Learning Beliefs Research Articles

An Investigation of Principals' Social and Emotional Learning Beliefs and Attitudes

With recent educational demands placed on academic accountability, it is difficult for many people to determine or acknowledge where or how focusing on social and emotional learning (SEL) can be beneficial. In this paper we focus on principals’ beliefs and attitudes about social and emotional learning. Principals influence implementation through their school priorities, vision, expectations, and emphases. We used grounded theory techniques and semi-structured interviews with K-8th grade principals of public schools located in a state in the southeastern United States. When describing principals’ beliefs and attitudes, late majority adopters held neutral attitudes and weak beliefs regarding SEL. In addition, a lack of understanding of the SEL concept became evident as principals did not express a clear understanding of SEL. Comprehensive training at the administrative and policy level is needed. Principals should implement targeted staff training providing key strategies for intentionally integrating SEL skills into their current curriculum.

The Impact of Exploratory French Instruction on Child and Family Attitudes and Aptitudes for Learning World Languages in Preschool

While the demographic diversity of children served in early childhood classrooms continues to grow, world language learning opportunities for English-speaking preschoolers remain a rarity. Efforts to teach world languages in addition to English at the preschool level may be hampered by limited early childhood educator expertise, lack of programmatic fit, and uncertain expectations from participating families. This study used a foreign language exploratory (FLEX) program design for French language learning to examine whether these barriers could be overcome through a collaborative partnership between a world languages specialist, the classroom teacher, and the children’s families. The 10-week study involved twelve 3-year-old children from varied home language backgrounds attending an English-only preschool. Results showed that following the world language specialist’s weekly classroom visits, all participating children demonstrated some level of French language learning, and that learner engagement as a variable was strongly correlated with the child’s ability to acquire French, rather than variables of age, gender, or language used at home. Furthermore, while statistically significant differences in language learning beliefs existed between families who did and did not speak a language other than English at home prior to the study, no significant belief differences between these families were found following participation in the French program. Based on the results of this programmatic effort, the authors posit that a language ladder of supports wherein the childcare center and families form parallel sides of ongoing support while the WL specialist provides the rungs that unite both sides, may be a useful model of collaboration.

Metaphorical conceptualizations of language learning by post-tertiary learners of Japanese

Although various studies on second/foreign language (L2) learners’ beliefs have provided insights into aspects of their identity, agency, and emotions, a paucity of research exists that elucidates the evolving beliefs of post-tertiary learners from languages other than English (LOTE). In essence, our intention is to provide an answer to the question, What factors influence the beliefs of tertiary language learners after they graduate? A qualitative analysis of metaphors and questionnaire responses from 169 post-tertiary learners of Japanese revealed that their beliefs were mediated by various longitudinal factors (e.g., an inner drive to self-improve, identity changes, enjoyment of learning). This indicates that learners’ beliefs do not simply represent thoughts situated in the present time but provide evolving interpretations of their social realities across multiple time scales. The beliefs of post-tertiary learners provide a longitudinal perspective on how learning is intertwined with constantly evolving personal goals and circumstances. It may be advisable for language practitioners to draw upon the beliefs and experiences of post-tertiary learners in their classrooms so that emerging L2 learners can reflect on their own beliefs and forge pathways towards their future, lifelong language learning goals.

“No one would like to take a risk”: Multilingual students’ views on language mixing in academic writing

A significant number of studies have made advanced arguments for closing the gap between monolingual language and literacy pedagogy and multilingual classroom reality in higher education. Despite such theoretical advancement, studies that tap into views of the students on the very issue are just starting to appear. This study investigates perspectives of undergraduate international multilingual students on mixing languages in academic writing from a learner beliefs lens. All multilingual undergraduate students in a US university, my participants unhesitatingly mix languages in their daily communication. However, they believe that language mixing in formal writing is not a good choice because of four reasons. They see language mixing as: a. problem to the genre of academic writing itself; b. problem to the students themselves as their writing will be seen as deviant and assigned a low score; c. contradiction to the whole purpose of academic communication; and d. identity crisis to both people and languages. By highlighting emic views of the students, this study problematizes the arguments made by various theoretical studies.

