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Using Student Beliefs
About Language Learning and Teaching
in the Foreign Language Methods Course

Elaine K. Horwitz
The University of Texas at Austin

ABSTRACT Prospectiveforeign language teachers ly neglected truism that the students in a methods class
enter the methods class with manypreconceived ideas have preconceived ideas about language teaching. .
about how languagesareleamedand how theyshould Moreover, these preconceptions inhibit the prospec-
be taught. These beliefs can directly interfere with tive teacher’s receptiveness to the information and
their understandingof and receptivity to the informa- ideas presented in the methods class particularlywhen
tion and techniquespresented in the methods class. the perspectives are not in consonance with the stu-
Thispaper describes two instrumentsfor eliciting stu- dent’s own experience as a language learner. Since,
dent beliefs about language learning and teaching, the ultimately, language teaching practices are rooted
Foreign Language Survey (FLAS) and the Beliefs in personal experience, learner preconceptions must
About Language Learning Inventory (BALLI),and be addressed directly in the methods class. To do
reports on typical responses of methods students to so, it is essential that the instructor recognize that
the BALLI. Thediscussion of theinstmmentsandthe methods students are not naive beginners as
student responses illustrate the kinds of beliefs language teachers. Because the methods course ex-
students may hold which can inhibit their learning. It perience is processed through students’ preexisting
is suggested that a systematic assessment of student belief systems, teachers of these courses must have
beliefs would increase student learning and satisfac- sophisticatedunderstanding of the structures and im-
tion in theforeign language methods class. plications of those systems.
So that prospective teachers may become more
receptive to new information about language
Introduction teaching, the methods instructor can encourage
The foreign languagemethods class pursues an am- recognition and understandingof the beliefs these pro-
bitious goal: to initiateagroup of prospectiveteachers spectiveteachers already have. Making the students’
into the theory and practice of teaching a foreign belief systems explicit is the first step in their develop-
language in the course of a single semester. The ment as foreign language teachers. Their developing
achievement of this goal is complicated by the professional identities can then be based on a valid and
students’ own widely differing backgrounds and ex- continually growing knowledge of human beings as
periences. A methods class consists of individualswho language learners, not on erroneous beliefs or myths.
have all been language learners themselves and who To help methods instructors determine their
will, consequently, tend to teach either as they were students’ beliefs, this paper will describe two in-
taught or as they taught themselves. It is a common- struments, the Foreign Language Attitude Survey
(FLAS, see Appendix A) and the Beliefs About
Language Learning Inventory (BALLI, see Appendix
B), that elicit beliefs about language learning and
Elaine K. Horwitz (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign) is Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruc- teaching. Representative responses of prospective
tion at the University of Texas in Austin. teachers are discussed in order to demonstrate the

Foreign Language Annals, IS, No. 4, 1985 333

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334 FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS

usefulness of this information for the foreign language 2) determine where the beliefs of language teachers
methods class. and their students might be in conflict. As a teaching
instrument the BALLI has also served as a useful
Assessing StudentBeliefs discussion tool in inservice workshops and in foreign
About Language Teaching and Learning’ language methods classes (as discussed here).
In order to elicit a wide rangepf possible beliefs, the
Beliefs About Language Teaching
development of the inventory proceeded in several
Since the 1950s,Gardnerand Lambert (1 and their
stages. First, in a free-recall task, four groups of ap-
colleagues have conducted a series of studies in-
proximately25language teachers of different cultural
vestigating the relationship between student attitudes
backgrounds were asked to list 1) their beliefs about
and motivation and second language achievement.
Thispioneering research has helped teachersrecognize language learning, 2) other people’s beliefs about
language learning, and 3) their students’ beliefs about
the influence students’ affectivestates canhave on se-
language learning. Interestingly, the lists were rather
cond language learning. More recently, however,
short and contained a great deal of overlap.
Savignon has suggested that the attitudes of teachers
After idiosyncraticbeliefs were eliminated (for ex-
toward certain language teaching practices may play
ample, one teacher reported that one of her students
as important a role in influencing students’ achieve-
believed that native speakers of Spanish first thought
ment as the students’ own attitudes.
in English and then translated their thoughts into
Not until we have taken a hard critical look at Spanish), a %item list of beliefs was compiled from
the attitudes and motivation of teachers, both the teachers’ free-recall protocols. Foreign language
individually and as a profession, will we be teacher educators from a variety of culture groups
ready to determine what obstacles lie in the way then examined the list and added beliefs, either their
of creating the kinds of learningenvironments own or ones they had encountered. The list was then
which would be most helpful to our students (5, pilot tested for clarity and comprehensiveness with 150
p. 296). first-semester language students at The University of
Savignon fears that the way language teachers are Texas at Austin. Finally, a teachers’ version was
trained and selectedmight encourage the perpetuation developed by replacing statements such as “The
of unproductive language teaching practices. language I am trying to learn.. .” with “The language
I teach.. ..”
To help teachersunderstand their own attitudes and The resulting inventory assesses teacher beliefs in
motivations toward language teaching, De Garcia, four major areas: foreign language aptitude, the dif-
Reynolds, and Savignon (2) developed the Foreign ficulty of language learning, the nature of language
LanguageAttitudesurvey (FLAS) “as astrategy for learning, and appropriate language learning
gettingteachers to talk to each other about the values strategies. As an inventory, the BALLI does not yield
they hold” (Savignon, 5 , p. 301). The 53 Likert-scale a composite score; rather, responsesto the individual
items address a wide variety of issues in language items are important both as discussion stimuli and as
teaching ranging from the best way to teach grammar descriptionsof teacher and student views of language
to the importance of teaching culture. The authors learning.
have developed a shortened version of this question-
naire (25 items) for use when time is limited (Appen- Using the Instruments:
dix*)’The has been used in
For the past several years, I have used the Foreign
workshops and inservice programs for practicing
L~~~~~~~ Attitude scale and the Beliefs about
teachers, and Savignon confirms its efficacy in help- Language Learning Inventory as the first activity in
ing teachers examinethe validity oftheir assumptions
my class. Because they &allenge student opi-
about language teaching.
nions, serve as advance organizers to subsequent
Beliefs About Language Learning course content and as guides for cumculum organiza-
Horwitz (3) developed the Beliefs About Language tion, these questionnaires have proven very effective
Learning Inventory (BALLI) to assess teacher opi- in increasing student learning as well as student
nions on a variety of issues and controversies related satisfaction with the course.
to language learning. The 27 Likert-scale items have The inventories are easy to administer, and both
both research and training purposes (Appendix B). can be completed in a single class meeting. The
This instrument is currently being used in research students first answer the questionnaires in writing,
to assess the beliefs of teachers and students about and then compare their answers with one other stu-
language learning in order to 1) better understand dent to determine their main areas of agreement and
why teachers choose particular teaching practices and disagreement. After the dyads finish comparing their
 19449720, 1985, 4, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1944-9720.1985.tb01811.x by <Shibboleth>[email protected], Wiley Online Library on [04/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
SEPTEMBER 1985 335

