System 27 (1999) 557576

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Cultural and situational inuences on foreign language learners' beliefs about language learning: a review of BALLI studies
Elaine K. Horwitz
Foreign Language Education, SZB 528, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA

Abstract Understanding learner beliefs about language learning is essential to understanding learner strategies and planning appropriate language instruction; however, to date there has been no examination of how these beliefs may dier across learner groups. This paper reviews representative studies (including American learners of French, Spanish, German, and Japanese, US university instructors of French, and Korean, Taiwanese, and Turkish heritage English as a Foreign Language English [EFL] students) using the ``Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI)'' to identify similarities and dierences across cultural groups. Although instances of diering beliefs between and among the American, Korean, and Turkish heritage groups were identied, an examination of the responses to individual BALLI items did not yield clear-cut cultural dierences in beliefs. The dierences between the instructors of French and American learners suggest that beliefs may vary based on age, stage of learning, and professional status. Several of the dierences identied in the various American groups and the two groups of Korean and Turkish heritage learners may be more clearly attributable to dierences in learning circumstances than culture. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Individual dierences; Beliefs about language learning; Foreign language aptitude; Cultural dierences; Language learning contexts; American language learners; Korean language learners; Turkish language learners; Taiwanese language learners; Learners of less commonly taught languages

1. Introduction In recent years it has become axiomatic to view the language, learner as an active participant in the language learning experience. Language teachers now consider the learners' strategies and motivations as integral elements in the design and
* E-mail address: horwitz@mail.utexas.edu 0346-251X/99/$ - see front matter # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0346-251X(99)00050-0

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implementation of eective language instruction. In this way, teachers have come to view language learners as individuals approaching language learning in their own unique way. As this issue reects, one of the important areas of current interest about language learners is their beliefs about language learning. Learner beliefs have the potential to inuence both their experiences and actions as language learners. In 1987 and 1988, I argued that it was important to understand learner beliefs about language learning in order to understand learner approaches to and satisfaction with language instruction and oered an instrument, the ``Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory (BALLI)'', to collect these beliefs systematically. At that time, my approach to learner beliefs was essentially an individual one. Although the BALLI allows teachers and researchers to examine the beliefs of groups of language learners, I felt that it was necessary to remember that every group of learnerswhether the term group referred to a nationality, specic target language, or individual teacher's classroomwould likely include proponents of all possible beliefs about language learning including those elicited by the BALLI. When I presented the responses of groups of learners, I maintained that the beliefs I reported were merely examples of the kinds of beliefs that teachers might encounter in their own classrooms so that teachers and researchers would come to understand how these opinions might inuence how learners approached and felt about their language classes. While it is still entirely appropriate to attend to the distinctive characteristics of each language learner, language teachers also have an inherent interest in the more general aspects of learner beliefs. Teachers cannot tailor instruction to each individual belief of each individual student and must out of necessity deal with groups of language learners. Teachers may be interested in the beliefs of their individual students but must deal with the major group dierences on a day-to-day basis. Although beliefs about language learning would seem to be naturally related to cultural and situational dierences, to date there has been no examination of how they dier across learner groups. Since its publication, the BALLI has been used in at least 13 published studies and doctoral dissertations with a variety of student and teacher populations, and beliefs about language learning have been found to relate to learner strategies (Yang, 1992; Park, 1995) as well as to learner anxiety about language learning (Horwitz, 1989; Truitt, 1995) but, thus far, no attempt has been made to consider cultural dierences that might exist between the groups studied. Therefore, as the number of BALLI studies increases, it is now appropriate to consider the question of variety and uniformity of learner responses, especially among groups of learners from dierent cultural backgrounds. Specically, although the original conceptualization of the BALLI was to demonstrate individuality in beliefs about language learning, the questionnaire can and has been used to look for similarities as well as dierences in beliefs among groups of learners, and it is the purpose of this paper to examine this group variation. As it is beyond the scope of a single paper to compare all the beliefs of all the groups of language learners which have been studied with the BALLI to date, this paper will look at a sample of the available studies selected to represent a range of cultural groups and language learning contexts. Specically, this paper will examine the following studies: Horwitz (1988) which catalogued the beliefs of rst semester