A Neural Dynamic Network Drives an Intentional Agent That Autonomously Learns Beliefs in Continuous Time

Autonomous learning is the ability to form knowledge representations solely through one’s own experience. To autonomously learn, an agent must be able to perceive, act, memorize, plan, and desire; it must be able to form intentional states. We build on a neural process account of intentionality, in which intentional states are stabilized by interactions within populations of neurons that represent perceptual features and movement parameters. Instabilities in such neural dynamics induce sequences of intentional behavior. In this article, we examine the neural process organization required to decide and control when learning takes place, to build the representations that can hold learning data, and to organize the selection of neural substrate to learn the novel patterns. We demonstrate how a neural dynamic network may learn new beliefs about the world from single experiences, may activate and use beliefs to satisfy desires, and may deactivate beliefs when their predictions do not match experience. We illustrate the ideas in a simple toy scenario in which a simulated agent autonomously explores an environment, directs action at objects, and forms beliefs about simple contingencies in this environment. The agent utilizes learned beliefs to satisfy its own fixed desires.

EXPERIÊNCIAS DE LEITORES COM O USO DO PODCAST

Refletindo sobre experiências e crenças no ensino e aprendizagem, metodologias ativas e tecnologias digitais, este artigo investiga crenças e experiências construídas durante uma intervenção em sala de aula: projeto “Leitores que formam leitores”. Trata-se de uma investigação qualitativa e interpretativista, sustentada pela etnometodologia. Os participantes são oito alunos do 9º ano, o instrumento utilizado foi relato de experiências. Os resultados revelam crenças de que o projeto foi trabalhoso, porém produtivo; que promoveu experiências, pesquisas e produção (resenhas, blogs, podcasts) e resultados significativos. Reconhecemos que o estudo das experiências e crenças é considerado relevante para a compreensão dos processos que acontecem dentro da sala de aula. (MICCOLI, 2007). As dificuldades foram relacionadas ao trabalho colaborarativo. Estudos sobre experiências e crenças podem auxiliar na qualidade da educação. Vale destacar que considerar as crenças que alunos constroem a partir das experiências é fundamental para pensarmos em transformações nas práticas docentes (BARCELOS, 2004).
 Palavras-chave: Experiências. Crenças. Tecnologias digitais. Aprendizagem baseada emprojetos.

The influence of university students’ learning beliefs on their intentions to use mobile technologies in learning: a study in China and Spain

As an emerging learning method, mobile technologies allow students to gain knowledge via both formal and informal learning. In spite of the advantages mobile technologies bring to education, its adoption for learning purposes has not been encouraging. Existing research on mobile learning acceptance has been mainly focused on technological and use issues, while the topic of student learning beliefs has been researched less often. The current study addresses said research gap by examining the influence of constructivist and traditional learning beliefs on university students’ intentions to use mobile learning in China and Spain. In addition, cultural differences were also tested in this study. The results of this study support the validity of the proposed model in the two samples (China and Spain) and provide evidence of the importance of learning beliefs as an antecedent of perceived usefulness and perceived compatibility.

Investigation of Relationship between Prospective Teachers’ Learning Beliefs and State of Individual Innovativeness

Individual innovativeness is one of the most appreciated attributes of 21st-century skills which is needed in every field of daily life. Because of this appreciation, a lot of effort has been spent towards prompting individual innovativeness levels of both students and teachers in teaching and learning environments via innovative practices. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the relationship between prospective teachers' learning beliefs and their individual innovativeness state. In this study, the correlational survey method was used, and the sample of the study was comprised of 515 prospective teachers. The data of the study were collected via the ‘Belief Scale towards Learning’ and ‘Individual Innovativeness Scale’. The data of this study were analysed using the SPSS program. Test of normality, descriptive statistics, correlational analysis and partial linear regression analysis were used to analyse the data. The results of the analysis showed that prospective teachers have a high level of constructivist and a moderate level of traditional learning beliefs while their individual innovativeness state was determined within the category of interrogators. In addition, prospective teachers' beliefs in constructivist learning were determined to be a significant predictor of their individual innovativeness state. Keywords: Beliefs, constructivist learning, innovativeness, prospective teachers

