Event

Student Beliefs About Causes of Their Failure

Wednesday, October 12th, 2005, 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM

Speaker: Chamreoun Koun

Failure in English language learning is universal and it seems to be a serious issue for students of English and in English education as a whole. However, little attention has been paid to investigating the real causes of their failure. This presentation will report on the findings of a small-scale research study conducted with adult students aged 18 to 25 about their perceived causes (attributions) of their failure in studying English at a private language school in Cambodia. The instrument used for collecting the data was a semi-structured interview. The data analysis wasbased on the interpretive method paradigm and the common categories of attributions:ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck (Weiner, 1979). The results indicated that those students ascribed both external and internal dimensions of attributions to their failure. For the external dimension, the common attributions were task difficulty, teaching, and school administration/management, while ability and effort were the most commonly reported for the internal dimension. Learning environment/pressure, family, motivation, and anxiety were found in the study. The findings suggest that these attributions are believed to have a very strong relationship with the students expectations, motivation, and affective domains for their future success in learning English. The results also suggest implications for teachers to cope with the students­ attributions to enhance their motivation and expectancies for future success.

About the speaker: Chamroeun Koun has a Bachelor's Degree in TEFL from the Institute of Foreign Languages (IFL), Royal University of Phnom Penh, and a Masters in Applied Linguistics from King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), Thailand. He has several years of experience in teaching EFLstudents in Cambodia and Thailand, plus some experience as a teacher trainer for the TEFL1 Training Program at Spencer International, Chichester College,based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Bangkok, Thailand. Currently, he is working as the Professional Development Manager and teacher of English at the Australian Centre for Education, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Organization: Tokyo Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (Tokyo JALT)

Cost: JALT Members: free
Non-members: 1000 yen

Venue: Columbia University Teachers College, Suidobashi Campus (Suidobashi Station or Jimbocho Station)

Location: Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan

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Tokyo JALT (gmail)

Tokyo JALT (Teaching Young Learners)