Language learning strategies and beliefs about language learning of university students learning English in Korea

Abstract

This study identifies Korean university students' use of language learning strategies and their beliefs about language learning, followed by an investigation of the relationships among their beliefs, strategy use, and L2 proficiency. The students' use of learning strategies and their beliefs were identified by the factor analytic findings of two self-report questionnaires, the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL, ESL/EFL Student Version) and the Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI, ESL Student Version), and L2 proficiency was determined by the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The subjects were 332 students attending two universities in Korea. Four underlying factors were discovered in the SILL: independent and interactive practice strategies, metacognitive strategies, communication-affective strategies, and memory strategies. The Korean university students in this study used more metacognitive and memory strategies than communication-affective and independent and interactive practice strategies. Four underlying factors were found in the BALLI as well: motivational beliefs and beliefs about formal English, self-efficacy and beliefs about social interaction, beliefs about learning spoken English, and beliefs about foreign language aptitude. The results of Pearson correlations among the four belief variables (factors of the BALLI), the four strategy variables (factors of the SILL), and a proficiency variable (the TOEFL scores) show that the students' beliefs, learning strategy use, and L2 proficiency are generally related. However, these relationships depend on specific types of beliefs and learning strategies. A multiple regression analysis with the TOEFL scores as a criterion variable and eight belief and strategy variables as predictor variables indicates that belief and strategy variables share a total variance of 16% with the TOEFL scores. Considering that the theoretical foundation of language learning strategies and beliefs about language learning comes from cognitive psychology, specifically information-processing theory, one of the findings of this study--the roles of language learning strategies and beliefs about language learning in adult L2 proficiency--provides evidence that adult L2 acquisition may be the result of information-processing

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