Learners' beliefs about English learning and strategies of learning

To start with, there is a theoretical construct of language learning beliefs, which is composed of two primary dimensions: metacognitive and motivational.
The metacognitive dimension refers to learners' metacognitive beliefs about second language learning. It includes three main components:

1. What learners know about themselves as second language learners
2. What learners think about the task of second language learning
3. What is their knowledge about learning strategies

The motivational dimension refers to learners' motivational beliefs about second language learning and also includes three motivational components:

1. Learners' beliefs about their ability to learn a second language and their expectations about the results or difficulty of the learning task
2. Their goals for second language learning as well as beliefs about the importance, utility, and interest in the learning task
3. Learners' emotional reactions to second language learning

What about learning strategies, there are six main strategies, commonly used by all students.

Formal oral-practice strategies focus on formal practice for speaking English, such as practicing the sounds of English, trying to imitate native English speakers and paying attention when someone is speaking English. The majority of students endorse the importance of excellent pronunciation and the need to repeat and practice a lot.

Compensation strategies enable students to make up for missing knowledge in the process of comprehending or producing the target language. Many students read English without looking up every new word and they make guesses to understand unfamiliar English words. When they have difficulty producing the language, they use gestures or make up new words to get their meaning across.

Social strategies are actions that involve other people. The majority of students usually practice English with other students. They try to ask other people to slow down or repeat when they do not understand something during an English conversation.

Metacognitive strategies include: finding out a better way to learn English, monitoring learning process for errors, reviewing English lesson frequently, evaluating the progress and planning schedules for English study.

Functional practice strategies involve actively seeking or creating opportunities to use or practise English functionally. These strategies enable learners to increase their exposure to the second language outside the formal classroom. Some of the most popular functional practice strategies used by students are: watching TV shows or movies spoken in English, listening to English radio programs, encouraging themselves to speak and starting conversation in English, avoiding word-for-word translation, reading as much as possible in English.

 Cognitive-memory strategies involve direct analysis, transformation, association or synthesis of the target language, which, whether intentionally or not, will consequently facilitate the memory process. Some of the cognitive-memory strategies are: creating associations between new material and what is already known, dividing words for meaning, finding patterns in English and using mental images to remember new English words.

A lot of research has been done to find out if there is any relationship between learners' beliefs and strategies of learning. It was established that students' self-efficacy beliefs about learning English were strongly related to their use of all types of learning strategies, especially functional practice strategies. In addition, students' beliefs about the value and nature of learning spoken English were closely linked to the use of formal oral-practice strategies. Anyway, it can not be denied that learners' use of learning strategies shape their beliefs about language learning and it is also possible that other factors may cause learners' beliefs and affect use of learning strategies.

In conclusion, by encouraging appropriate beliefs, teachers may enhance effective use of learning strategies and therefore, contribute to students' continuing motivation to learn a second language.

References: http://www.sciencedirect.com/