Beliefs and experiences in the English classroom: Perspectives of Swedish primary school learners

This study investigates how Swedish learners make sense of and perceive English instruction and the process of foreign language learning in a target language-only primary school classroom. In small group discussions, 26 learners aged 9-10 were audio recorded while discussing questions related to their language learner beliefs and their classroom experiences. Learners expressed a strong consensus about the importance of both the teacher’s extensive target language input and the learners’ oral engagement, in alignment with the beliefs of the teacher. However, the analysis identified three mismatches among high anxiety learners in this context, related to incomprehensible teacher talk, social fear of making mistakes and classroom organization. As their voiced beliefs were at odds with their emotionally guided behavior of refraining from asking questions or volunteering to speak, their sense of agency was reduced. In this context, the target language-only approach appeared to have a negative impact on the emotional, organizational and instructional dimensions of foreign language instruction for many of the young learners. The findings illustrate the interrelated dynamics of beliefs, emotions and classroom context, and contribute to our understanding of learners’ foreign language anxiety and sense of agency in the primary foreign language classroom.

INVESTIGATING FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND LEARNER BELIEFS IN SPOKEN CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK WITH A FOCUS ON LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

Research on the role of language proficiency on foreign language anxiety and learner corrective feedback beliefs in oral practice has not reached conclusive results. This study investigates whether level of proficiency affects foreign language anxiety and learner beliefs about spoken corrective feedback in an EFL context. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling. A total of 204 participants, who were all tertiary level university learners of English from four different proficiency groups, responded to two scales: Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986) and Corrective Feedback Belief Scale (Fukuda, 2004). A series of one-way ANOVA analyses and Bonferroni adjusted post-hoc corrections were run to test significance between and within groups. The four proficiency groups were statistically different from each other in terms of foreign language anxiety and spoken corrective feedback preferences. The findings revealed that the learners with a low proficiency level appreciated immediate feedback, but those with a higher level of language proficiency preferred delayed feedback. Clarification requests, elicitation and metalinguistic feedback were rated more positively by the beginner group than the other groups. In terms of the choice of correctors, language proficiency did not play a role; however, all the groups valued teachers as the main agents of correction. This study is one of the very few comprehensive studies (e.g., Tercan & Dikilitaş, 2016; Uyanıker, 2018) focusing on the role of language proficiency in anxiety and feedback preferences of high achiever tertiary level learners of English who will pursue their undergraduate studies in an English medium public university in Turkey.

Der phänomenographische Ansatz in der glottodidaktischen Forschung

The phenomenographic approach in educational research dates back to the early1980s. Marton and his co-workers focused on the significant role which is played by the individual beliefs of learners in the processes of teaching and learning. The study of learning experiences, reflections on these experiences and verbalization of these reflections have defined a new perspective in the perception of educational reality. The paper presents the basic assumptions of the phenomenographic approach and its application in the study of foreign language learners’ beliefs. Since beliefs result from many factors, among others of a socio-cultural nature, particular attention is paid to the dynamics of how beliefs are shaped in the light of the Activity Theory proposed by Vygotsky and his successors Leontiev and Engerström. The paper finishes with a discussion on the prospects of the study of beliefs in the Polish educational context, with particular consideration of foreign language philology students

Context matters: Learner beliefs and interactional behaviors in an EFL vs. ESL context

