Navarro, D., & Thornton, K. (2011) “Investigating the relationship between belief and action in self-directed language learning”. (Journal article)
This case-study addresses the relationship between learning beliefs and learning behaviours. The participants were two Japanese undergraduate students enrolled in an elective English department course. The duration of the course was four months, and it combined classroom-based instruction with periods of self-directed learning. However, this is considered a contextual study, because the learning beliefs and actions studied are framed in the context of self-directed learning exclusively. In consequence, the study relies mostly on the reflections of the students reported in their journals.
This research seems to respond to several works presented in the issue 27 of Systems. The authors accept the concept of metacognition and its components as presented by Wenden (1999). But they criticize early approaches to learner beliefs –such as Sakui and Gaies (1999)- that “presented beliefs as essentially stable factors which influence action in a cause and effect relationship” (emphasis added, p.291). They also criticize White’s work (1999) for concentrating in the description of the nature of the learner’s emergent beliefs without offering details of the process through which expectations about language self-instruction (beliefs) changed (p.291).
Consequently, a contribution of this longitudinal study to learner beliefs research, lays in its objective. The study aimed to detect the consistency between the attested beliefs of the students and their actions, as well as, possible belief development caused by the teacher assessment of students’ progress. The weekly reflection on their own practice (action), as well as two meetings with their advisors (interaction) triggered modifications in student’s beliefs. Successful practices influenced emergent beliefs, and reinforced them or refined them. This implies the cyclical role of action, because it is shaped by beliefs, but it also can lead to belief development.
