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suit them best so they may become more effective learner and take on more responsibility for their own learning. It means that the learning resources should place
the learner as the center of learning process to make them more autonomous.
f. Beliefs about being a learner
Dealing with the area on how the learners view their selves as a learner is require to
strengthen the students’ capacity to self-regulate their own performance” Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick, 2006: 205. Also, they assume that a major goal of
education is to help students learn to monitor their own performance. It means the beliefs are important because the students need to understand themselves as learners
in order to understand their needs as self-directed learning students. Further, learning language is not only matters of knowledge but also they could learn positive value for
their life and it supports the claim that learning new languages helps to create understanding and encourage a respect of others. It endorsed the concept of
“the intercultural dimension
” in language teaching by Byram, Gribkova and Starkey 2002. They proposed that all language teaching should promote: a position which
acknowledges respect for human dignity and equality of human rights as the democratic basis for social interaction p.13.
This part is also related to students as an autonomous learner. Autonomy has been discussed as a factor that can lead to success in language learning. As Rubin
1987 noted, learning is best achieved when students play an important role in the process. In this vein, Holec 1987 claimed that good learners are
those who “know how to learn” p. 147 and can manage their own learning
.
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Holec 1987 proposed that learners may become autonomous if their representations beliefs about the role of the learner, the teacher, and materials
accommodate the notion that they themselves are the manager of the learning. The findings from Holec studies revealed that there may be an association between learner
beliefs and their readiness to become autonomous learners. Nevertheless, little evidence has been shown to support the conclusions. The two studies by Cotterall
reviewed here Cotterall, 1995, 1999 drew conclusions about the relationship without any empirical evidence whereas Holec 1987 based his conclusion from
interview data. So far, there has not been a study that investigates beliefs about language learning of learners who are considered autonomous learners and those who
are not. Accordingly, a particular set of beliefs about language learning that autonomous learners may possess has not been proposed. However, learners’
perceptions about themselves in the learning process regarding their role and their ability seem to be the key to their autonomy.
3. The factors influencing learners’ belief
As stated before that, learner must have different beliefs towards the language learning. Their beliefs are formed and influence through a process which many factor
influence it. Mills et al., 2007 mentions that learner’s belief get influence from three
aspects, i.e. the student internal factor what learners think about themselves, the learning situation, and the target community. Student internal factor can be identified
as how students understand and make sense of themselves and their own learning Liskin-Gasparro, 1998; Williams Burden, 1999. Several studies have proved how
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these beliefs differ across language learners, particularly in terms of individual differences such as gender, age, nationality, learning style, and personality type
Bernat Gvozdenko, 2005; Wenden, 1999; Horwitz, 1999; Rifkin, 2000. A study from Daif 2012 showed that statistical significant gender differences were found in
the areas of English language aptitude, learning and communication, and motivation and expectations
. In addition, Ellis 2008:701 proposes “cultural background could also manipulate varied learner beliefs systematically even though it needs further
investigation”. She argues, “general factors, such as personality and cognitive style, could be more substantially influence learners’ beliefs”.
Meanwhile, the learning situation has included how students experience and understand aspects of the classroom, like instructor behaviors Brown, 2009
. “It also often encompasses the instructor as well as the instructional techniques used
” Gardner, 2005
. Little and Silvius 1984 reported that “past experience, both of education in general and of language learning in particular, played a major role in
shaping attitude language learning where attitude defines as a complex mental orientation involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain
ways ”. It can be inferred students’ experience in case of learning has strong influence
on their belief. Then, the target community also contributes to how student hold their belief
about language learning. Gardner, 2005 states that learner attitudes have often been addressed in the literature in relation to two different targets: attitudes toward the
learning situation often encompassing the instructor as well as the instructional techniques used and attitudes toward the target community. Attitudes toward the
