Luận văn ethnic minority students' beliefs about english language learning a survey at sam son pre university school

LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: Types of leamer beliefs based an Benson and Lor, 1999 Table 2.1: Beliefs about the difficulty of language leaming, Table 2.2: Beliefs on foreign language aptitu

TRAN THI PHUONG HOA

Ethnic minority students’ belicfs about English language

learning — A survey at Sam Son pre-university school

(Khao sat niềm tin trong việc học Tiếng Anh của học sinh dân tộc

thiểu số tại Trường Dự bị Dại học Dân tộc Sầm Sơn)

M.A MIXOR THESIS

Field: Methodology

Cede: 60.14.10

Hanoi, 2011

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1: Types of leamer beliefs (based an Benson and Lor, 1999) Table 2.1: Beliefs about the difficulty of language leaming,

Table 2.2: Beliefs on foreign language aptitude

‘Table 2.3: Belisfs on the nature of language learning

Table 3.4: Learning and communication stralegios

Table 2.5: Motivations and expectations for language leaming

Aims and objectives

Methods of the study

PART Il- DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Students’ beliefs and language learning

LLL What is belief?

1.1.2 Reliefs about lanyuuge learning

1.13, Nature and origin of beliefs

1.14, Types of learner beliefs

LLS, The saurces of learners’ beliefs

1.1.6 The situated and dynumic nature of learner beliefs

LL? The relationship between beliefs and learning

1.2 Previous studies on learner’ s beltefs

1.3 The relationship between learner beliefs und language learning strategies 1.4, Summary

CHAPTER 0: DATA COLLECTION AND DATA ANALYSIS

2.1, Context of the sturly

241, The school context

2.1.2, Participants

2.2, Data collection of survey questionnaire

2.3 Data analysis of survey questionnaire

25.1, Beliefs about the difficutty of language learning

2.3.2 Reliefs on foreign language uplituie

2.3.3, Beliefs on the nature of language learning

2.3.4, Learning and communication strategies

2.3.5 Motivations and expectations for language learning

2.4 Summary

CHAPTER III: MAJOR FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Major findings

3.1.1 Research Question I: What ure the beliefs about languaye learning

held by ethnic students at Sam Son pre-university school?

3.1.2, Research Question 2: How da these beliefs affect their language learning?

3.2 Pedagogical implications

3.2.1, Implications

3.2.2, Limitations of the study

PART II CONCLUSION

1 Summary of the findings

Sam Son ethnic pre-university is the place that has a duty of training the ethnic students lo propars for them to enter the university level The studeuts come from 7 provinces in the north of the middle area in Vietnam: Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha

‘Tinh, Quang Bình Quang Trí and Llue As for ethnic English leamers in our school, especially im this period, English has just become the major subjccl in uaining elmic students but the poor conditions for teaching and Ivaming together with the extreme weakness of basic common knowledge of the leamers, difficulties seem to multiply ‘Thus, understanding the thought of ellmic students is necessary lo all the teachers in these special

schools

We can sce that there is an importanil change in rescarch about language iustruction The focus gradually shitted from teacher centered to student centered with special attention for the students” perspective and individual differences among learners As a result,

learners’ belic&s have attracted much attention among linguists in recent decades

As indicatod by Chastain (1988), students arrive al their language class hearing a number of preconceptions that affvet their attitude and pertormance in the class, These pre- existing conceptions have to do with the speakers’ previons experience, with ths actual language classes, with the teacher, with langunge teaming ability and also with complex set of attitudes and expectations that Janguage leamers bring to the classroom These opinions may facilitate leaming or inhibit it In short, a central role is attributed to learner belicfs For cxample, Richards and Lockhart (1994) put forward that leamers’ belicf can

Considering their influence on many aspects of learning, the beliefš of learners need to be investigated in depth before the classroom procedures, activities and tasks are

Inspired by Horwitz (1985, 1987, 1988), many

Ellis (1994) and Hutchinson (1987) have investigated the roles of teachers and leamers m language learning and stated that leamers, as well as teachers, have their own attitudes and beliefs which are likely to influence the way they set their roles and within these roles, bolicf and attitudes decply influcnee the whole educational process, Thus, on the basis of these claims and findings, the main concer of this study hopes to expand previous understandings, Ta be more specific, this study surveyed the beliefs about Fnglish language learning held by Victnamesc students of ctlnic minority groups who were studying at Sam Son pre-university school

