Analyzing Lifelong Learning Tendency in Language Classrooms, Thailand

Abstract

Being able to use a foreign language to communicate will increase an individual's opportunities of employment and personal growth, which implies the significance of adopting a lifelong learning approach to language learning. This study was conducted to explore language learners’ lifelong learning tendency in general and the key factors affecting this tendency in a humanities and language division in an international college in Thailand. By using stratified random sampling strategies, 383 full-time language learners participated in this study. The survey questionnaire was designed based upon the Lifelong Learning Tendency Scale developed by Coskun and Demirel (2010). The scale contained four dimensions with 27 statements: motivation (6), perseverance (6), self-regulation (6), and curiosity (9) with Cronbach alpha of 0.89 from the pilot study results ( n = 50). After performing statistical analyses ( T-test, analysis of variance, and multiple linear regression) to the data, it was found that students in the Thai context held a comparatively high level of inclination for lifelong learning. Among the selected demographic variables, only the year of learning at college was found to correlate with the lifelong learning tendency.