responses, the class as a group discusses the most con- ment might be in conflict with some of their assump-
troversial questions. Students are often surprised to tions. They still might not agree with me on the impor-
learn that an opinion they had taken for granted as tance of free communication activities, but they
correct evokes spirited controversy. This confronta- would better understand the concept underlying the
tion with different opinions is often the students’ first assignment.
step toward questioning their own beliefs and helps
Student Responses to the FLAS and BALLI
increase their receptivity to new information when it
Severalyears of experience with the FLAS and the
is presented later in the methods class.
BALLI yield a composite picture of the types of
The discussion also provides a good foundation for
beliefs instructors are likely to encounter in the
material to be presented later in the course. For exam-
methods class. This section will discuss typical student
ple, the instructor might point out that the importance
responses to the major topics addressed by the two in-
of classroom repetition exercises will be discussed
struments and suggest ways the methods instructor
again when dialogue and grammar teaching are
can incorporatethese results in the methods class. The
presented. Thus, the discussion of the questionnaires
students represented in this discussion are either
can serve as an advance organizer for subsequent
undergraduatesin the last year of a teacher education
course material.
sequence at The University of Texas at Austin or post-
These instruments are most effective when ad-
B.A. students returning for teacher certification.They
ministered at the beginning of the semester so that
are enrolled in their first foreign language methods
prospective teachers can become aware of their beliefs
class and student-teach either concurrently with the
as early as possible in the methods course. More im-
methods course or during the following semester.
portantly, the methods instructor can then use the in-
The first three topics discussedhere come from the
formation about students’ beliefs to augment or
FLAS, and the final four from the BALLI. To help
reorganize the course content for the most effective
methods instructors implement these questionnaires
presentation. If, for example, the students do not
in their own classes, the corresponding items from the
believe that rote-memorization is very important for
questionnaires are noted after each topic.
language learning, then little time need be spent
establishing the limitations of this approach. If, Motivating students
however, the students enter the class believing that FLAS items 1,2,4, 11, 12, 14
some (or even many) people lack the necessary ap- Methods students generally feel strongly that it is
titude to learn a foreign lanpage, the methods in- the teacher’s responsibility to motivate students, and
structor could spend more time demonstrating that at- they look forward to their own opportunity to “turn
titude and motivation also play an important role in on” students to language learning. When discussing
second language achievement. the FLAS, they often recall former teachers who en-
The opinions expressed at the beginning of the couraged them with their enthusiasm and interest as
semester canalso guide the instructortoward the most compared with those who seemed only to be going
effective presentation of the course. For example, through the motions. Many of these Same methods
students who believe strongly in drill work and COT- students, however, may undergo a transformation
application of grammatical patterns may need to during student teaching and blame their frustrations
be prepared for a discussion of free communication On their students’ lack Of motivation. A discussionof
activities. One semester, after requesting a class to why some experienced teachers fail to motivate
spontaneouscommu~cation I was students paves the way for the later discussion of
disappointed that their planned activities invariably motivation strategies and alerts methods students to
focused on having their students prepare speechesin the impact teaching difficultiesmay have on their at-
writing before an oral presentation. This assigned ac- titudes toward students. This discussion may also be
tivity must have seemed so unusual that the methods useful with the small number of students every
studentsignored both written instru&ons and semester who believe that the teacher’s only respon-
live examples,and instead ,-rated which sibilityis to present material and that students should
responded more closely to their own long-held con- generate their own motivation.
ceptions about language teaching. In subsequent Dealing With Student Responses
semesters, I have taken advantage of the information FLAS items 3,7,21,23
obtained from the two questionnaires and used the Methods students tend to have very strong opfions
students’ beliefs as a common starting Point in my as to how language teachers should treat student
discussions. In the Present example, it would have responses. Beliefs in this area seem to have been par-
been helpful to acknowledge the students’ points of ticularly affectedby the students’ ownlanguagelm-
view and specifically state how and why my assign- ing exp&nm, as methods students, when discussing
 19449720, 1985, 4, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1944-9720.1985.tb01811.x by <Shibboleth>[email protected], Wiley Online Library on [04/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
336 FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS
these FLAS items, often relate anecdotes about the foreign language aptitude. They believe that “Some
types of responses their former teacher required. people are born with a special ability to learn a foreign
The issues of full sentence vs. partial response and language.” Like many Americans, they feel that it is