2 Aims and objectives

The aim of this study was to find out what belief about language leaming ethnic students at Sam Son ethnic pre-university school have and analyze their beliefs and locate ther wilhin a laxonomy of language learning betiels using the BALLI survey instrament This study is conducted with the hope to find out the effect of their belief on their potential impact on language learning and teaching in general, as well as in more specific arcas such as the learners? oxp

onlalions and stratggics used An additional purposo was lo discover whether the students’ motivation and enthusiasm for language leaming and reported expectations could be linked to their positive beli

3 Scope of the study

The aims of the study confine it to a small-scale questionnaire survey with a small number of 150 students in ethnic pre-university in Sam Son, ‘Thanh Hoa ‘The study is therefore descriptive rather tum exptoralory and oxplanatory

4, Methods of the study

The study uses a combination of various methods to achieve its objectives such as

descriptive and comparative However, in this study, [ mainly use survey method with the

help of an adapted version of a popular self-administered questionnaire, Lorwitz’s (1987) Relics Abou! Language Leaming Inventory (BALL) The instrument is not a test, thus il does not provide overall scores but measures participants’ opimons and attitudes towards

‘various second language learning beliefs,

5, Research questions

Mote specifically, this study focuses on the following research questions

1 What are the beliefs about language leaming held by ethnic students at Sam Son pre- university school?

2 Llow do these beliefs affzct their language learning?

6 Overview of the study

‘The study consists of three parts: Introduction, Development and Conetusion

Part 1; ‘The Introduction provides an overview of the study including the rationale, aims and objectives of the study, scope of the study, methodology, tesearch questions and the design of the study

Part 2; The major part of the thesis is divided into 3 chapters,

Chapter 1: Reviews theoretical background of students’ belicfs and language lcarning

Chapter 3: Prosonts the major findings and the discussion bascd on the findings

Part 3: The conclusion presents the brief summary of the findings and limitations and suggestions for further study

7 Summary

In this chapter [ have outlined the reasons for conducting this study as well as its aims, objectives, and scope ‘I'he research questions and research methods that were employed for the study are also inlreduecd, Part B, which follows, will begin with the

literature review.

In this chapter, the relevant literature om language leamer beliefs will be reviewed

It will begin with the definition of beliefs and beliefs about language learning, the origin and types of language Icamning belicf Finally, previous studics on language learners’ beliefs will be reviewed

1.1 Students’ beliefs and language learning

LLL What is belief?

Language learning beliets have been defined differently by different researchers

For example, beliefs are defined as:

- mini theories (Ilosenfeld, 1978)

- insights (Omaggio, 1978)

- culture of leaming (Contazm & Jin, 1996)

- learner assumptions (Riley, 1980)

- implicit theontes (Clark, 1988)

- self-constructed representational systems (Rust, 1994)

- conceptions of leaming (Benson & Lor, 1999)

In general term Uclicls has been defined as “an altitude, opimion and viewpoint which attends in every discipline of human behavier to say that something is true or right and vice versa” (Ehilich, S 121-446, 2008) In academic definition it can be stated as “a leamers’ viewpoint, judgment or opinion about the influence of their learning in their future success” (Neda Fatehi, R 16, 2009) In other words it means that what would be sludents’ feelings about whal they Jean as a foreign students and how iL helps them to achieve better proficiency in English For many years researchers have attempt to examine all aspects of English language learning efivets Finally, they found that each mdividual

student has its own perception and cognition about the strategies that has been used by

teachers

Accorting lo Viciori and Lockhart (1995), beliefs are “general assumptions thal students hold about themselves as learners, about factors influencing language learning, and about the nature of language learning and teaching” (p 224) “This definition is adopted

lo discuss the beliefs about English language loaning held by Ihe participants in the siudy

Recently, there has been mmch empirical evidence that how students leam English

is influenced by their belicfs about sccond language Icaming to help students lcam thc language better

L.L2 Beliefs about language learning

There are many interrelated factors affct the success in language acquisition, Some factors are associated with the social context of the Jeaming, cultural beliefs about tmguags leaming, the slalus of the larget language and the process of language learning itself (Ramirez, 1995), Nunan and Lamb (1996, p 215) point out that the learners’ attitudes towards the target langage, the learning situation, and the roles that they are expected to play within thal loarting situation exert significant, influcnecs on the language learning process Leamer characteristics such as personality traits, leaming style, leaming strategies and attitudes have also heen identified as significant aspects which play a role in

delorminng learning oulcomes (Ramirez, 1995) The term “allilude”, the ecntral focus of

this study, refers to “a set of beliefs that a learner holds about the community and people who speak the target language, about the language, and the learning task itself” (Ramirez,

