Investigation A

• Think about how to get statements of belief from students in each of the three areas:
  • epistemological beliefs (beliefs about learning and knowledge in general)
  • self-efficacy beliefs (students’ beliefs about how successful they are as learners)
  • beliefs about language learning.

You could find out about the students’ views by getting them to brainstorm their ideas, conduct role-plays, write and rank statements about learning, or write advice for younger students about how to learn well. Alternatively, you could conduct a ‘Say It’, with roles for teachers and various different students. (See the associated material The Say It activity - example and the inquiry Effective language-learning activities .)

• Consider how widely shared these beliefs are.
• Then categorise the statements and think about the possible effects they may have. (For example, the majority of your students may believe that learning is rigid and unchanging, and ‘held’ by the teacher. One possible effect of this belief may be that your students are not comfortable about working independently or with other students to refine their understanding of concepts in a subject area – they just want to be told by the teacher.)

The associated material Student views about learning shows that students have definite ideas about how to learn.