techniques of error correction usually incite the most easier for children than adults to learn a foreign
heated controversy. Students frequently have strong language, and probably not surprisingly,they believe
opinions about the strategies they experienced. For ex- that they themselves possess a special ability for
ample, a student who was required to give full foreign languages.
sentence responses may believe either that full Since a belief that some people are unable, or at
sentences ought to be required of everyone since she least less able, to learn a foreign language can lead to
did well that way or feel strongly that the full sentence negative expectations by the teacher for some
requirement inhibited her ability to respond in class. students, the methods instructor might want to devote
The danger here is a tendency on the part of many extra time and energy to demonstrating the impor-
methods studentsto generalize from their own limited tance to second languageachievement of factors other
experience. The challenge to the methods instructor, than student aptitude. A discussionof the effect of at-
therefore, is to point out the contrasts in the students’ titude, motivation, and learning styles will enable
own experiences and guide them to the conclusion that methods students to recognizethat there are also im-
different students may do well under different instruc- portant predictors of successamenable to control by
tional conditions. the teacher and/or student.
Students should also discuss their definition of
Instructional Strategiesfor Developing Oral Skills “special ability.” Is it innate? Changeable? How
FLAS items 8,9, 10, 13, 19,20,22,25 much influence does it have on a language learner’s
Not surprisingly,in view of Savignon’s strong iden- success? They should compare their ideas with the
tification with the term communicativecompetence, original purpose of foreign language aptitude tests
many FLAS items concern the development of oral which was to identify those people able to learn a
fluency. While methods students generally endorse foreign language in a shorter than average period of
the goal of communicative competence, they also time. Having students conceptualizeaptitude in terms
strongly disagree as to the most effective ways to of time helps to defuse the negative expectationsthat
achieve it. (Although I have had studentswho felt that come from a pure ability view of foreign language
languages should only be taught for reading and aptitude.
writing purposes since Americans have limited oppor- Interestingly, I have found that the methods
tunities to speak them.) Perhaps the best way to con- students who have learned English as a second or
ceptualize these differences in opinion is in foreign language often discount their own language
developmental terms. Students who are primarily learning abilities. Instead they stress the role of
familiar with grammar translation methods of motivation, perseverance, and hard work in their
language teachingare more likely to be receptive to the own success. The language learning experiences of
basic concepts of an audio-lingual instructional these students, thus, can be used in the methods class
method. That is, they tend to believe that oral repeti- to illustrate the abstract findings of second language
tion and manipulation of structural patterns is the researchers.
route to linguistic fluency. On the other hand, those
methods students who are experienced with oral
language teaching methods tend to be more accepting The Difficulty of Language Learning
of a communication-centered methodology. BALLI items 3,4, 8, 1 1
Students’ previous experiences contribute greatly to Methods students commonly believe that some
their opinionsof various language teaching methods, languages are easier to learn than others and that the
and these methods may very well have a hierarchy of languages they are preparing to teach are relatively
appeal. The information derived from the FLAS can, easy ones. Generally, prospectiveteachers of Spanish
therefore, help the methods instructor meet each stu- judge their target language as an easy one, while
dent at the appropriate “developmental” level. French and German are rated as somewhat more dif-
Pressuring students to shift their opinions too quickly ficult by prospective teachers of all three languages.
is likely to be counterproductive and cause students Methods instructors might well be concerned with this
to cling even more strongly to their old opinions. view; when students have difficulty learning a
language that their teacher considers to be relatively
Foreign Language Aptitude easy, the teacher is apt to become frustrated or at-
BALLI items 1,2, 17,23,25,26,27 tribute lack of success to poor or unmotivated
Methods students generally endorse the concept of students. Additionally, they may encourage students
 19449720, 1985, 4, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1944-9720.1985.tb01811.x by <Shibboleth>[email protected], Wiley Online Library on [04/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
SEPTEMBER 1985 337
to take an “easier” language rather than offering ex- be hard to get rid of them later on.” More recently,
plicit help in developing effective language learning however, most of my students have been supportive
strategies. of communication-centered approaches and have
Methods students generally estimatethat one hour disagreed strongly with these and similar statements.
of study a day for three to five years is adequate to The BALLI has therefore been useful in identifying
learn their target language. Thus, they believe that opinion shifts in methods students. However, shifts
three to five years of high school study should be in student opinions do not automaticallp lead to
enough time to learn a language. In view of recent behavior change. Although current students are more