Although leamer beliefs have been frequently studied and discussed, no consensus hhad yet been reached on an exact definition for the term In this study, learner beliefs are defined in the same way as Horwils, (1988)

them: “preconceived notions (of learners)

about language learning” Such a broader definition is especially useful, because it allows

us to cover the affective as well as the cogmitive aspects of beliefs Since both aspects are closcly related and the affective factor is considered the most powerful one, it scems legitimate to meorporate affective feelings (such as attitude, motivation, anxiety) about

LL3, Nature and origin of beliefs

‘Terms such as knowledge and beliefs are treated differently within the research community, depending om differnt theorctical orientations arly psychological studies into learner perceptions and belief’ about learning “opened a whole new Aladdin's cave of persons* thoughts and feelngs about their leaming” (Thomas & Hami Augustein, 1983,

338) ‘hey eonoluded that belief about leamer capacity and personal models of their own Processes were mor: cont! to understanding the individuals” tsarning performanees than

learning, or epistemonologial beliets, have been investigated with the idea that they are part of the underlying mechanism of metacognition (‘lavell, 1987, Ryan, 1984), form the

building blocks of epistemology (Goldman, 1986), and are a driving force in intellectual

performance Psychologists have begun to acknowledge the pervasive influence of

personal and social epistemologies on academic leaming, thinking, reasoning, and problem

solving (Schommer, 1993), persistence (Dweck & Leggett, 1988), and interpretation of

information (Ryan, 1984, Schommer, 1990)

From this perspeetive, beliefs about language learning arc viewed as a component

of metacognitive knowledge (Flavell, 1987), which include all that individuals understand about themselves as leamers and thinkers, including their goals and needs lavell (1979,

1981) emphasizes the study of metacognilive knowledge in second language learning and

focuses on the person He calls this “person knowledge” Person knowledge 1s knowledge

learners have acquired about how cognitive and affective factors such as learner aptitude, personality, and motivation may influence lcaming In addition, it includes specific knowledge about how the above factors apply in then experience

LIA Types of learner beliefs

In an carly attempt to identify the types of belicfs held by language lcarners,

Horwitz (1987) administered the BALL! to groups of learners Five general areas of beliefs

emerged from the avalysis of the responses Telaling lo

1) the difficulty of language learning,

2) aptitude for language learning,

3) the nature of language learning,

4) leaning and communication strategies,

part-time ailvanced-level class alan Amnerican universily into tlree general categories

1) use of the language (for example, the importance of “leaming in a natural way”),

2) beliefs relating to learning abont the language (for example, the importance of learning

grammar and vocabulary),

3) the importance of personal faclors (Lc beliefs about the feclings thal fieilitale or inhibit leaming, self-concept, and aptitude for learning)

Both of these early studigs, then, identified a very similar set of learner beliets, For example, the learners in both Horwitz’s and Wenden’s studies demonstrated beliefs about the need to study grammar, This dorninant bolic was also reported by Schuly, (2001), who found that both Colombian leamers of English in Colombia and American learners of foreign languages in the US placed great store on explicit grammar study and error

correetion

Later research attempted to classify rather than simply list types of beliefs and to link them to metacognitive knowledge (Wenden, 1999) Benson and Lor (1999), for example, distinguished higher-order “conceptions” and lower-order “beliefs” They defined “conceptions” as “concemed with what the learner thinks the objects and processes

of learning are” whereas beliefs are “what the leamer holds to be true about these objects and processes” (p 464) A number of studies, including that of Benson and Lor, who

investigated Chinese undergraduate students at the University of llong Kong, suggest that

Jeamers hold conceptions about what language is and how io Iam and that these conceptions fall into two broad categories, which can be glossed as “quantitative / analytic” and “qualitative / experiential” ‘Table 1.1 indicates the kinds of beliefs related to cach other It should be noted that these two general conecptions are not nmtually exclusive; leamers can and often do hold a mixed set of beliefs, A number of studies (for example, Tanaka 2004) also suggest a third general conception — “self-efficacy / confidence” in language leaning This conception has morc to do with how learners perceive their ability as language learners and their progress in relation to the particular context in which they are learning