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American university students of French, German, and Spanish; Kern (1995) which collected and compared the beliefs of American university French students and their instructors; Oh (1996) which examined the beliefs of American university students of Japanese, Kunt (1997) which compared the beliefs of two groups of Turkish and Turkish-Cypriot pre-university learners in North Cyprus;1 Park (1995) and Truitt (1995) which both used a sample of Korean university students of English; and Yang (1992) which studied the beliefs of Taiwanese university students of English. The species of these studies are summarized in Fig. 1. These particular studies were chosen because they allow for several interesting comparisons. In addition, their similar research methodologies facilitate group comparisons. Horwitz, Kern, and Oh all look at American students of foreign languages; Horwitz and Kern treat commonly taught languages in the USA (French, Spanish, German), while Oh deals with students of a less commonly taught language, Japanese. In addition, Kern considers the beliefs of instructors of French, a group which generally shares the cultural background of the learners but not the same professional status, age, or stage of language learning. If beliefs are culturally dependent, then all these groups should share them. A similar argument can be made for Kunt's subjects. They are all of Turkish or Turkish-Cypriotic heritage in two dierent pre-university English programs in Cyprus. The Park and Truitt studies also allow for a comparison of learners of the same nationality, in their case Korean, while the Yang study adds a group of learners, Taiwanese students, who are often viewed as similar in language learning approaches to Korean students by English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers. On the other hand, dierences within the same cultural group would seem to imply the inuence of other factors such as the specic language learning situation. Before turning to the specic beliefs associated with these groups of learners, an important caveat must be noted. It must be remembered that the groups in

Fig. 1. The label Turkish heritage will be used throughout this paper to refer to Kunt's (1997) mixed groups of Turkish and Turkish-Cypriotic learners.
1

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this paper, like all groups of people, dier in innumerable ways in addition to cultural background or language learning context. Therefore, any group dierences may stem from these other variables rather than the cultural dierences that are being focused on here. Importantly, the groups dier in terms of a number of characteristics which would seem to be potentially related to beliefs about language learning. For example, the American foreign language students were beginning language learners or at least enrolled in beginning language classes, while the EFL students had studied English since middle school. In addition, most of the subjects were university freshmen or sophomores, but the two Turkish heritage groups in the Kunt study were pre-university students enrolled in a college preparatory program in order to develop the English skills necessary for university entrance. One of the groups in the Kern study was composed of language instructors rather than language learners. (Although it is possible to conceive of nonnative teachers as advanced language learners.) Thus, the reader should also consider that any dierences highlighted in this article may be inuenced by stage of language learning, university status, and in the case of Kern's subjects, professional status. 2. Comparisons of learner beliefs The following discussion will consider similarities and dierences in learner beliefs as reported in the studies listed above. The discussion will be organized by the BALLI categories outlined by Horwitz (1987). `The diculty of language learning', `foreign language aptitude', `the nature of language learning', `learning and communication strategies', and `motivations and expectations'. Not all BALLI items were used in every study, and space limitations further limit the number of BALLI items which can be discussed here. As the BALLI is composed of 34 discrete items all rated on a ve-point Likert scale, it is dicult to represent all the variability in learner responses in a single table. For this reason, the following tables will report the percentage of respondents for the modal response for each item in each sample. In other words, each table reports for each item whether the modal group (largest percentage) of students in each group agreed or strongly agreed with an item, disagreed or strongly disagreed with it, or were neutral about it. This is also the case for the multiple-choice items where the most `popular' or modal response for each subject group will be reported. In either case, it must be remembered that in all groups, there was variability in learner responses for every item. 2.1. Beliefs about the diculty of language learning Table 1 lists modal responses in the seven studies to the BALLI items concerning the diculty of language learning. These items address both the general diculty of learning a second language as well as perceptions of the diculty of specic target languages. In this way, these items can gauge if learners of the various target languages perceive their task to be dierentially dicult.

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Table 1 Modal percentage agreement with `Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory' (BALLI) items concerning the diculty of language learning Item 1a American (Horwitz, 1988) German French Spanish (Kern, 1995) French (students) French (instructors) (Oh, 1996) Japanese (beginners) Japanese (intermediate) Korean (Park, 1995) EFL (Truitt, 1995) EFL Taiwanese (Yang, 1992) EFL Turkish heritage (Kunt, 1997) EFL (sample 1) EFL (sample 2)
a b

Item 2b

Item 3c

Item 4d

88 86 86 90 67 89 87

58e 54e 59e 60e 67e 48f 46f

54 54 52 70 54 48 73

35f 38f 17f 37e 34e 50e 43e

68 63

56f 41e

73 59

na 44e

67

45e

58g

39f

69 72

56e 59e

67 74

38f 39f

Item 1: Some languages are easier to learn than others. Item 2: The language that I am studying is: (1) a very dicult language; (2) a dicult language; (3) a language of medium diculty; (4) an easy language; and (5) a very easy language. c Item 3: I believe that I will ultimately learn to speak. this language very well. d Item 4: If someone spent 1 h a day learning a language, how long would it take for them to speak the language very well? (1) less than a year; (2) 1-2 years; (3) 3-5 years; and (5) you can't learn a language in 1 h day. e Indicates response 3 for items 2 and 4. f Indicates response 2 for items 2 and 4. g Neutral.

