Literature Review: Affect In Language Learning (continued)
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3.3.3. Attitudes and Beliefs
3.3.3.1. Introduction
Attitudes to learning and the perceptions (and beliefs) which determine them, may have "a profound influence on ... learning behaviour" (Cotterall 1995b:195) and on learning outcomes (cf. Reid & Hresko 1982; Weinert & Kluwe 1987), since successful learners develop insightful beliefs about language learning processes, their own abilities and the use of effective learning strategies (Anstey 1988), which have a facilitative effect on learning. These students tend to develop a more active and autonomous attitude that allows them to take charge of their learning. On the other hand, mistaken or uninformed beliefs about language learning may lead to dependence on less effective strategies, resulting in indifference toward learning, poor cognitive performance (Reid & Hresko 1982; Anstey 1988), classroom anxiety (Horwitz et al. 1986) and a negative attitude to autonomy (Victori & Lockhart 1995:225). Teachers must therefore acknowledge and respect students' attitudes, beliefs, and expectations and help them overcome any harmful perceptions and blocks (Mantle-Bromley 1995:383), as well as enhancing students' awareness of their personal weaknesses and strengths and of their task- and strategic knowledge (cf. Wenden 1987b; Gradman & Hanania 1992; Victori 1992), since beliefs differing from those of the teacher can lead to frustration, dissatisfaction with the course, unwillingness to perform communicative activities, and to lack of confidence in the teacher, as well as affecting achievement (cf. Horwitz 1988; Mantle-Bromley 1995:381-3; Peacock 1998:125).

3.3.3.2. Definitions
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) defines "attitude" as "a complex mental orientation involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways", while Collins Cobuild Student's Dictionary explains that: "Your attitude to something is the way you think and feel about it". Psychological theories on attitudes refer to an evaluative, emotional reaction (i.e. the degree of like or dislike associated with the attitudinal object) comprising three components: affect, cognition[1], and behaviour[2] (Rajecki 1990; Zimbardo & Lieppe 1991), these components undergoing change when there is "dissonance" or disagreement between them (Rajecki 1990; Zimbardo & Lieppe 1991; Eiser 1994; Mantle-Bromley 1995:373). Beliefs about language learning (metacognitive knowledge - Flavell 1979) consist of "general assumptions that students hold about themselves as learners, about factors influencing language learning and about the nature of language learning and teaching" (Victori & Lockhart 1995:224), and reflection on these beliefs has been termed 'metacognition' by cognitive psychologists, though the definition of this concept is still under dispute (Brown et al. 1983).

3.3.3.3. History of Research
Early research on the relationship between attitudes and second language achievement was carried out by Gardner and Lambert in the 1950s, and later by Schumann (1975), who found a number of contributory factors: i) language shock (resulting in feelings of dissatisfaction, frustration or guilt); ii) culture shock (producing feelings of alienation or anxiety and rejection of native speaker values); iii) language stress (shame and loss of self-esteem resulting from a perceived deficiency in language); and iv) anxiety (due to the infantile persona necessarily projected by the language learner). Sauvignon (1976) points out that teachers also have attitudes and beliefs about language learning, and that these affect their teaching:

Not until we have taken a hard critical look at the attitudes and motivation of teachers, both individually and as a profession, will we be ready to determine what obstacles lie in the way of creating the kinds of learning environments which would be most helpful to our students. (Sauvignon 1976:296)

