An insight into secondary school students’ beliefs regarding learning English language

Abstract

The present descriptive study aimed to get an insight into secondary school students’ beliefs regarding English language learning. The survey method was employed for obtaining data from the secondary school students (N = 664). A modified version of “beliefs about language learning inventory” was used to collect data. Five out of nine towns of Lahore and then four public schools from each town were selected by using area sampling. Results showed that secondary school students had a broad range of beliefs. Students had strong instrumental motivation for learning English language. However, they varied drastically in their beliefs about the difficulty of learning English. It was revealed that science students held stronger beliefs in terms of motivation, importance, and easiness. Further, girls were more motivated than boys to learn English language; were more concerned about its importance and considered English language easy to learn. The study indicated a difference in beliefs about language learning by gender and academic major. Curriculum designers, decision-makers, and language instructors must be aware of learners’ beliefs which can provide guidance for effective curriculum, decision, and instruction.

Keywords

• beliefs
• language learning
• difficulty level
• nature of learning