2.1.1. General diculty of language learning (item 1) With respect to the general diculty of language learning, it appears that the Asian and Turkish heritage learners of English, whose agreement with the item ranged from 63 to 72%, were less strongly convinced than the American learnersresponses ranging from 86 to 90%that some languages are easier to learn than others. Interestingly the responses of the instructors of French in the Kern study (67%

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E.K. Horwitz / System 27 (1999) 557576

agreement) were more similar to the EFL students abroad than to the American students. It might be that the students of English and the American instructors were all more advanced language learners and had therefore overcome initial perceptions of the `foreignness' of their target language and settled into a language learning routine. Alternatively, since English is both required and highly important in Korea, Turkey and North Cyprus, and Taiwan, it may be that language learning is seen as synonymous with English learning, and these learners may not have considered very much the relative diculty of learning a language other than English. 2.1.2. Relative diculty of the target language (item 2) The next item asks subjects to rate the relative diculty of the target language they were studying. The American students of more commonly taught languages (French, Spanish, German) were relatively consistent with almost 60% of them judging their target language as `a language of medium diculty', and, in this case, the instructors of French shared their students' opinion of the diculty of French. Almost 50% of Oh's American learners of Japanese, on the other hand, judged Japanese to be a relatively dicult language. English was most generally perceived as a language of medium diculty by the EFL learners. Almost 60% of the Turkish heritage subjects and approximately 40% of the Taiwanese learners and Truitt's Korean learners shared this opinion. However, almost 60% of Park's Korean subjects judged English to be a relatively dicult language pointing to the possibility of a belief dierence in Korean subjects on a very basic perception assumption about the diculty of their task. It may be the case that Park's Korean subjects perceived a greater utilitarian value to their target language and, thus had higher and more difcult to attain, learning goals. Or, they may have been less successful at it than Truitt's group. The learners of Japanese were also studying a language which is perceived among Americans to have a high instrumental value and may have been more serious about language learning and have had higher instrumental motivation than the American students of the more commonly studied languages. On the other hand, Japanese is typically viewed as a dicult language by Americans, and these learners may just have been reecting this opinion. 2.1.3. Optimism about language learning (item 3) The next two items in this group address individual learners' optimism about language learning and their estimates of how long it takes to learn a language. With the exception of the Taiwanese subjects, all groups agreed that they expected to ``ultimately learn to speak this language very well''. Optimism was highest (approximately 70%) among the Korean subjects (in Park's sample only), the second year Japanese students, the French students (in Kern's sample only), and both groups of Turkish heritage learners. Therefore, we again see variation in the two groups of Korean learners who show a 14% dierence on this item. There is substantial variation in the American learners as well. The rst and second year Japanese students diered by 25% on this item, and at least 12% more of Kern's French students agreed with this item than the other American rst year

E.K. Horwitz / System 27 (1999) 557576

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learners of French, Spanish, German, and Japanese. Interestingly, the responses of the instructors of French (54% agree) were more in line with the other rst year students than their own. The Taiwanese learners were the least optimistic of all the groups (58% neutral on the item) possibly reecting a cultural inhibition on self-praise. 2.1.4. Estimates of time it will take to learn a language (item 4) The nal item in this group is interesting because it asks learners to estimate how long it takes to learn a second language if a learner spends an hour a day studying. Horwitz (1988) complained that the modal response for beginning university students of 12 years represented a gross underestimate of the complexity of language learning. In the studies under review here, the Taiwanese and the Turkish heritage students oer similar estimates to Horwitz's German, French, and Spanish learners. This is a somewhat puzzling assessment in that the Taiwanese and Turkish heritage learners had likely already spent more than 2 years in language study, and the Turkish learners were actually engaged in remedial language study to gain university entrance. The other groups (both Japanese groups, both Kern's French students and instructors, and Truitt's Korean group) expressed a somewhat more realistic opinion of 35 years, although the Korean students had already spent at least 5 years in language study and likely were also not yet speaking English `very well'. 2.2. Beliefs about foreign language aptitude The next group of items addresses the issue of foreign language aptitude. Table 2 reports these results. These items include both beliefs about the existence of aptitude and opinions about the kind of individuals who possess it and are important as they would seem to be related to learners' expectations for their own success. 2.2.1. Child superiority (item 1) The very common belief that it is easier for children than adults to learn a foreign language was supported by the overwhelming majority of all groups (8396%); however, the weakest support, only 67%, came from the American instructors of French. In addition, Truitt's Korean subjects and one group of American French students (Kern's) supported the item somewhat less strongly than the other groups (78 and 79%, respectively). 2.2.2. General aptitude (item 2) Most groups also supported the general concept of foreign language aptitude (``some people have a special abilityF F F''), but the range of endorsement, was much greater on this item. The Taiwanese and intermediate learners of Japanese showed almost 90% agreement, while the percentage agreement for the other American learners and both Korean groups ranged from 46 to 66%. Importantly three groups, the instructors of French (59% disagree), and both Turkish heritage groups (47 and 48% disagree), reject the notion of foreign language aptitude.