concerns by foreign language educators about receptive to the theory underlying communication ac-
unrealistic expectations for language classes, methods tivities, they have had very few models of these kinds
instructors might want to discuss empirical findings of activities and still need much guidance in prepar-
about the length of time usually required to learn ing them.
specific languages. To help methods students develop
more realistic goals for their students, they can also Conclusion
be asked to review their own experiences and docu- It is not news to methods instructors that their
ment the time they have invested in languagelearning. students enter the methods course with many
They are usually startled by the number of hours they preconceived ideas about language learning and
have spent to attain their current level of fluency and teaching. Indeed, they are confronted with these
are quick to increase their time estimates. beliefs on a daily basis whenever a student challenges
The Nature of Language Learning a lecture point or evaluates a teaching approach.
BALLI items 6, 12, 15, 19,20,22 However, most of the time, methods instructors must
Language learning is often a misunderstood rely on informal assessments of these beliefs, storing
phenomenon. Many people believe that learning in their minds a collectionof bits and pieces of private
another language is merely a matter of translating conversationsand fragments of class discussions. Just
from English or learninggrammar rules or vocabulary as the assessment of the linguistic backgrounds of
words. On this topic, methods students are more studentsinsures the most effectivelanguageteaching,
sophisticated.They understand that learninglanguage this paper has suggested that a systematicassessment
differs from learning other school subjects, that of student beliefs, such as that provided by the FLAS
language learning is a special kind of human learning. and BALLI, would greatly facilitate learning in the
Ir general, this understanding provides the methods foreign language methods course.
instructor with a good foundation for presenting a The question remains as to whether the use of the
comprehensivemodel of foreign language learning. FLAS and the BALLI leads to any long-term changes
However, the few students every semester who en- in teaching behavior. To date, there has been no
dorse the BALLI item that learning a language is systematic research relating the FLAS and BALLI to
mainly a matter of learning vocabulary words require teaching effectiveness or espoused beliefs in the subse-
immediate attention. This misconception should be quent teaching careers of methods students. Ex-
countered at the beginning of the methods course as perience using the instruments with both in-service
a student holding such a view would be unlikely to and preservice teachers indicates that in many cases
understand or appreciate the purpose and technique they share some of the same beliefs about language
of standard language teaching procedures. learning and teaching. However, teachers who have
Language Learning Strategies examined their beliefs with the FLAS and the BALLI
BALLI items 5,7, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16 can consciously access this knowledge when making
A number of BALLI items concern the process of decisions about language teaching, and most impor-
learning a language. Methods students consistently tantly, they have experienced a methods course which
state that it is important “to listen and repeat a lot” took their belief systems into account. Based on his
and to practice in the language laboratory. The own research and an extensive review of the literature,
BALLI also contains several items which address the Hunt (4) concludes that the effect of specific teacher
practice of spontaneous communication in the attitudes and personality types on teaching effec-
classroom. Interestingly, student opinions on these tiveness is less important than a teacher training
questions have changed recently. When I started us- sequence which considers the trainee in terms of the
ing the BALLI, methods students usually endorsed pretraining skills available so that training can be
the statements “You shouldn’t say anything in the specifically directed at areas of needed improvement.
language until you can say it correctly.” and “If you Continued use of the FLAS and BALLI as research
are allowed to make mistakes in the language, it will and training tools will contribute to an understanding
 19449720, 1985, 4, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1944-9720.1985.tb01811.x by <Shibboleth>[email protected], Wiley Online Library on [04/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
338 FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS
of why foreign language teachers act as they do and 2. De Garcia, Rebecca, Sue Reynolds, and Sandra J.
to the development of foreign language methods Savignon. “Foreign-LanguageAttitude Survey.” The
courses tailored to individual student needs. CanadianModern LanguageReview 32 (1976): 3 0 2 4 .
3. Horwitz, Elaine K.“Beliefs About Language Learn-
N ATPC
I.V n Y U
ing Inventory.” Unpublished instrument, The Univer-
‘It is not possible, of course, to distinguishabsolutely be- sity of Texas at Austin, 1981.
tween beliefs about language and beliefs about 4. Hunt, David E. “Teacher Personality, Teacher At-
language learning. Accordingly, the two questionnaires titude, and Teacher Behavior: Preferred Style and
discussed in this paper have some degree of overlap. Trainability.” Unpublished paper, Ontario Institute
for Studiesin Education, 1978.
REFERENCES 5. Savignon,Sandra J. “On theother Side of the Desk:
1. Gardner, Robert C., and Wallace E. Larnbert. At- A Look at Teacher Attitude and Motivation in Second-
tituda and Motivationin Serond-LangungeLearning. Language Learning.” The Canadian Modern
Rowley, MA: Newbury House, 1972. Language Review 32 (1976): 295-304.