Researchers and teachers often invoke context to explain their particular research/teaching issues. However, definitions of context vary widely and the direct impact of the context is often unexplained. Based on research showing contextual differences in second language (L2) learner beliefs and interactional behaviors, the current project compared those factors in two distinct contexts: Chilean English as a foreign language (EFL) ( n = 19) and Australian English as a second language (ESL) ( n = 27) contexts. In this project, the learners completed a set of group discussion activities as part of their regular class work. They then completed a questionnaire pertaining to L2 motivation, perceptions of group work, and first language (L1) use. The group interaction data were analysed for: (1) the frequency of language-related episodes (LREs); (2) the initiator of LREs (self or other); and (3) L1 use for resolving LREs. The results showed that the EFL learners produced significantly more LREs. The EFL learners also used more L1 to resolve LREs. Factor analyses of the questionnaire data, conducted within- and across-contexts, showed notable differences in the two contexts as well. However, the findings of learner beliefs did not necessarily account for the differential classroom behaviors. We discuss our findings by reference to the socio-linguistic and socio-educational statuses of English in the two contexts as well as approaches to instruction which together shaped the learners’ differential needs and purposes for learning the L2.

Learner Mathematics Learning Beliefs System: A Case Study

This study makes an effort to investigate learner mathematics-related beliefs at the secondary level. The study was qualitative and the method adopted for the in-depth information about the belief was a single case study. The site were selected for this investigation were Government Girls Higher Secondary School Rustam in District Mardan. The number of participants was six from class 10th science students. In-depth interviews were scheduled for the collection of data. Interview items were 9 in number. Thematic analysis of the transcripts exposed learner beliefs about mathematics. The main findings of the study showed that those students who understand the concept of mathematics possessed the positive beliefs about mathematics, and they also like the book and course materials and satisfied with it. They feel easy during mathematics classrooms, enjoy, and excited to learn something new in this subject. In contrast, the learners who do not understanding level is low they hold negative beliefs they did not like the book and course materials and not satisfied and feel hesitation during mathematics classroom. The study further showed that in the construction of beliefs that are positive or negative about the mathematics classroom environment play a great role especially mathematics teacher, her methods, and her beliefs. If the teacher involves the students in activities, keep good and interesting method and motivate the students time to time, then the learners will possess positive beliefs and will take interest in such a very important mathematics class.

The Relationship between English Language Learner Characteristics and Online Self-regulation: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Learner beliefs, anxiety, and motivation are three common learner characteristics. They have consistently been found to account for language learning performance. Meanwhile, self-regulation is critical in sustaining online learners’ continuous efforts and predicting their learning outcomes. Despite the massive and rapidly increasing number of online English learners, few studies have clarified the assumed relationships between learner characteristics (learner beliefs, anxiety, motivation) and self-regulation in the online English learning context. This study aims to fill the gap by conducting structural equation modeling analysis to examine their relations. To fulfill the research purpose, we adopted the previous questionnaires with sufficient reliability as instruments to evaluate students’ online English learner beliefs, learning anxiety, learning motivation and online self-regulated English learning. The valid responses collected from 425 Chinese undergraduate university students enrolled in an online academic English writing course provided the data source. The results indicated that learner beliefs positively predicted, while learning anxiety negatively predicted, online self-regulated English learning. Online English learning motivation was a mediator in these associations. The findings suggested that stronger learner beliefs of self-efficacy and perceived value of English learning promoted learning motivation and self-regulation. In contrast, higher learning anxiety, such as test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation, harmed learners’ motivation and their online self-regulated English learning.

Changing Learner Beliefs in South African Townships: An Evaluation of a Growth Mindset Intervention

We tested the effectiveness of a growth mindset intervention for N = 354 adolescents from low resource schools in the Western Cape, South Africa. Growth mindset measures demonstrated good psychometric properties in our sample. We found mixed evidence of an intervention effect: We did not find evidence that the intervention improved mastery behavior or math achievement test scores, but treatment-on-the-treated (TOT) analyses showed positive effects on growth mindset for those who received the intervention (0.32 SDs). TOT analyses provided some evidence for effects on math grades, comparable in magnitude with previous research (0.24–0.34 SDs), although tests were underpowered and not all reached significance. The intervention cost approximately R4.4 (31 U.S. cents) per student. A growth mindset intervention may be a low-cost way to shape motivation and grades for those attending low resource schools, but more research is needed to address the mixed results obtained in the current study.