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E.K. Horwitz / System 27 (1999) 557576

Table 2 Modal percentage agreement with `Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory' (BALLI) items concerning foreign language aptitude Item 1a American (Horwitz, 1998) German French Spanish (Kern, 1996) French (students) French (instructors) (Oh, 1996) Japanese (beginners) Japanese (intermediate) Korean (Park, 1995) EFL (Truitt, 1995) EFL Taiwanese (Yang, 1992) EFL Turkish heritage (Kunt, 1997) EFL (sample 1) EFL (sample 2)
a b c d e

Item 2b

Item 3c

88 83 85 79 67 92 96

52 46 51 53 59e 66 85

41 44d 39d 58 52 41e 41e

na 78

50 60

46d 55e

83

86

43d

89 93

47e 48e

53e 49e

Item 1: It is easier for children than adults to learn a foreign language. Item 2: Some people have a special ability for learning a foreign language. Item 3: I have a special ability for learning foreign languages. Neutral. Disagree.

2.2.3. Personal aptitude (item 3) With respect to their own aptitude for language learning, there was also great variability among the groups. Among American participants, both Kern's students and instructors of French felt that they had a ``special ability'' for language learning (58 and 52%), but both beginning and advanced learners of Japanese (41% in both groups) were unconvinced of their own language learning ability. Interestingly in a response consistent with their previous response dismissing the notion of special language learning abilities, both groups of Turkish heritage learners (53 and 49%) also disagreed. On the other hand, the response of the learners of Japanese diers from the common assumption that more talented language learners in the USA are

E.K. Horwitz / System 27 (1999) 557576

565

attracted to the less commonly taught languages. These learners of Japanese, at least, did not perceive themselves to have particularly high levels of foreign language aptitude. 2.3. Beliefs about the language learning process The next set of BALLI items goes to the heart of opinions about the nature of the language learning process. They represent students' ideas about what it means to learn a language and how to go about it. These items asked subjects to indicate if language learning diers from other types of learning and whether they believe that vocabulary learning, grammar learning, and/or translation are primary in language learning. The responses were mixed for all three aspects of language learning. 2.3.1. Language study compared to other subjects (item 1) The rst item in this group concerned perceptions of dierences between language learning and other types of learning. All groups agreed that learning a foreign language is dierent from learning other academic subjects (learner percentages ranging from 66 to 87%), but perhaps surprisingly, this item drew less support from the French language instructors (59%) than any of the student groups, EFL, or American. The lowest levels of support among learners occurred in the Taiwanese subjects (66%) and Truitt's Korean subjects (68%). (Park's Korean subjects did not respond to this item.) 2.3.2. Primacy of vocabulary learning (item 2) With respect to vocabulary learning, all groups of EFL students agreed that the most important part of learning a language was learning vocabulary words (agreement ranging from 42 to 79%), while the responses for the American subjects varied. The French (both groups), German, and Spanish, learners disagreed with this item (disagreement ranging from 45 to 60%), while the learners of Japanese agreed. The American instructors of French disagreed more strongly than any other group (92%). 2.3.3. Primacy of grammar study (item 3) Beliefs about grammar learning also varied strongly among the groups. Most groups disagreed that the most important part of learning a foreign language is learning the grammar (disagreement ranging from 29 to 81%), but the Turkish heritage learners agreed strongly (72 and 80%), and the intermediate students of Japanese agreed to a great extent (44%). In addition, 36% of the beginning Japanese students were neutral about the item. The Korean learners dismissed grammar learning more strongly than any of the other student groups, but there was a 20% range in disagreement between Park's and Truitt's subjects (61 and 81%, respectively). It is interesting that the Korean subjects reject the primacy of grammar learning so much more strongly than the Taiwanese subjects (45% disagreement) who also typically experience heavily grammar-based curricula in their English classes.

