Author :
Abstract
Human learning is a complicated and dynamic process, and it gets cultivated through students’ own mental lives since their perceptions as regards learning makes this process more meaningful. As Jarvis (2006) posits, so as to get into adults’ minds it is of necessity for them to depict their own mental functioning. There seems no other way to comprehend it. Therefore, eliciting learners’ mental images sheds light into their personal identities, which give shape to their learning because each educational context has its own variables and each student possess individual features. Student placed in the centre in new educational trends can take more sound and autonomous steps in their learning process through their clearly-constructed identities. Thus, this study dwells upon the EFL students’ beliefs regarding language learning and their identity construction. The study investigated student beliefs in terms of analytic and experiential learning, and self-efficacy/confidence. 104 EFL students from different departments participated in the study. They were administered a beliefs questionnaire, and then 10 randomly selected students were interviewed in terms of their language identity. The study results indicated that students have inclination to learn the target language through practice, and they depict themselves as a language learner who does not exert so much effort to learn English. The study suggests that students need to know themselves better as a language learner, and develop clearer and sounder identities as regards the foreign language.
Keywords
Abstract
İnsan öğrenmesi karmaşık ve dinamik bir süreçtir, ve öğrencilerin öğrenmeye yönelik algıları bu süreci daha anlamlı yaptığı için onların zihinsel yaşantıları ile beslenir. Jarvis’in de belirttiği gibi, yetişkinlerin zihinlerini incelemek için kendi zihinsel fonksiyonlarını betimlemeleri gereklidir (2006). Bu nedenle, öğrenicilerin zihinsel imajları kişisel kimliklerine de ışık tutar, ki bu da öğrenmelerine şekil verir çünkü her bir eğitim ortamının kendine ait değişkenleri vardır ve her bir öğrenci bireysel farklılar taşır. Yeni eğitim akımlarında merkeze yerleştirilen öğrenci, net bir şekilde oluşturulmuş kimlikleri ile, öğrenme sürecinde daha sağlıklı ve özerk adımlar atabilirler. Bu nedenle, bu çalışma İngilizceyi yabancı dil olarak öğrenen öğrencilerin dil öğrenme inançlarına ve kimlik oluşturmalarına odaklanmaktadır. Çalışmada, öğrenci inançları analitik ve deneyimsel öğrenme ile öz-yeterlik/güven açısından incelenmiştir. Farklı bölümlerden 104 öğrenci bu çalışmaya katılmıştır. İnanç anketi uygulanmış, ardından da 10 öğrenci ile dil kimlikleri açısından sözlü görüşme yapılmıştır. Çalışma sonucunda, öğrencilerin yabancı dili, uygulama yolu ile öğrenmeye eğilimleri olduğu, ve kendilerini İngilizce öğrenmek için çok çaba harcamayan dil öğrencisi olarak betimledikleri bulunmuştur. Çalışmaya göre, öğrenciler dil öğrencisi olarak kendilerini daha iyi tanımalı ve yabancı dile dair daha net ve sağlıklı kimlikler oluşturmalıdır.
Keywords
- Bandura, A. (2006). Adolescent development from an agentic perspective. In Pajares, F. & Urdan, T. (eds.). Self-efficacy beliefs of adolescents. United States of America: Information Age Publishing, Inc.
- Coll, C. & Falsafi, L. (2010). Learner identity. An educational and analytical tool. Revista de Educacion, 353, 211-233.
- Cunningham, P. M. & Cunningham, J. W. (2002). What we know about how to teach phonics. In Farstrup, A. E. & Samuels, S. J. (eds.). What research has to say about reading instruction. International Reading Association.
- Davis, A. (2003). Teachers’ and students’ beliefs regarding aspects of language learning. Evaluation & Research in Education, 17(4), 207-222.
- Dişlen, G. (2010). Students’ and teachers’ perceptions on the relationship between learner autonomy and the psychological well-being in the ELT context. MA Thesis, Adana: Çukurova University.
- Duong, T.H.O & Nguyen, T.H. (2006). Memorization and EFL students’ strategies at university level in Vietnam. Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (TES-EJ), 10(2), 1-21.
- Hirano, E. (2009). Learning difficulty and learner identity: A symbiotic relationship. Oxford ELT Journal, 63(1), 33-41.
- Hood, P. (2007). What do we teachers need to know to enhance our creativity? A report on a pilot project into primary school students’ perceptions of their identities as learners. Education, 36(2), 139-151.
- Jarvis, P. (2006). Towards a Comprehensive Theory of Human Learning. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
- Kearney, E. (2004). Negotiating identity as a beginning foreign language learner. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 20(1), 47-69.
- Kohonen, V. (2006). Experiential language learning: second language learning as cooperative learner education. Anthology by Secretaria de Educacion Publica: Mexico.
- Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. Prentice Hall: New Jersey.
- Kolb, D.A., Boyatzis, R.E. & Mainemelis, C. (1999). Experiential learning theory: previous research and new directions. Case Western Reverse University.
- Krashen, S. (2002). Second language acquisition and second language learning. Pergamon Press Inc.: USA.
- LeFever, M.D. (1995). Learning styles. David C. Cook: United States of America Macdonald, K. (2005). Investigating student beliefs about language learning. Eger Journal of English Studies V. 41-57.
- Marland, P.W. & Edwards, J. (1986). Students’ in-class thinking. Instructional Science, 15(1), 75-88.
- Mertens, D.M. (2005). Research and evaluation in education and psychology: Integrating diversity with quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods. United States of America: SAGE Publications.
- Nakata, Y. (2006). Motivation and experience in foreign language learning. Germany: Peter Lang AG, International Academic Publishers.
- Norton, B. & Toohey, K. (2011). Identity, language learning and social change. Cambridge Journals, Language Teaching, 44 (4), 412-446.
- Rieger, B. (2009). Hungarian University students’ beliefs about language learning: a questionnaire study. WoPaLP, 3, 97-113.
- Rott, G. (2002). The Interplay between cognition, emotion and motivation: a qualitative parameter for higher education in Europe—A contribution by the Fedora Working Group Psyche. Cognition, Motivation and Emotion: Dynamics in the Academic Environment, Fedora Psyche Conference: Lisbon.
- SIL International (1999). The analytical approach to language learning. Retrieved May 26, 2011 from http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/languagelearning/waystoapproachlanguagelearni ng/TheAnalyticalApproachToLanguag.htm
- Tanaka, K. & Ellis, R. (2003). Study-abroad, language proficiency, and learner beliefs about language learning. JALT Journal, 25(1), 63-85.
- Thurlow, M.L, Ysseldyke, J.E. & Christenson, S.L. (1987). Student cognitions: implications for effective instruction of handicapped students. Information Analysis: Instructional Alternatives Project, Minnesota University.
- Wuan, E.H. (2004). Students’ in-class thinking and feeling during mathematics lecture. Conference Paper: Singapore Polytechnic.
- Yoshizawa, A. (2010). Learner identity and construction in EFL context: needs for research area expansion and examination of imagined identities in the imagined communities, Bulletin of Keiwa College 19, 35-43.
