scholarly journals The Relationship between Socioeconomic Status and Beliefs about Language Learning: A Study of Iranian Postgraduate EAP Students

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohsen Ghasemi Ariani ◽  
Narjes Ghafournia
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Beliefs About Language Learning ◽  
The Relationship

scholarly journals The Relationship between Socio-Economic Status, General Language Learning Outcome, and Beliefs about Language Learning

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Mohsen Ghasemi Ariani ◽  
Narjes Ghafournia
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Measurement Errors ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Learning Outcome ◽  
Practice Test ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Beliefs About Language Learning ◽  
Iranian Students

<p class="apa">The objective of this study is to explore the probable relationship between Iranian students’ socioeconomic status, general language learning outcome, and their beliefs about language learning. To this end, 350 postgraduate students, doing English for specific courses at Islamic Azad University of Neyshabur participated in this study. They were grouped in terms of their socioeconomic status. They answered a questionnaire in which they indicated their beliefs about language learning in different contexts of language use. Besides, a general language test of proficiency (a Practice test of a TOEFL Test) was administered to all the participants to homogenize them in terms of general language proficiency or general language learning outcome. The quantitative data were subjected to a set of parametric statistical analyses, including descriptive statistics and factor analysis. The findings manifested a positive relationship between the students’ economic status and general language learning outcome. Besides, the findings manifested a significant relationship between the participants’ language learning outcome and their beliefs about language learning. The findings suggest if language instructors are equipped with the necessary information to assist language learners in coping with their negative beliefs, the process of language learning is not only accelerated, but also probable measurement errors may decrease.</p>

scholarly journals The Impact of SES on Language Domain in Kindergartners’ Quick Interactive Language Screener (QUILS) Performance

2021 ◽  
pp. 152574012110174
Author(s):  
Brian K. Weiler ◽  
Allyson L. Decker
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
High Poverty ◽  
High Poverty Schools ◽  
Fast Mapping ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Very High

To explore the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and language domain (vocabulary, syntax, process), the QUILS was administered to 212 kindergartners. Children from very-high poverty schools performed significantly below children from high poverty and mid-low poverty schools. SES impacts language-learning processes (i.e., fast mapping) in addition to language products (i.e., vocabulary, syntax).

scholarly journals 学習観がCALL教室における英語学習の成果に及ぼす影響： クラスター分析を用いた学習者プロファイリング – Students’ beliefs about language learning and their relationship to achievement in the CALL environment: Profiling learner types with cluster analysis

2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 155
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Traditional Classroom ◽  
School Students ◽  
Individualized Learning ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Beliefs About Language Learning ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cluster 2

