2nd Conference on New Trends in English Language Teaching and Testing Ardabil, August 28, 2017 An investigation into attribution of failure-oriented EFL university students Majid Farahian, Farnaz Avarzamani Presenter: Farnaz Avarzamani Department of ELT, College of Literature and Humanities, Kermanshah Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah, Iran
The Literature Review Weiner (2010) explains “the interpretation of the past, that is, the perceived causes of prior events determine what will be done in the future” (p.29). In fact, one’s interpretation of results may lead to a series of de/motivated behavior. As (Weiner, 1994) suggests, success-oriented students attribute their success to internal stable causes while failure-oriented students attribute their failure to external unstable causes. The latter kind of perception about failure may maximize the negative feelings and emotions (Jinping, 2005).
The influence of having failure-oriented and negative attitudes toward learning a new language
As regards gender differences in the Iranian context, Pishghadam and Modarresi (2008) found that males are more inclined to attribute their EFL success and failure to internal variables such as emotions and self- image. On the contrary, females tend to make external attributions for their failure (e.g. teacher and luck). Williams et al. (2004) also found that men are more likely to attribute their foreign language learning success and failure to internal variables such as effort. All in all, women are usually supposed to show an externality bias in their attributions.
The Study (Methodology) Research Design and Questions The researchers sought to find out whether learners' lack of effort was due to their attribution of success to unstable and external factors. Therefore, the present study with the aim of investigating the causal attribution of unsuccessful learners adopted a mixture of qualitative and quantitative design to investigate the following research questions. 1. To what factors do Iranian unsuccessful foreign language learners attribute their failure and success? 2. Is there any difference between males and females in attributional responses?
Participants The participants in this study were 75 Iranian intermediate university students, 47 females and 28 males studying English Language Teaching in Kermanshah. Their age ranged from 19 to 29. Instruments 1. questionnaire of attribution theory for foreign language learners (ATFLL) The questionnaire was adapted from Pishghadam and Modarresi (2008) and was originally written in students' native language. The questionnaire was comprised of four factors: Emotions, Self Image, Intrinsic Motivation, & Language Policy. 2. Interview The interview was adapted from Dornyei (2001). 15 of the respondents took part in the interview.
Procedures All students filled in the questionnaire in university in one session and after their normal class hours. They were required not to mention their names on the questionnaire. The interview was held a day after the administration of the questionnaire and the participants were free to talk either in Farsi, their first language, or in English. It should be mentioned that the two interviewers were Ph.D. holders in psychology. The interview was recorded and transcribed. Data Analysis The obtained data from ATFLL questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics. In terms of gender comparative analyses, we ran t-test in SPSS 22. The open coding was employed for the analysis of the transcripts obtained from interview recordings.
Table 1. The means of factors obtained from descriptive statistics The Findings Table 1. The means of factors obtained from descriptive statistics Attribution Factors N Mean Standard Deviation Emotions 75 3.47 .46 Language Policy 3.16 .51 Self-Image 2.82 .59 Intrinsic Motivation 2.34 .69
Table 2. Findings of the Interview Interview Questions Findings 1. How well do you think you are doing in English? 10 out of 15 participants responded that they were not doing well and the other five answered that they could have done better if their instructors had taught them better and if they had attended some language schools before entering the university. 2. Are you satisfied with your progress? None of them were satisfied with their English improvements. 3. What were the reasons for your success or failure if you think there was any? The reasons for failure were coded as instructors' lack of skill, inadequate policies to teach English in the whole educational curriculum, and instructors' bad attitude toward them. 4. Do you think the reason for success or failure was up to you or someone else? 9 respondents attributed their success to others while 5 others who seemed to have a weak self-image of themselves blamed themselves and recognized themselves as incompetent. Even two students among this group of participants said that they had no knack for language. Only one of the participants recognized herself responsible for success or failure.
Table 3. descriptive statistics for gender Attribution Factors Gender N Mean SD Std. error difference Emotions male 28 3.24 .57 .03 female 47 3.46 .55 Language Policy 3.88 1.82 .69 .04 Self-Image 2.94 .61 3.12 .58 Intrinsic Motivation 3.18 .60 2.85 .65
Table 4. Attributional differences between males and females Attribution Factors t df sig. two tailed Mean Difference Std. error diff. Emotions -1.62 73 .10 -.22 .13 Language Policy 13.17 .00** 2 .15 Self-Image -1.26 .21 -.18 .14 Intrinsic Motivation 2.16 .03* .33 * Means not significant (According to Bonferroni Correction) ** Means significant
Discussion The second factor in the questionnaire which was language policy received the second highest mean. This may indicate that unsuccessful learners attributed success in general to factors largely out of their control. The interviews with the participants supported the finding (Table 2). The significance of language policy was confirmed by Pishghadam and Modarresi (2008). Although unsuccessful learners focused more on external factors such as teacher as responsible for their success and failure, some of them admitted that internal factors such as their lack of competence were responsible. In either situation, they felt that they had no control over the situation. The great difference between these two is that internal attributions would have a greater effect on self-esteem than external ones (Mori, et al., 2010).
The learners with internal attributions such as lack of competence or 'knack' would attribute their failure to ability than effort and would have lower expectancy for success. Basically, this group of learners would have a lower motivation and would anticipate failure (Litcht & Kistner, 1986). Both the quantitative and qualitative analyses showed that emotions played a notable role in learners’ failure attribution. This is in line with many studies which emphasized the key role of affective variables in this regard (Weiner, 2010). Surprisingly, our findings concerning gender differences are not supported by the common idea that women make more external attributions. It may be due to elusive nature of gender differences which makes it difficult to reach conclusive results. (Sanders, Sjodin, & de Chastelaine, 2002).
Implications and Suggestions for Future Research There are different implications for teachers and educationalists. The most important one seems to be attribution change program (Shunk, 2000). Some programs are needed to change maladaptive attributions and enhance motivation. Those learners who attribute their failure to uncontrollable factors can be trained to alter their attributions. Moreover, a climate should be created in which students put much more emphasis on effort than ability. As Mori et. al (2010) suggest, the kind of feedback teachers show to students failure or success as well as the kind of tasks they choose can help change student attributions. In sum, affective factors should not be neglected in EFL classrooms and it is up to teachers to help the foreign language learners develop more positive facilitative emotions.
Since attributing the causes of failure and success may differ according to various variables such as personality type, intelligence, and social values, further studies would shed more lights on attribution issues by investigating these and other related variables. Moreover, language learners’ past experiences, mostly in terms of common teaching methods that they have been exposed to should be considered in future. This will be much more interesting provided that scholars consider the differences between teachers and learners’ attributions as well. Finally, further studies within similar contexts (specifically in Iran), and with larger samples seem essential concerning gender differences in success and failure attributions.