Horwitz, E. K. (1988) “The beliefs about language learning of beginning university foreign language students”. (Journal article)
Elaine Horwitz accepts the connection established by Wenden between student beliefs and learning strategies (p.292). However, she concentrates not on individual beliefs about language learning, but on cultural or social preconceptions, spread by the media or implicit in certain academic communities. Moreover, instead of showing the bright side of the relation between beliefs and study techniques, she suggests that some preconceived notions about language learning may limit learners’ performance in the classroom.
Horwitz’ study “attempts to determine the prevalence of certain common beliefs about language learning among typical groups of language learners” (p.284). She applied her Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) instrument to three groups of first semester language students at University of Texas. The population consisted of eighty students of German, sixty-three of French, and ninety-eight of Spanish. The BALLI is a thirty-four item questionnaire that assesses student beliefs in five areas: 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 (p.284).
Some common beliefs mentioned in the study are: a) some languages are more difficult to learn than others, b) two years (or four terms) of study are enough to achieve fluency in a foreign language, c) the point of studying a language is to achieve accuracy, d) special aptitudes are required to learn a language, and e) achieving foreign language pronunciation is impossible for speakers of certain languages or cultural background. The study does not successfully show the prevalence of some beliefs according to a specific group of language students. It shows the general predominance of beliefs that might create conflict in the classroom if not detected in time.
The author indicates that pessimistic or discouraging beliefs lead to poor performance. She also notes that holding contradictory beliefs or the clash of a student’s expectations and his measured progress can cause anxiety or disappointment in the student.
In order to avoid a classroom of frustrated students, Horwitz proposes some advice for teachers: “To make learners aware of their own preconceived notions about language learning and their possible consequences, teachers should include discussions about the nature of language learning as a regular part of their instruction” (p.292). She also suggests that the instructional practice, as well as the evaluation of different tasks, should help the students to understand that language learning requires the practice of several skills. This is an attempt to fight beliefs such as learning a language is mainly to memorize vocabulary, or being able to translate word by word into English.
Horwitz joins Wenden in her conceptualization of a teacher as the explorer of his or her students’ beliefs. But, she also agrees with Holec (1981), by emphasizing the importance of eliminating preconceptions that might negatively interfere in the performance of the students.