Conception ‘Nature of language Nature of language learning

‘Quantitative / | Leaming an L? is mostly a matter To understand the L2 it must be

analytic of learning grammar miles, translated into ray 1.1

In order lo speak an 1.2 well, iis Memorization is a good way for important to learn vocabulary me to leam an L2

Quahtatve/ |Leamng an L2 involves leaming It is okay to guess if you do not experiential | to listen and speak in the language know a word

To Jean a language you have to If I heard a forcigner of my age pay attention to the way itis used, speaking the L2 I would go up to

that person to practise speaking

Table 1.4: Types of learner beliefs (based on Benson and Lor, 1999)

‘And in this study, I use the classification of Ieamer belisfS proposed by Horwitz (1987) because its is frequently used by other researchers researching language learners”

beliefs im various contexts These calegonies are usshil in desenbing learners’ beliefs

clearly

LS, The sources of learners’ beliefs

An interesting question 1s what determines leamers’ beliefs about language learning Little, Singleton, and Silvins (1984, reported in Little and Singleton, 1990) surveyed random samples of undergraduale ard poslgraduale students of foreign languages

al Trinity College, Dublin They found that “past experience, both of education in gereral and of language learning in particular, played a major rele in shaping attitudes to language learning” (1990, p 14) For example, the students stated that they preferred to lean by production activitios (repeating orally and writing) rather than through receptive activitios involving listening and reading, Little and Singleton clamed that this belief reflected the general nature of the instruction they had experienced (ie was shaped by their

instructional cxpericnees)

Another possibilily is thal belisfs aro cullurally determined Howover, Honwilz (1999) m her review of the research into second language belief’ concluded that there was insufficient evidence to show that leamers’ beliefs varied systematically according to cultural background It is possible, however, that learners” beliefs are more substantially

influenced by general factors such az personality and cognitive style but this remains to be

shown

1.1.6 The situated and dynamic nature of learner beliefs

Leamer beliefs are situation specific and dynamic Kem (1995), for example, roporled changes in the beliefs of 180 studsnis studying first-ycar fevel French al a university in the US over the course of one semester (15 weeks) He administered Iorwitz’s BALLI to the students during the first and last week of the semester Analyzing the responscs of 180 students, Kom reported that 35% to 59% of the responses changed over the 15-week period A significant change was observed in the response to the statement “If you are allowed to make mistakes in the beginning, it will be hard to gel rid

of them later on”, with 37% of the students reporting greater agreement and 15% lesser agreement ‘This suggests that many students had become increasingly conscious of their mistakes and were having difficulty in avoiding them ‘Ihe learners also changed their responses lo the statement “Learning a forcign langunge is mostly amatter of earning alot

of grammar rules”, with 32% showing greater agreement and 20% lesser agreement,

LL?, The relationship between beliefs and learning

Up to now, there have been very few studies of the relationship between learner beliefs and leaming outeomes Abraham and Vann (1987) found some evidence that holicfs might affect leaning ouleemes in a case study of two learners, Gerardo and Pedro Both Jeamets believed that it was important to create situations for using English outside the classroom, to practise as much as possible, and to have errors corrected, Both also believed it important to participate actively in class Gerardo, however, believed that paying conscious attention to grammar was important, while Pedro did not and expressed a strong dislike of meta-language Also, Gerardo thought that it was important to persevere

in communicating or understanding am idea, while Pedro considered topic abandonment the best strategy in some cases Abraham and Vann characterized Gerardo’s philosophy of language learning as “broad” and Pedro's as “narrow” They suggested that this might have

contibuled lo Gerardo’s bellor TOEFL score ($23 versus 473) al tha end of a course of

instruction, Pedro, however, did belter on a Lest of spoken English, which might suggest that different views about language learning result in different kinds of success

11

Park (1995) investigated 332 Korean university El'L students’ beliefs about

language Tearing, their language learning strafogies, and the relationships ammeng their belief’, strategy use, and second language proficiency Park found three variables predicted students TOEFL scores to some extent One was a belief variable (i¢ beliefs about self- efficacy and social interaction) and Iwo were strategy variables Ge independent 2 interactive strategies and metacognitive stratepies), Those leamers who reported having confidence in leaming English and the intention of speaking to others in English tended to

usc English actively, cspocially outside the classroom, and te monitor their progress im English carefully These behaviors were also related to improvement in second language proficiency