Exploring the Effectiveness of the Clickers-Aided Flipped English Classroom

The clicker-aided flipped English pedagogical approach has received popularity recently. Unfortunately, learner beliefs and motivational needs have hardly been explored in this approach. This study aims to compare the effectiveness between clicker-aided/non-clicker-aided flipped English classrooms and the traditional English pedagogical approach. The study divided the randomly selected participants into three cohorts, where different English pedagogical approaches were explored. The quantitative data was obtained from the measurements via scales of English proficiency, learner beliefs, and motivational needs. The comparative analysis and an interview concluded that the clicker-aided flipped English classroom was significantly more effective than the non-clicker-aided and the latter was more effective than the traditional English classroom in terms of English proficiency, learner beliefs and motivational needs. Interdisciplinary research may be necessary involving education, computer, statistics, linguistics and information technologies in the future.

Language Learning Beliefs of Second Language Learners at Graduate Level in Pakistan

The current research aimed at examining the beliefs of Pakistani graduate students towards English language learning and assessing the stability of their beliefs after six weeks. In the process of language learning beliefs play a pivotal role. Students beliefs about second language acquisition need to be studied so that appropriate approach can be adopted. To collect data, sixty graduate students were selected by purposive sampling. BALLI (Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory, Horwitz, 1987) tool was adopted and administered twice to collect the data. The results showed that the learners are motivated and keen to acquire English language. The respondents were apprised of the significance of foreign language acquisition and highlighted the importance of pronouncing the words correctly, meanings of new words, and the benefits of drills. The results also depicted that there is stability in most of students beliefs after six weeks.

Learning Beliefs of English Pronunciation—A Case Study

Learning Beliefs of English Pronunciation—A Case Study

Scientific Learning Motivations as Predictors of Pre-service Elementary Grade Teachers’ Authentic Assessment Practices in Science

Teachers, as life-long learners, hold personal pedagogical and andragogical motivations towards learning which manifest in their procedures and practices towards specific disciplines. This study is aimed to determine the level of scientific learning motivations and assessment practices in science of pre-service elementary grade teachers and ascertain whether the respondents’ scientific learning motivations predict their assessment practices in the subject. Scientific learning motivations in this study include intrinsic and extrinsic goal orientation, task value, control of learning beliefs, expectancy, and affective components. Employing adopted questionnaires in a Descriptive-Predictive Research design, the respondents’ scientific learning motivations and assessment practices in science were determined and evaluated. Results showed that the pre-service elementary grade teacher-respondents had good to very good motivations in science learning and assessment practices towards the subject. Among the motivational factors in science learning, only expectancy component is related to their affordances in authentic assessment in science. Furthermore, self-efficacy for learning (an expectancy component of scientific learning motivations) was specifically seen to predict the pre-service elementary grade teachers’ affordances of authentic assessment practices towards the subject.

Flipping to Motivate: Perceptions Among Prelicensure Nursing Students.

Research suggests flipped learning may improve student motivation to learn. This study examined motivation and learning strategies among prelicensure BSN students in a course taught using the flipped learning model. The hypothesis was that flipped learning may improve motivation and learning strategies of students. A descriptive, comparative design examined motivation and learning strategies used by students in a flipped learning course. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire and a demographic survey were administered to 25 BSN students at a Midwestern university. Substantial decreases were found from pretest to posttest mean scores for the task value, control of learning beliefs, and help seeking subscales. The results did not support the hypothesis that flipped learning would improve motivation and learning strategies. Further research in larger diverse samples of students in a flipped learning course is recommended.