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2.3.4. Primacy of translation (item 4) Responses concerning the importance of translation also drew very dierent reactions. Horwitz (1988) reported that this was the only BALLI item which showed dierences among the three language groups in that study. At least 70% of the Spanish and German students agreed that learning to translate from their native language to their target language was the most important part of language learning, while 65% of the French students disagreed with the statement. At that time, I speculated that the complicated French phonetic system or instructional dierences may have accounted for this contrast. Interestingly, in the present comparison, Kern's French learners are the only other students who also discount the importance of translation in language learning. (One hundred per cent of the instructors of French disagreed with this item as well.) Most of the EFL students and the American students of Spanish, German, and Japanese believed that learning to translate was the most important part of language learning, although there was wide variation in the amount of support. Only 38% of Park's Korean learners endorsed this item, while over 70% of the American groups did so. It should also be noted that Truitt's Korean subjects supported translation much more strongly (62%) than Park's subjects (38%). The Taiwanese, however, subjects rejected this idea strongly (72%). With the exception of believing in the primacy of vocabulary learning in language learning, the Korean and Taiwanese learners seem less traditional in their beliefs about the nature of language learning than many EFL professionals would have anticipated. It may be that these learners had already spend a lot of time studying grammar and practicing translation but were dissatised with their levels of language achievement (Table 3). 2.4. Beliefs about communication Table 4 presents responses to the BALLI items which concern beliefs about how to communicate in the target language. These items address the students' perceptions of the importance of correctness and the acceptability of guessing. 2.4.1. Importance of accent (item 1) All groups, with the exception of the American instructors of French, agreed that it was important to speak with an excellent accent, but support for this item was considerably weaker among the American students of French, Spanish, and German (agreement ranging from 40 to 58%). The support among the EFL students was overwhelming: 97% in the Taiwanese subjects, 89 and 81% in the Korean subjects, and 78 and 80% in the Turkish heritage subjects. 2.4.2. Beliefs about guessing (items 2 and 3) There was also a fair amount of consensus on the two items on guessing: ``You shouldn't say anything in a foreign language until you can say it correctly'' (disagreement ranging from 69 to 92%) and ``It's o.k. to guess if you don't know a word in a foreign language'' (agreement ranging from 38 to 85%). Surprisingly, most of the EFL learners were even more willing to guess than the American learners.

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Table 3 Modal percentage agreement with `Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory' (BALLI) items concerning the nature of language learning Item 1a American (Horwitz, 1998) German French Spanish (Kern, 1995) French (students) French (instructors) (Oh, 1996) Japanese (beginners) Japanese (intermediate) Korean (Park, 1995) EFL (Truitt, 1995) EFL Taiwanese (Yang, 1992) EFL Turkish heritage (Kunt, 1997) EFL (sample 1) EFL (sample 2)
a b

Item 2b

Item 3c

Item 4d

76 79 86 76 59 82 87

45e 49e 49e 60e 92e 42 55

40e 41e 29e 50e 83e 36f 44

70 65e 75 75e 100e 64 71

na 68

62 42

61e 81e

38 62

66

55

45e

72e

72 75

76 79

72 80

45 57

Item 1: Learning a foreign language is dierent than learning other academic subjects. Item 2: The most important part of learning a foreign language is learning vocabulary words. c Item 3: The most important part of learning a foreign language is learning the grammar. d Item 4: The most important part of learning a foreign language is learning how to translate from my native language. e Disagree. f Neutral.

Responses to both of these items indicated that the great majority of students understand that it is impossible to speak a foreign language without making mistakes and guessing. These responses contrast somewhat with responses to the last item in this group: ``If beginning students are permitted to make errors in a foreign language, it will be dicult for them to speak correctly later on.'' The majority of respondents in most groups agreed with this statement, although the Taiwanese learners supported it much more strongly than any other group (80%). In contrast, 62% of Truitt's Korean subjects disagreed with this contention. In addition, both Kern's American learners and instructors of French and the more advanced American students of

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E.K. Horwitz / System 27 (1999) 557576

Table 4 Modal percentage agreement with `Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory' (BALLI) items concerning communication strategies Item 1a American (Horwitz, 1998) German French Spanish (Kern, 1995) French (students) French (instructors) (Oh, 1996) Japanese (beginners) Japanese (intermediate) Korean (Park, 1995) EFL (Truitt, 1995) EFL Taiwanese (Yang, 1992) EFL Turkish heritage (Kunt, 1997) EFL (sample 1) EFL (sample 2)
a b

Item 2b

Item 3c

Item 4d

Item 5e

40 52 58 50 17 71 90

83f 73f 77f 88f 100f 69f 75f

43 38 62 68 75 56 73

48 57 55 33 25 53 39

44 59 51 na na 41 44

89 81

90f 93f

76 73

na 62f

39 78

97

92f

85

80

39

78 80

83f 81f

72 58

43 53

50f 60f

Item 1: It is important to speak a foreign language with an excellent pronunciation. Item 2: You shouldn't say anything in a foreign language until you can say it correctly. c Item 3: It's o.k. to guess if you don't know a word in a foreign language. d Item 4: If beginning students are permitted to make errors in a foreign language, it will be dicult to speak correctly later on. e Item 5: I feel timid speaking in a foreign language with other people. f Disagree.

