Foreign Language Teachers' Perceptions of Students' Academic Skills, Affective Characteristics, and Proficiency: Replication and Follow‐up Studies

Abstract

Abstract: Two studies explore the relationship between foreign language teachers' perceptions of their students' academic skills and affective characteristics and their native language skills, foreign language aptitude, and oral and written foreign language proficiency. In Study I (replication), students who scored significantly lower on native language and foreign language aptitude measures were perceived by teachers as having weaker academic skills and also less positive attitudes, lower motivation, and higher levels of anxiety about foreign language learning than students who scored higher on these measures. In Study II (follow up), students from Study I and from an earlier study were followed through a second‐year foreign language course and divided into high, average, and low groups according to their scores on a proficiency measure. Results showed that low proficiency students were perceived by foreign language teachers as having weaker academic skills and less positive affective characteristics, and also achieved lower course grades than high proficiency students. Findings suggest that foreign language teachers' perceptions of their students' affective characteristics and academic skills are related to the students' levels of native language skill.