An investigation of the relationship between epistemological and language learning beliefs

What teachers and learners bring into the classroom in their minds has been central to the research about how learning occurs since around 1970s. Among other beliefs, the beliefs about knowledge and knowing, namely epistemological beliefs, have drawn great attention. As well as the research focusing on personal epistemology itself, its relation to other constructs such as learning strategies has been extensively investigated. However, its relation to language learning beliefs has remained relatively unexamined and very few studies have focused on such relationship (e.g. Mori, 1999). The current study attempted to reveal individual beliefs first and examine the relationship between the two types of beliefs. One hundred fifty-five students of both genders from Fırat University participated in the study. The study involved the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. A questionnaire made up of two parts and an interview were conducted to collect data about the students' epistemological and language learning beliefs. The results of the statistical and content analysis showed that the students possessed both naïve and sophisticated epistemological beliefs. The participants also held insightful and detrimental language learning beliefs. The investigation of the relationship between the two types of beliefs proved that epistemological and language learning beliefs were mostly uncorrelated implying the domain generality of epistemological beliefs and the domain specificity of language learning beliefs. Keywords: Epistemological beliefs, language learning beliefs, personal epistemology, knowledge, knowing