Japanese were weaker in their support (25% for the instructors and 33 and 39% for the students). There was also a 10% dierence (43 and 53%) on this item between the two Turkish heritage groups in the Kunt study. This same 10% dierence appears in the responses to the nal item in this group as well. ``I feel timid speaking in a foreign language with other people.'' The majority of both groups of Turkish heritage students reported that they did not feel uncomfortable speaking English with other people (50 and 60%). The Turkish groups were the only ones which did not report a modal response of shyness when speaking their target language. This itemwhich is not clearly a statement about a belief about language learningalso

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draws the widest dierence among cultural groups found in this review. Thirty-nine per cent of Park's Korean subjects (the same percentage as the Taiwanese subjects) report feeling timid when speaking English, but a full 78% of Truitt's Korean subjects report anxiety when speaking. 2.5. Motivation and learner expectations The nal group of BALLI items concerns motivation and learner expectations about language learning, and in them we see the clearest cases of disagreement between the American foreign language learners and the EFL students. 2.5.1. Job expectations and perceived importance of specic target language (items 1 and 2) With respect to better job opportunities for successful language learners, the American studentswith the exception of the learners of Japanesewere either negative or neutral, while the EFL learners were overwhelmingly positive. It may be that American learners who study Japanese do so because they anticipate using the language professionally (and that there are indeed better job possibilities for students of Japanese than for students of French, German, or even Spanish) or that a less commonly taught language like Japanese attracts a more motivated and careeroriented type of student. Even the instructors of French were neutral on this item although they were already teaching French and (presumably) encouraging students to study it. One group of French learners (Kern's) and French instructors (92%) disagreed with the item ``people in my country feel that it is important to speak the language I am studying'', while the other American students, including Horwitz's group of French students, agreed. Not surprising since English learning is generally perceived to be more important around the world than is foreign language learning in the USA, the non-American groups espoused this belief more strongly than the Americans. With respect to the nal item in this group, there was a lack of consensus among the groups about wanting to get to know speakers of their target language better. One of the most surprising responses came from the instructors of French who overwhelmingly disagreed (92%) about wanting to get to know French-speakers better. In contrast, most of the American language studentswith the exception of Horwitz's group of German learners who were primarily neutralagreed. The EFL students, on the other hand, did not embrace language study for the purpose of getting to know native speakers. All EFL groups primarily disagreed with this item, but their responses ranged from 38% in Park's Korean group to 80% in one group of Turkish heritage learners. In addition, variation occurred within cultural groups. The other group of Turkish heritage learners recorded only 64% disagreement, and there was a 28% dierence in responses to this item in the two Korean groups. It is possible that instrumental motivation such as wanting to learn a language for job reasons is more consistent in cultural groups, while integrative types of motivation like wanting to get to know target language speakers may be a more individual matter (Table 5).

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Table 5 Modal percentage agreement with `Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory' (BALLI) items concerning learner motivation and expectations Item 1a American (Horwitz, 1998) German French Spanish (Kern, 1995) French (students) French (instructors) (Oh, 1996) Japanese (beginners) Japanese (intermediate) Korean (Park, 1995) EFL (Truitt, 1995) EFL Taiwanese (Yang, 1992) EFL Turkish Heritage (Kunt, 1997) EFL (sample 1) EFL (sample 2)
a

Item 2b

Item 3c

44d 44e 39d 47e 84e 44 62

64 46 54 55d 92d 52 55

49e 48 46 53 92d 69 na

87 74

82 78

38d 66d

88

90

47d

87 90

76 74

80d 64d

job.
b c d e

Item 1: If I learn the language that I am studying very well I will have better opportunities for a good Item 2: People in my country feel that it is important to speak the language that I am studying. Item 3: I would like to learn a foreign language so that I can get to know its' native speakers better. Disagree. Neutral.

3. Summary of major dierences A number of belief dierences between and among all the learning groups were identied in the preceding discussion. This section will summarize the major dierences between the American students and the EFL learners, the American students and instructors, the American students of Japanese and the American students of the more commonly studied languages, the two groups of Korean learners, and the two groups of Turkish heritage learners.

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3.1. Contrasts between American foreign language learners and Asian and Turkish heritage EFL learners There were several dierences identied between the American foreign language learners and the EFL learners suggesting both cultural and learning context dierences. These groups diered primarily in their beliefs related to the diculty and nature of language learning and to their motivations and expectations. The Asian and Turkish heritage learners were less convinced than the Americans about the relative diculty of some languages but believed more strongly that learning vocabulary is key to foreign language learning. In addition, the motivations and expectations of these groups diered, the Asian and Turkish heritage groups being motivated instrumentally and the American groups tending toward more integrative motivations. The specic belief dierences are listed in Fig. 2. While it is possible that these items may reect some amount of cultural dierences, it seems more likely that they have to do with the relative status of language learning in the various countries, and indicate that social, political, and economic forces can inuence learner beliefs. This would especially seem to be the case with items which contain a strong motivational component such as items 35. Dierences in stage of language learning should also be considered. 3.2. Dierences among American groups There were also a number of belief dierences among the American groups. The primary dierences occurred between the instructors of French and the American learners and the students of Japanese and the students of the more commonly studied languages. Both groups of French learners and the French instructors diered on a wide range of belief items having to do with the diculty of language learning, language learning aptitude, the nature of language learning, the importance of accent, and motivation for language teaming. These items are listed in Fig. 3. As the instructors of French and students are primarily members of the same cultural group, the dierences between these two groups suggest that these beliefs may be inuenced by factors other than culture such as age, stage of learning, and professional status. Item 6, which is a motivation item, is particularly interesting in this regard as the students show a much greater desire to get to know native speakers of French than do the instructors. It is also possible that some of the instructors'

Fig. 2.

