Why can't we learn English? : Students' opinions at Akdeniz University

Language learning in Turkey has been perceived as an irresolvable problem for many years. It has been emphasized by several researchers, teachers and even English learners that learners cannot use English effectively. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to find out underlying social, personal and educational reasons for learners' failure in learning English. With this purpose in mind, a quantitative approach was employed. To collect data, a questionnaire as a data collecting instrument was developed by using related literature, considering field experts' opinions and the data obtained from an open-ended question examining English preparatory school students' opinions on their failure in learning. The questionnaire was distributed to students from different faculties and schools at Akdeniz University (n=1414). The collected data was analyzed using SPSS 21.0 and the results were reported with the help of descriptive statistics, frequency, mean, percentage and standard deviation. According to the results of the study, it is evident that students generally do not learn English mostly due to educational reasons rather than personal and social reasons.