Mori (1999) investigated the beliefs of 187 university students enrolled m Japanese

at vations proficisney levels in the US She examined the relationship between cpistemologival belicfs (i.c belicfs about learning in general) and beliefs about language leaming and also the relationship between beliefs and second language achievement, She foundl that strong beliefs in innate ability (ie the ability to learn is inherited and cammot bs improved by effort) and in avoidance of ambiguity (Le the need for single, clear-cut answers) were associated with lower achievement, Leamers who believed that second language learning was easy manifested higher levels of achievement In addition, this study showed thal there were belief differcnees between novices and advanecd learners Advanced learners were less likely to believe in simple, umambiguous knowledge or the existence of absolute, single answers than novice leamers ‘This study also revealed that epistemological beliefs and belics about language leaning were for the most part unrelated In other words, leamer beliefs about language leaming seemed to be task and domain specific

‘Tanaka and Ellis (2003) reported a study of a 15-week study-abroad programme for

Japanese universily sludents, examining changes in the students’ belie aboul language leaming (measured by means of a questionnaire) and in their English proficiency (measured by means of the TOLI'L) ‘he results showed statistically significant changes in the students” beliefs relating to analytic language learning, experiential language learning and cspecially sclf-cfiicacy/confidence during the study-abroad period, Statistically

significant gains in proficiency were also reported However, Pearson’s Product Moment

correlations between the students’ responses to the Belief Questionaire and their TOLL

seores both before and after the study abroad periad were weak and generally statistically non-significant, There was also no relationship between changes in beliefs after a three- month period of study abroad and gains in proficiency

Overall these studies do not show a strong relationship between beliefs and learning

so indircetly by influcneing the kinds of lcaming strategies lcamers employ

1.2 Previous studies on learner’ s beliefs

In the past decades, the body of rescarch literature on languags loaming beliefs has grown greatly, beginning in the 1970s (Papalia, 1978) As these studies have been investigated within various research paradigms (see Barcelos (2003) for a revisw), researchers have recently attempted to classify them, Benson and Lor (1999), for example, organize them according to the enquiry methods employed by investigators, A typical research strategy involves completing an inventory of different belief statements, to which learners indicale their degree of agreement or disagreement (Ilorwity, 1987) Another popular strategy employs interviews and focus group discussions (Wenden, 1986b, 1987)

Kalaja (2003) refers to these approaches as "mainstream" and "alternative." Barcelos,

(3000, 2003), on the other hand, distiyguishes three main approaches: nominative, metacognitive and contextual Below is a review of those studies

Horwitz’s (1987) study is probably the groundbreaking study on second language learners’ beliefs In the past two decades, Horwitz’s (1987) Beliefs About Language Leaming Inventory (BALLD has been extensively used lo investigate among others, the links between beliefs and proficiency (Mantle Bromley, 1995), the impact of culture on beliefs (Cortazzi & Jin, 1996; MeCager, 1993; Horwitz, 1999), that of gender (Siebert, 2003;

znoglu, 2005; Rornat & Lloyd, 2007), the dimensions underlying language

learners’ belicls (Sakui & Guiness, 1999) and strategy use (Yang, 1999) in various

13

countries ‘Ihe extensive research conducted with the inventory shows that beliefs about

Janguage learning are contex! specific (Nikita & Furuka, 2006)

Although Torwit:’s (1987) BALL has been widely used in the research of leamers’ Ianguage learning related beliefs, some authors have raised concerns regarding the validity and reliability of the instrument For the purpose of this study, it is the lack of

multivariate statistical validation and analysis of the loot thal naad lo be discussed In order

to do this, we must examine the origins of the inventory; the instrument was based on the Endings of a brainstorming session hosted by Horwitz, involving 25 language teachers The participants were asked to collect beliefs that leamers often have concering language teaching, Subsequently, Horwitz compiled a list of possible language lcaming belicfs based on the suggestions of the participants, and grouped them under various themes This study based on Tlorwitz’s study, so it also examines the individual items and analyze the

data to find out the lcamers’ beliefs,

While a considerable amount of research has sa far been conducted im the language acquisition area, Wenden (2001) argues that foreign and second language learner beliets,

so far, have been a neglected variable Language educators have long recognized that learners bring to the language classroom a complex web of altitudes, experiences,

expectations, beliefs, and learning strategies (Benson, 2001; Nyikos & Oxford, 1993;