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Fig. 3.

beliefs have been aected by explicit instruction in second language acquisition that they may have received during their teacher training. In fact, items 15 include topics typically addressed in second language acquisition classes such as foreign language aptitude, age dierences in language learning, and accent acquisition. The American learners of Japanese also showed substantial belief dierences with the American learners of the other foreign languages. These belief dierences related primarily to the diculty of language learning, foreign language aptitude, the nature of language learning, and expectations about job opportunities. The learners of Japanese generally judged Japanese to be a more dicult target language and estimated a longer amount of time for language learning. Interestingly, although they endorsed the concept of special language learning abilities more strongly than the other learners, they were less positive about their own language learning abilities. With respect to language learning practices, the learners of Japanese generally believed in the importance of vocabulary and grammar learning while the other American learners did not. Finally, unlike the other American language learners, the American learners of Japanese anticipated that their language learning would lead to increased job opportunities. The specic belief items are listed in Fig. 4. As noted earlier, it is often believed that Japanese instruction attracts a dierent type of student than the more commonly taught languages in the USA. These ndings would seem to support this view. The Japanese learners seem to have a more realistic assessment of the time involved in language learning and a faith in

Fig. 4.

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more traditional language learning strategies than their counterparts studying other languages. In addition these ndings may suggest that Japanese in the USA, like English abroad, has greater instrumental value than the other languages. 3.3. Dierences within same culture EFL groups Belief dierences were also identied within the two Korean and Turkish heritage groups. The items of major dierence for the Korean learners are displayed in Fig. 5. Among the Korean learners, Truitt's judged English to be a language of medium diculty while Park's group primarily judged it to be a dicult language. Conversely, Park's learners were more optimistic about how well they would ultimately speak English than Truitt's learners. There were also dierences with respect to grammar learning and learning to translate. While both groups disagreed that the most important part of learning a language was learning the grammar and agreed that the most important part of language learning was learning to translate from Korean, there was approximately a 20% dierence between the two groups on both items. Similarly, almost 40% more of Truitt's group reported feeling shy when speaking English with other people. Truitt's group was also much stronger in their view that they did not want to learn English in order to get to know English native speakers better. The dierences between the two Korean groups are especially interesting as the two groups share a common culture and, unlike the American learners, have generally experienced a common foreign language curriculum. It would seem, therefore, that these dierences are more likely due to individual or current situational dierences. It is also possible that these dierences reect the grouping of these EFL learners based on university entrance examination results. Finally, the Turkish heritage groups also diered to a reasonable extent on several beliefs having to do with English communication and getting to know native speakers better. These dierences are particularly interesting because in addition to sharing the same cultural heritage, both groups have the same status as preuniversity students but attend dierent universities which suggests that these students may have experienced dierent instructional approaches (Fig. 6).

Fig. 5.

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Fig. 6.

4. Discussion In contrast to Section 2, Section 3 tended to highlight the belief dierences within participants of the same cultural background rather than their similarities. It would seem that a number of within-cultural group dierences exist and that the dierences identied in the various American groups and the two groups of Korean and Turkish heritage learners may be more clearly attributable to dierences in learning circumstances than cultural dierences. Group dierences on motivational issues such as wanting to get to know native speakers better and anticipating increased job opportunities due to foreign language prociency were especially common and, as Gardner (1985) suggests in his social-psychological model of language learning, may be an important factor as to why some individuals perform so dierently than the majority of learners in the same language learning context. However, even after examining BALLI responses of several groups of learners on a large sample of items, clear-cut conclusions do not seem possible. Since the BALLI does not yield a composite score, comparison between various groups of learners has been dicult. This review only reported similarities and dierences in modal responses among the groups. Such comparisons necessarily obscure variation in minority responses among the groups. The sheer number of comparisons also makes conclusions dicult. In addition it is not clear whether the several instances of diering beliefs across cultural groups identied should be interpreted as cultural dierences. First of all, the within-culture dierences in BALLI responses appear to be at least as striking as the between-group dierences. Moreover, in the context of group dierences, a number of additional questions must be considered: How similar are the various same culture groups reviewed here? Do they dier on any important characteristics which might contribute to their dierential responses? How much random variation on these kinds of items should be expected? How much variation is necessary for a conclusion of cultural dierences? Must groups dier on individual items or a broad range of items to be judged as having cultural dierences? For these reasons, even though several noteworthy group dierences have been highlighted here, it seems premature to conclude that there are important cultural dierences in beliefs about language learning as elicited by the BALLI. Moreover, the results suggest that another category of group dierences, the language learning context, should also be considered as a source of variation in BALLI responses. The responses of the American learners of Japanese, for example,