Appendix A
Adapted from
FOREIGN LANGUAGE ATTITUDE SURVEY (FLAS)
Rebecca de Garcia, Sue Reynolds, Sandra J. Savignon
Copyright 1974 Nashville Metropolitan Public Schools
This attitude survey has been developed to serve as a tool for helping teachers explore their own attitudes and
assumptionsconcerning foreign language learning and teaching. React to each of the statements below by circl-
ing one of the following responses: 5-strongly agree; 1-strongly disagree.

1. Foreign languages are hard to learn. 5 4 3 2 1

2. Language learning should be fun. 5 4 3 2 1
3. “Proficiency” means correct application of the four skills. 5 4 3 2 1
4. The student’s motivation to continue language study is directly related to
his success in actually learning to speak the language. 5 4 3 2 1
5 . A good foreign language teacher does not need audio-visuals to build an ef-
fective program. 5 4 3 2 1
6. It is important for students to learn rules of grammar. 5 4 3 2 1
7. The teacher should always require that responses in the target language be
linguistically perfect. 5 4 3 2 1
8. The sound system of the foreign language should be taught separately at the
beginning of the first sequence of instruction along with phonetic
transcription. 5 4 3 2 1
9. Taped lessons generally lose student interest. 5 4 3 2 1
10. One problem with emphasizing oral competence is that there is no objec-
tive means of testing such competence. 5 4 3 2 1
11. The inclusion of cultural material in a second languagecourse increasesstu-
dent motivation to learn to speak the language. 5 4 3 2 1
12. Learning a second language requires much self discipline. 5 4 3 2 1
13. Pattern practice does not provide a meaningful context for learning to use
the target language. 5 4 3 2 1
14. Today’s students won’t take foreign languages because they don’t want to
work. 5 4 3 2 1
 19449720, 1985, 4, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1944-9720.1985.tb01811.x by <Shibboleth>[email protected], Wiley Online Library on [04/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
SEPTEMBER 1985 339

15. Language learning ability is innate; therefore, everyone should be capable

of learning a second language if he is capable of learning a first language. 5 4 3 2 1
16. The language laboratory is an indispensibledevice for teaching and learn-
ing a second language. 5 4 3 2 1
17. Second-language learning should begin in elementary school. 5 4 3 2 1
18. It usually happens that the major part of a student’s grade in a foreign
language course reflects his performance on written tests. 5 4 3 2 1
19. Simulated real-life situations should be used to teach conversation skills. 5 4 3 2 1
20. Foreign language teachers need not be fluent themselves in order to teach
effectively for communication. 5 4 3 2 1
21. Students should answer a question posed in the foreign language with a com-
plete sentence. 5 4 3 2 1
22. Speaking and listening are the skills which we should stress most in our
language classes. 5 4 3 2 1
23. #en a student makes syntactical errors, this should be regarded as a natural
and inevitable part of language acquisition. 5 4 3 2 1
24. If English teachers taught grammar as they should, it would be easier for
us to teach a second language. 5 4 3 2 1
25. The ability to exchange ideas in a spontaneous context requires skills far
beyond a knowledge of linguistic structures. 5 4 3 2 1