Students’ beliefs about language learning and their relationship to learning achievement in a CALL environment were investigated. Unlike previous studies whose purpose was to describe learners’ beliefs on each questionnaire item, this study aimed to deal with beliefs comprehensively. Research on learner beliefs is gaining increasing attention. Behind this trend is the recognition that learners’ behaviors cannot be changed unless their preconceptions are changed. Inspired by early studies such as Horwitz (1987), a number of researchers have conducted studies which would supposedly explain the relationship between beliefs and behaviors and, further, provide useful information for learner training. However, most of the studies to date do not take such approaches as to achieve the goals of the beliefs study. The approach of the analysis has been rather descriptive: distribution and frequencies of responses were simply shown. Even though some studies compared the beliefs of different populations, which indicated some significant differences, what we can get from such studies is, again, the description of the populations. To forward the beliefs study, we need to incorporate into the analysis both the beliefs and the behaviors (e.g., motivations, strategies, achievement). This study set out to investigate the intra-relationship between students’ beliefs about language learning and their effects on learning achievements. Particular features of this study are; 1) profiling learners by simultaneously analyzing multiple questionnaire items for a comprehensive view of learners, and 2) analyzing the relationship between beliefs and learning achievements. Participants were 77 high school students who were taking EFL courses in a CALL environment. In the class, they mainly worked on a designated CD-ROM material individually. A questionnaire adapted from BALLI (Horwitz, 1987) was used to elicit the participants’ beliefs. The items for the questionnaire were chosen by three EFL instructors as related to the learners’ CALL experiences. The participants were asked to indicate to what extent they agreed or disagreed to the statement on the questionnaire on a five point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The analyses had two phases. The first analysis was carried out to profile the learners based on their responses to the questionnaire using cluster analysis (Ward method, squared Euclidean distance technique). This statistical technique is used for finding relatively homogeneous subgroups in the population. This analysis yielded four distinct clusters (numbered cluster 1 to 4), but cluster 4 was not included in the later analysis because it had only two participants in this cluster. The remaining three subgroups are differentially characterized by, in particular, different levels of confidence to learn English and attitudes toward individualized learning. Cluster 1 was a group of students who are less confident about their learning. Cluster2 showed a high language anxiety and low confidence in learning, but it also showed a favor for individualized learning. Cluster 3 was found active in learning and was differentiated from the other two by the high level of confidence to learn English. Next, the three subgroups were compared on the learning achievements measured by the term-end examinations. One-way ANOVA indicated that there was a statistically significant difference among the three groups’ achievements (p= .04). Post hoc multiple comparison was conducted with Tukey’s Method. The results showed that there was a significant difference between cluster 1 and 3 (p= .03). The above results indicate that the CALL environment may have a compensative effect on students whose characteristics are not necessarily advantageous for the traditional classroom learning environment. This implication was drawn particularly from the result for cluster 2, which is a group of learners whose high anxiety and low confidence to learn English do not seem to favor them. Their characteristics are similar to those of cluster 1, but the achievements of cluster 2 was not as low as cluster 1 despite their disadvantageous characteristics. This indicates that their CALL experiences, which provide a lot of opportunities for working individually, compensated for their disadvantages which would have inhibited them in a traditional classroom setting. 本研究では、学習観がCALL教室における英語学習の成果に及ぼす影響を、クラスター分析を用いた学習者プロファイリングによって検討した。BALLIの中から、特にCALL学習に関係が深いものを13項目選び、学習者をカテゴライズした。その結果、(1)全体的に英語学習に対して消極的な生徒、(2)言語不安が高く英語学習に対する自信が低いが、対人関係のない個別学習に向く生徒、(3)全体的に英語学習に対して積極的な生徒、の3つのタイプの学習者に分けられた。これら3つの学習者のタイプと学習成果との関連を分析した結果、CALL教室における英語学習は、従来型の英語の授業では高い学習成果を期待することが難しい、言語不安が高く英語学習に対する自信が低い、対人関係のない個別学習に向いている生徒に対して補償的に働くことが示唆された。

scholarly journals Three perspectives on the role of teacher beliefs in the language classroom

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Line Krogager Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Beliefs ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Teaching Activity ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Beliefs About Language Learning ◽  
The Relationship

This study explores the role of teacher beliefs in two teachers’ implementation of a collaboratively planned teaching activity into classroom practice. It is a retrospective case study aiming to explain how the difference between two teachers’ realisations of a specific bilingual teaching activity may be seen as related to their beliefs about language learning and teaching. The role of teacher beliefs for language teaching practice has been the subject of much research, although the nature of the relationship remains contested. This study explores a new approach to the puzzle by combining new and existing perspectives on teacher beliefs in the form of enacted, professed and implicit beliefs. The study re-examines data from a larger action research study through 4 cycles of analysis and interpretation, moving from observed teaching practices to the three perspectives on teacher beliefs to provide a description of the complex interplay between beliefs and practice. The analysis shows that the combination of the different perspectives on teacher beliefs allows for a meaningful interpretation of the relationship between teacher beliefs and teaching practice, that the two teachers’ beliefs about language learning and teaching play an important role in their transformation of teaching plans to teaching practice and that their different practices lead to different language learning affordances in the two classrooms. The article concludes by suggesting that the interplay between teaching activities, students’ engagement and teacher beliefs may be a fruitful place of inquiry for future research.

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