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sometimes diered from those of the other groups of American learners. On the item concerning the importance of translation, the responses of both groups of French learners diered from the American learners of Spanish, German, and Japanese. When dierential responses on this item between learners of Spanish and German and learners of French was originally identied in Horwitz (1988), I speculated that the dierence might be due to either dierent instructional approaches in the three language programs or to the particular nature of French as a target language. It seems that such factors could easily play a role in the kinds of dierences found in the response patterns reported here and should be explored in order to explain the within-group cultural dierences such as those observed in the Korean and Turkish heritage groups. 5. Conclusion In an eort to identify cultural dierences in learner beliefs, this paper has reviewed the individual beliefs of groups of language learners as reported in several studies which utilized the BALLI. Unfortunately, this data did not point to any unambiguous dierences in the groups examined. For that reason, in spite of a number of intriguing group dierences, it seems premature to conclude that beliefs about language learning vary by cultural group. Rather, the results point to the possibility that within-group dierences, whether related to individual characteristics or dierences in instructional practices, likely account for as much variation as the cultural dierences. These dierences should be examined more closely in the future. It is entirely possible that age, stage of life, or language learning context may also be important sources of within-group variation in learner beliefs. The learners discussed here all studied their target language as a foreign rather than second language. It is possible such contextual dierences in the language learning situation as well as specic classroom practices, as suggested above, would have an impact on learner beliefs. In addition., dierences in belief strength as well as dierences in the beliefs themselves should be considered in future investigations. On the other hand, these results point to several other important conclusions. First of all, it is clear that although there is some tendency among group members to share a particular belief, all populations contained minority groups of learners, often encompassing reasonably large numbers, who endorse beliefs counter to the majority of learners in their group. Whether these minority individuals have dierent learning styles, educational experiences, or other outside inuences, is impossible to say. We must recognize, however, that even if particular cultural groups are later found to have strong anities for particular language learning beliefs, teachers should always anticipate learners who march to their own drum. Secondly, the large amount of commonality across the beliefs cannot be ignored. Perhaps there is a world culture of language learning and teaching which encourages learners of many cultural backgrounds to perceive language learning very similarly. It is also possible that some other shared characteristicsuch as the age of these learnersaccounts for much of this overlap. In addition, the beliefs elicited by the

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BALLI may not address some of the specic beliefs held by particular culture groups. Although a wide variety of cultural groups had input on the development of the BALLI (Horwitz, 1985, 1987), its purpose is to elicit commonly held beliefs. In fact, idiosyncratic items were specically eliminated from the scale during its development. For this reason, subsequent inquiries into cultural beliefs about language learning should probably seek to expand the BALLI scope by identifying and adding beliefs particular to specic target populations.2 The BALLI has proven very useful in the identication of learner beliefs about language learning which in turn may be connected to other important factors such as motivation, anxiety about language learning, and learner strategies. At present, however, there is not strong evidence for a conclusion of cultural dierences in learner beliefs. References
Gardner, R.C., 1985. Social Psychology and Second Language Learning: The Role of Attitude and Motivation. Edward Arnold, London. Horwitz, E.K., 1985. Using student beliefs about language learning and teaching in the foreign language methods course. Foreign Language Annals 18, 333340. Horwitz, E.K., 1987. Surveying student beliefs about language learning. In: Wenden, A.L., Rubin, J. (Eds.), Learner Strategies in Language Learning. Prentice-Hall, London, pp. 119129. Horwitz, E.K., 1988. The beliefs about language learning of beginning university foreign language students. Modern Language Journal 72, 283294. Horwitz, E.K., 1989. Recent research on second language learners: beliefs and anxiety. Texas Papers in Foreign Language Education. Special Edition 2, 283294. Kern, R.G., 1995. Students' and teachers' beliefs about language learning. Foreign Language Annals 28, 7192. Kunt, N., 1997. Anxiety and beliefs about language learning: a study of Turkish-speaking university students learning English in north Cyprus. Unpublished PhD thesis, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX. Oh, M.-J., 1996. Beliefs about language learning and foreign language anxiety: a study of American university students learning Japanese. Unpublished PhD thesis, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX. Park, G.P., 1995. Language learning strategies and beliefs about language learning of university students learning English in Korea. Unpublished PhD thesis, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX. Truitt, S.N., 1995. Anxiety and beliefs about language learning: a study of Korean university students learning English. Unpublished PhD thesis, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX. Yang, N.D., 1992. Second language learners' beliefs about language learning and their use of learning strategies: a study of college students of English in Taiwan. Unpublished PhD thesis, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.

2 In a dissertation in progress, Yoon is developing a revised version of the BALLI specic for Korean learners of English. Yoon is also comparing the responses to her new instrument of three groups of Koreans: high school English students, university English students, and young professionals.