Appendix B
Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory (BALLI)
Teacher Version
Below are beliefs that some people have about learning foreign lanugages. Read each statement and then decide
if you: 1) strongly agree, 2) agree, 3) neither agree nor disagree, 4) disagree, 5) strongly disagree. Questions
4 and 11 are slightly different and you should mark them as indicated. There are no right or wrong answers.
We are simply interested in your opinions.

1. It is easier for children than adults to learn a foreign language. 5 4 3 2 1

2. Some people are born with a special ability which helps them learn a foreign
language. 5 4 3 2 1
3. Some languages are easier to learn than others. 5 4 3 2 1
4. The language I am planning to teach is:
1, a very difficult language
2. a difficult language
3. a language of medium difficulty
4. an easy language
5 . a very easy language
5. It’s important to speak a foreign language with an excellent accent. 5 4 3 2 1
6. It is necessary to know the foreign culture in order to speak a foreignlanguage. 5 4 3 2 1
7. You shouldn’t say anything in the language until you can say it correctly. 5 4 3 2 1
8. It is easier for someone who already speaks a foreign language to learn
another one. 5 4 3 2 1
 19449720, 1985, 4, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1944-9720.1985.tb01811.x by <Shibboleth>[email protected], Wiley Online Library on [04/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
340 FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS

9. It is better to learn a foreign language in the foreign country. 5 4 3 2 1

10. It’s ok to guess if you don’t know a word in the foreign language. 5 4 3 2 1
11. If someone spent one hour a day learning a language, how long would it take
him to become fluent?
1. less than a year
2. 1-2years
3. 3-5 years
4. 5-10 years
5 . You can’t learn a language in 1 hour a day
12. Learning a foreign language is mostly a matter of learning a lot of new
vocabulary words. 5 4 3 2 1
13. It’s important to repeat and practice a lot. 5 4 3 2 1
14. If you are allowed to make mistakes in the beginning it will be hard to get rid
of them later on. 5 4 3 2 1
15. Learning a foreign language is mostly a matter of learning a lot of grammar
rules. 5 ‘ 4 3 2 1
16. It’s important to practice in the language laboratory. 5 4 3 2 1
17. Women are better than men at learning foreign languages. 5 4 3 2 1
18. It is easier to speak than understand a foreign language. 5 4 3 2 1
19. Learning a foreign language is different from learning other school subjects. 5 4 3 2 1
20. Learning another language is a matter of translating from English. 5 4 3 2 1
21. If students learn to speak this language very well, it will help them get a good
job. 5 4 3 2 1
22. It is easier to read and write a language than to speak and understand it. 5 4 3 2 1
23. People who are good at math and science are not good at learning foreign
languages. 5 4 3 2 1
24. Americans think that it is important to speak a foreign language. 5 4 3 2 1
25. People who speak more than one language well are very intelligent. 5 4 3 2 1
26. Americans are good at learning foreign languages. 5 4 3 2 1
27. Everyone can learn to speak a foreign language. 5 4 3 2 1

GOOD NEWS!
An important improvement has been made to the ACTFL Group Life Insurance
Plan as of June 1, 1985. Members participating in the Plan can now continue to be
insured up to age 80. Formerly, coverage terminated at age 70.
For information about this plan, or any of the other group Plans (Disability In-
come Plan, Hospital Money Plan, Catastrophe Major Medical Insurance Plan), please
contact: ACTFL Member Services, 579 Broadway, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706.