Bassano (1986:13ff.) found that students have different needs, preferences, beliefs, learning styles, and educational backgrounds, and that imposition of change upon these factors can lead to negative reactions (cf. Long 1977; Alsop 1979; Curtin 1979; McCoy 1979; Stevick 1980), but the importance of student awareness of, and reflection on language learning beliefs (metacognitive knowledge) learning styles, learning preferences and expectations has only recently begun to receive attention in second language research (cf. Brookfield 1985; Horwitz 1985; Wenden 1987a; Rubin 1989; Victori 1992; Peacock 1998:149). Willing (1988) showed that learners have views on the learning process and can articulate them, and he also found that "for any given learning issue, the typical spectrum of opinions on that issue were represented, in virtually the same ratios, within any biographical subgroup." Widdows & Voller (1991) also report that university students in Japan have views on learning (contrary to popular wisdom), which generally conflict with the 'official' curriculum of the university. Littlewood et al. (1996:77) carried out a survey of students entering universities in Hong Kong and found that: i) confidence and proficiency was adversely affected by previous lack of practice in using the target language; ii) talking in class and engaging in pair and group work were perceived as enjoyable and beneficial; iii) error correction was seen as important; iv) English was viewed as a necessity for their careers, and was not seen as conflicting with their national identity; v) students rated their proficiency significantly higher than their teachers; and vi) students did not attribute importance to raising comments and questions in class. The current writer's own informal investigations have found similar results with university students in Korea (see also research instruments 2 & 4 - tables LXV, LX ). Riley (1980) claims that by making such views explicit, learners can improve their learning skills, but Wenden (1987a:103) points out that research on the beliefs and perceptions underlying choice of learning strategies is mostly limited to identification of those beliefs (cf. Omaggio 1978:2. See also Wenden (1987a:104ff). for a representative list of student beliefs about language learning), and Hosenfeld (1978) calls for research on students' assumptions and 'mini-theories' on learning, how they develop, and how they operate.

Major research on language learning beliefs was carried out by Horwitz (1981; 1985), who developed the "Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory" (BALLI ; cf. appendix C55) to assess teacher and student opinions on a variety of issues related to language learning (1985:383). This was used in three quite large-scale American studies (Horwitz 1988; Kern 1995; Mantle-Bromley 1995), with similar results, learner/teacher beliefs differing on only a few items: i) learners underestimated the difficulty of language learning; ii) they held misconceptions about how to learn foreign languages; and iii) they gave more value to accent than teachers did. Horwitz proposes that gaps between teacher and learner beliefs probably result in "negative [language-learning] outcomes" (1988:292), and others have given theoretical support to this idea (Politzer & McGroarty 1985:118-9; Oxford & Nyikos 1989:292; Cotterall 1995b:202-3; 1999; Green & Oxford 1995:265; Mantle-Bromley 1995:380-1; Littlewood et al. 1996:71). Kern concluded that learner beliefs are "quite well entrenched" (1995:76) and do not automatically change when learners are merely exposed to new methods, while Mantle-Bromley (1995) found that learners with realistic and informed beliefs are more likely to behave productively in class, work harder outside class, and persist longer with study (1995:373-5).

Further research using the BALLI was carried out by Peacock (1998), who reports similar results to those of Horwitz, Kern & Mantle-Bromley, with learner/teacher differences on the same items. Peacock's findings provide some evidence (previously lacking) to support Horwitz's, Kern's and Mantle-Bromley's suggestions that incorrect beliefs are detrimental to language learning: "[a] statistically significant association was found between learner beliefs and proficiency" (Peacock 1998:150). Thus (for example) the 64% of learners (compared with 7% of teachers) who believed that "Learning a language is mostly a matter of learning a lot of grammar rules", were significantly less proficient than the other 36% who had a different view of the nature of language learning. It remains to be seen to what extent this lack of proficiency was caused by mistaken beliefs, or by frustration and dissatisfaction resulting from holding beliefs different from those of the teacher (Peacock 1998:154), and further, whether changing such beliefs results in increased proficiency (an assumption behind much of the work on metacognition). Oxford (1999:65) and Young (1991) draw a link between unrealistic learner/teacher beliefs and language anxiety, and Peacock describes how mistaken beliefs can result in a lack of student confidence, through lack of success being attributed to lack of aptitude (71% of Peacock's students believed in the existence of foreign language aptitude, though only 14% believed they had that aptitude - Peacock 1998:152-3). Peacock (1998:151) and others (Gevers-Schmitt 1992; Riley 1989) conclude that teachers should work on and with students' representations in the classroom, and that methodological advances in learning can only be limited without a change in conceptualization (Gremmo 1995:158). Such a change is recognised as essential to the success of self-directed learner training programmes, but is also a slow process, entailing periods of reflection and analysis in addition to work on classroom activities.

