Rivera, 2017). Likewise, all language learners do hold own beliefs about language learning, and is called learner belief. Learner beliefs may be defined as “student opinions on a variety of issues and controversies related to language learning” (Horwitz, 1988, p. 284) or “opinions and ideas that learners have about the task of learning a second/foreign language” (Barcelos & Kalaja, 2003, p. 1). The importance of learner’s beliefs lies in the

Besides, learners’ beliefs have been identified as an important individual difference variable influencing language learning process and outcomes (Dornyei, 2005), and one of the recognized as reliable and valid measurements to measure L2 learners’ learning belief is Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) developed by Horwitz (1988). BALLI is a 34-item questionnaire divided into five major areas of beliefs: 1) difficulty of language learning, 2) foreign language aptitude, 3) the nature of language learning, 4) learning and communication strategies, and 5) motivations and expectations. Over the years, the BALLI has been widely used to assess learners’ beliefs and proved its reliability (Nikitina & Furuoka, 2006). Yang (1992) investigated 505 ESL students at six Taiwanese universities to examine beliefs in language learning. The study adopted 34-statement foreign language BALLI and added one open-ended question. Park (1995) also conducted a study with 338 Korean university ESL students regarding L2 learners’ learning beliefs. The questionnaire used in the study contained 27 ESL BALLI statements with 10 additional statements added by the researcher. Finally, Truitt (1995) employed 34-statement foreign language belief BALLI with additional open ended questions, and conducted a study with

Other studies have moved beyond simply describing and classifying beliefs, considering the relationship between learner beliefs and learner behaviors such as motivation (Cotterall, 1999; Dornyei, 1994), self-regulation (Wenden, 1999), and strategy use (Yang, 1999). Thus, learner beliefs, along with different factors such as language aptitude and motivation, are considered as key elements contributing to individual learner difference in L2 learning (Tanaka & Ellis, 2003). A recent study of Ren and Bai (2016) used BALLI to examine the relationship between learning belief and language achievement of 100 English major university students in China. The BALLI and achievement paper test was given to the participants, and interview from random 12 participants with different proficiency followed. The study revealed that L2 learners generally hold strong learning beliefs, and these beliefs showed positive relationship with L2 learners’ language achievement where participants with stronger belief showed higher scores in the achievement test. Another study of Li (2010) also examined FL learning belief to strategy use among 214 random second-year English major students from four vocational and technology colleges in Jiangxi. Modified version of BALLI