Foreign Language Teaching Methods: The Language Learner

Significance of Learner Beliefs

Students' beliefs about language learning may have an impact on their performance in class. For example, if a student believes that she doesn't have very good aptitude for language learning, she may not make much effort to learn the language. In other words, beliefs can become unfortunate self-fulfilling prophecies. Teachers should pay close attention to students' beliefs in order to assess whether beliefs might have a negative impact on learning.

Unrealistic beliefs about language learning can cause students to become anxious when they think that no one should make a mistake or that anyone should be able to learn a language in under two years. Unrealistic beliefs about the most effective ways to learn a language can cause students to adopt ineffective language learning strategies, for example, deciding to concentrate their efforts on memorizing vocabulary words or translating.

In addition to influencing language learning strategies, learner beliefs can also affect overall motivation and anxiety. Imagine that you are a male student and you believe that females are inherently more verbal than males. Wouldn't that belief have a negative effect on your motivation?