3.3.3.4. Discussion
Adults and children form "self-schemata" concerning capabilities and limitations, degree of personal control over academic achievement, reasons for success and failure at different tasks, and expectancies for the future (Wenden 1991b:12-13), which influence how they approach a problem. These schemata and other beliefs about language learning have various origins: i) the mother culture; ii) the family; iii) classroom/social peers; iv) repetitive experiences; and v) self-fulfilling (often negative) prophecies. They are often related to past experiences, but they also contribute to future behaviour, supportive beliefs helping to overcome problems and thus sustaining motivation, and negative beliefs (including negative teacher beliefs) leading to decreased motivation. Students are also directly influenced by their perception of success in learning and by their levels of expectancy, realistically high levels helping to build confidence, and low (or unrealistically high) expectations helping to build incompetence (Puchta 1999:257).

Research on self-esteem has demonstrated "a clear link between an individual's judgement of his or her own competence and that individual's actual performance on school-related tasks" (Hagen et al. 1982), though Cotterall (1999:510) sees a need for further research into learner beliefs about ability, self-efficacy and self-esteem. Thus Wenden (1991b:12-13) calls for attention to be given to 'person variables' such as intentions, attributions, expectancies, perceptions and beliefs about learning abilities, which learners bring to the classroom (cf. Littlewood et al. 1996:70), along with "a clear understanding of attitudes and attitude-change theory in order to address these issues" (Mantle-Bromley 1995:373; cf. Zimbardo & Lieppe 1991). Mantle-Bromley strongly recommends that "teachers design and implement lessons on the language-learning process that incorporate attitude-change methods. Research then needs to be conducted to determine if such lessons can, indeed alter student's beliefs" (Mantle-Bromley 1995:383). A number of studies (e.g. Gardner 1985; Mantle-Bromley & Miller 1991) advocate curricular intervention to maintain and even improve student's attitudes. However, students do not develop more positive attitudes merely by being in the language class (Mantle-Bromley 1995:378), and Holec (1981:27) claims that a "deconditioning" (cf. section 3.2.1.3.2) process is necessary for students to rid themselves of ineffective and harmful preconceived notions on language learning. Bassano (1986:15) offers the teacher six steps towards dealing with student beliefs: 

i) become aware of students' past classroom experiences and their assumptions about language learning; 
ii) build students' confidence; 
iii) begin where the students are and move slowly;
iv) show them achievement; 
v) allow for free choice as much as possible; 
vi) become aware of the students' interests and concerns, their goals and objectives. 

Morgan (1993) suggests that four aspects of classroom persuasion should be considered in attempting to change attitudes: i) learning content should require active learner involvement; ii) the classroom environment should be one of "change or novelty" (1993:73); iii) students need to struggle with complex material and reach their own conclusions; and iv) students should become aware of their attitudes toward language and culture (cf. Mantle-Bromley 1995:373-4).

3.3.3.5. Conclusion
It is generally accepted that language learners hold beliefs about language learning (including learner/teacher roles, feedback, self-perceptions as learners, learning in general) and that these beliefs affect (and sometimes inhibit) learners' receptiveness to the ideas and activities presented in the language class, "particularly when the approach is not consonant with the learners' experience" (Cotterall 1995b:203), as well as controlling learning outside the class (Horwitz 1987:120). Mantle-Bromley therefore suggests that:

... if we attend to the affective and cognitive components of students' attitudes as well as develop defendable pedagogical techniques, we may be able to increase both the length of time students commit to language study and their chances of success in it. (1995:383)

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