Oxford, 1992) As a result, research reveals that attitudes toward leaming, and the

perecptions and belicfs that determine them, may have a profound influence on learning

behavior (Bandura & Schunk, 1981; Como, 1986; Cotterall, 1995; McCombs, 1984;) and

on learning outcomes (Martin & Ramsden, 1987, van Rossum & Schenk, 1984: Weinert &

Kluwe, 1987) They ars also central Lo [he lemmers overall expcricnee and achievernenis

(Ryan, 1984; Sakui & Gaies, 1999; Schommer, 1990; Weinert & Kluwe 1987)

Furthermore, some note that successful learners develop insights into beliefs about the language learning proc

(Anstey, 1988; Biggs, 1987, Ehrman & Oxtord, 1989, 1990, Oxford, 1990; Zimmerman &

some of which are influenced by students’ previous experiences az language leamers and others thai are shaped by their own cultural backgrounds In her review of representative

studies based on her questionnaire, she further claimed that individual differences such as age, stage of life, leaming style, educational experiences and learning circumstances including instructional lzvels, family, language learning contexts, likely account for as much variation as cultural differences (Horwitz, 1999)

1.3 The relationship between learner beliefs and language learning strategies

One sub-arca of language learners’ belicfs rescarch is the relationship between

beliefs and the use of learning strategies Because beliefs shape the way students lear the

language, il cannot be denied that learner beliefs have an impact on a language leamer’s strategy use This issue has in particular been demonstrated by Yang (1999) and other researchers such as Abraham é& Vann (1987), Horwitz (1987, 1988) and Wenden (1986, 1987) (all as cited by

vang, 1999) Yang cited Pintrich et al (1989, 1990} to illustrate the way in which foaming strategies can be affected by the beliefs of ä lesrner Hbinsieally motivated leamers or learners possessing a high sense of self-efficacy (both motivational beliefs) will make better use of (meta)cognitive leaming strategies, while anxious learners

will automatically have less control over their learning and as a result, their sclcetion of

(meta)oognitive strategies will be less effsctrve The same reasommg can be foundin Lee &

Oxford (2008) Beliefs of the type “learning English is important” (cogmitive belief concerning the value of the targct language) or “I am highly proficient in English”

(motivational belief conceming one’s self-efficacy) have a positive effect on a student’s

English pronunciation is essential and will therefore focus on the formal aspects of Linglish when practicing their pronunciation, by means of repeating the pronunciation of now

words or trying to imitate native speakers as nmuch as possible (Yang, 1999), Consequently, when the self-efficacy beliefs of a leamer are much stronger than those about the value of the target language, he will aulonuatically opt for functional, communicative practice

Already in L988, Horwitz, wa

but Yang (1999) qualifies Horwitz’ observation by stating that the relationship between

convinced Ihat learner beticls can affect strategy us

beliefs and strategies is probably reciprocal I'he selection of learning strategies can thus also have an impact on a leamer’s beliefs Especially functional practice seems to be holpfid in increasing a student's sclf-cfficacy level (Pintrich, 1989, as cited by Yang, 1999), Of course, any type of well-chosen language learning strategy leads to successful

In bricf, rescarch by Yang and others revealed that a strong rdlationship can be observed between leamers’ beliefs and their use of language learning strategies When following Llorwitz’s (1988) and Yang (1999) reasoning, it almost seems as if both

convined about the valus of learning spoken English, that they arc proparsd ta carry out

any type of practice (formal as well as fimotional) Probably, some of these students

absolutcly want to overcome their fear of functional practice, because acquiring proper pronunciation is so amportant to them, and consequently increase their self-efficacy level due to their perseverance Another objection to a strict separation of formal-oral and

fimctional stralegigs on the basis of learner beliefs is related 1 the language learning context EFL students with a very high self-efficacy level may be forced to use mainly formal-oral strategies for training their pronunciation, since in foreign language contexts fewer opportimitics arise for communicative practice

Since beliefs are rooted in the context, it is necessary to study second language Jeamers’ belicfs in a partieular context The following scotion provides bricf information about the context of ‘this study

14, Summary

The literature reviewed in this chapter shows that leamers belief are both situated and dynamic, ie they are context-dependent and change over time and places Thus, the teachers should find out learners belicfs in their own teaching contexts in order to help leamers to be aware of their own beliefs and the need to change the inappropriate beliefs

As mentioned above, there are many researches that carried out in this field, however, they mainly conducted at the junior, senior igh schools and al college level This also encourages us to conduet the present study to investigate the relationship between beliefs about language leaming and the use of learning strategies at Sam Son ethnic pre-university school The following chapter pros

atts the study.

CIIAPTER Hf: DATA COLLECTION AND DATA ANALYSIS

2.1 Context of the study

3.1.1 The scheol context

Ethnic pre-umiversity school is one type of the schools that used to train ethnic sludenis to propare the sufficient knowledge for thon to cntsr the universities The condition for learning here is that: they nmst be ethnic people who live in remote areas such as the mountainous areas, high zones ; these students have to attend the university entrance exam but they do not have enough points to study at that school and the result is can be examined study in the Ethnic pre-universily school English, as a foreign language is one of the compulsory subjects in many levels in the system education in Vietnam It is generally taught in three forty-five minutes’ periods per week in the high sccondary school However, the system of the ethnic pre-university school, English is taught with two different syllabus It depends on the importance of the subject (the main

subject or the subordimale subject) and the head master of that school can decide it is the

main or the subordinals 1 il is the main subject, il is taughl three forty-five riinutos? periods per week as in the high secondary school, If it is the subordinate subject, it is taught two forty-five minntes’ periods per week

The lecture that used to teach in these school is English streamlines Elementary Engtish streambines lecturss are taughl in Vietnam since 1970s, And now it become too old because we have many new lectures that update everyday about the world with new information, new methods to teach However, English streamlines is still suitable for

beginners, expecially the ethnic studenis who have never learnt or lost most of their knowledge to start again, So, after many years teaching this lectus, the Ministry of Education and ‘Iraining is preparing for replacing the lecture to catch up with the demand

‘Teaching and learning Linglish at Sam Son ethnic pre-tniversity is extremely difficult

because sludonls* English level are unequal, Most of the students are nol good al English Some have never learnt English because they leamed French And all of them find it difficult to lear so they spend a little time leaming it For them, English is simply an obligatory subject They learn il mainly for marks, just pass the lesls and the exams, There fore, they seem to be likely passive in leaming, They are likely to become motivated or

demotivated to English learning depending much on the textbook and teachers

2.1.2, Participants

The students’ background

The participants of this study are 150 students that come from five classes (30 students / each olass) ‘hey are both male and female ethnic students aged ftom 18 to 20 of

Students’ living and learning conditions

Beeause the students come from the remote areas, they live in the hostel of the

school Most of the time, they have to concentrate to their leaming so they only go out the

school ong hoi in the moming from 5.30 to 6.00 and lwo hours in the aNemoon from 5.00

to 7.00,

After finishing their lesson in class, they can play football or take part in seme

clubs such as Art club, Skills club They do not allow to cook so they eat in the school’s

canteen

Beside these, the school equipment is not enough ‘I'he tapes or cassette players are nol available for teachers amd students lo use Thoro arc not English clubs far sludenls lo improve or nourish their language skills

The students’ language competence

19

‘They are pure ethnic students, and the major ethnics are Muong, Thai, Katu, ‘Iho, Dao which come fiom Thanh Hoa and Nghe An They usually use their languages to communicate and exchange their ideas They also use Vietnamese in classes or at the public places thus, they seem to have leam two languages af the same time And their

‘Vietnamese are nol quile good

2.2, Data collection of survey questionnaire

The survey is a non-experimental, descriptive research method Surveys can bs uscful when a rescarcher wants to collect data on phenomena that cannot be dircetly observed (such as opinions on library services) Surveys are used extensively in library and

alliludes and characteristics of a wide range of subjects, from

information science lo as:

the quality of user-system interfaces to libvary user reading habits “Experiments are carried out in order to explore the strengths of the relationships between variables” (Nunan,

1992, p 25) Many significant advantages of using questionnaires are indicated by many

rescarchst

such as Tess pressure on informants, not under pressure of interview bias anc analysis of answers is straightforward Sunce the present study is aimed at investigating the beliefs about Linglish language leaming held by a group of students at Sam Son pre- university school, a questionnaire is an appropriate toot to acbicve (he sim

The major advantage of the questionnaire is thal data can be collected from lage number of respondents in a cost-effective way within short petiod of time (Kormos et al.,

2002, p 21) If the respondents are chosen appropriately, the results obtained with the help

of the questionnaires can be goucralived lo the largel papubalion A pre-condition for this is that the questionnaire used must be both valid and reliable For that reason, "Beliefs About Language Leaming Inventory LSL Student Version" (BALLD will be used to find out the

participants’ beliefs about language learning,

The inventory consists of 35 Likerl scale items and two multiple-choice ilerns Likert scale items are written in declarative form, which requires the subjects to indicate their response (Le strongly agree, agree, neither agree not disagree, disagree, or strongly disagree) to a belicf description However the version used in this sludy soticited only four

ina five-point scale; moreover, a four-point scale facilitates a clear analysis of positive and

negative responses, something which ted lo some uncerlainly in interpreting and discussions of the findings in some previous studies

2.3 Data analysis of survey questionnaire

The present study investigated the beliefs of cthnie students al Sam Son pre- university in Thanh Hoa The BALLI questionnaire by Horwitz (1985) asked leamer respondents 1o rate their agreement to 35 items regarding their beliefs on a Likert-scale from 1 (strong disagrec) to 5 (strongly agree) The BALLI questionnaire determined the participants’ beliefs concerning five areas of language leaming; the difficulty of language, foreign language aptitude, the nalure of language learning and cormmumication strategies, motivation and expectations However, in this study, we only use 4 scale (1-4) and we also find out the information in five areas as mentioned above

Horwitz (1985) grouped the items according to the following categories:

1 The difficulty of leaning a foreign language: Items 3, 4, 15, 25, 33

2 Aptitude for language learning: Items 1, 2, 6, 10, 11, 16, 19, 30, 32

3 The nature of language leaming process: Items 8, 12, 17, 23, 27, 28, 34

4 Learning und communication strategies: Terms 7, 9, 13, 14, 18, 21, 22, 26

5 Motivations and expectations for language leaming: Items 5, 20, 24, 29, 31, 35

2.3.1 Reliefs about the difficulty of language learning

BATL1 items in the difficulty of language learning category are mostly concerned with the perecptions of students on the forcign language they leam The cuxrent study supports the findings of several other studies in the field arguing that there is an hierarchy

of language leaming difficulty (Torwity, 1987; Altan, 2006)

BATLI items 3, 4, 15, 25, and 33 concern the general difficulty of leaming a forcign language and the specific difficulty of the sindeuls’ particular targel language Items 25 and 33 asserts the relative difficulty of different Ianguage skills and item 15 surveys student expectations of the length of time it takes to leam a foreign language

Responses to these items are reported in Table 2.1.

15 | 1fsomcone spent 1 hr/day leamung a languagc,how | 21 | 56 | 60 | 13

long would it take them to speak the language very | 14% | 3739| 40% | 8.7% well?

25 | TL is casicr Io spoak than understimd a forcign| 14 | 59 | 59 | 18

33 | Tis casicr lo read and write English than lo speak 17 | 68 | 58 | 6

Table 2.1: Beliefs about the difficulty of language learning

Related to the difficulty of language Icaming, item 3, some languages arc casicr to leam than others, as seen clearly in table 2.1, 64% (14 % completely agree and 50% agree)

of students agree that some languages are easier to leam than others And 36% (34.7% disagree and 1.3% completely disagree) disagree with the belief that some languages arc easier to leam than others These answers indicate that the students can have very different assessments of the difficulty of the task they face

74% of the students believe that the language they are trying to leam is a difficult language Cilern 4), while 10% find iL a very difficult language, and 15.3% find it as ar

Additionally, 51.3% of the respondents disagreed with item 25, and believed that speaking a foreign language is not easier than understanding it, while 48,7% agreed Finally, in rasponse to item 33, “it is casior to read and writs English than to speak and

understand it,” 57.3% of the students found reading and writing easier than speaking and understanding iL, 38.7% of them disagreed with this idea and only 4 % compleicly

for achicvement in language learning The answers were presented in Table 2.2 below

10 | Tis easier for someone who already speaks a 3 72 | 4 13

foreign language to leam another one 147% 48% | 28.7% 8.7%

11 | People who are good at Maths or science are not | 8 6 6 ó8

good at leaming foreign languages 53% 49 | 45.3% 45.3%

16 | Thave a special ability for leaming foreign 4 14 | 106 26

Tahle 3 : Beliefs on foreign language aptitide

As seen from the lable 2.2 above, with reference to age in BALL] item 1, a great

majonity of the students (92,7%) agreed thal il was easier for children than adulis ta learn a