Unwitting Agents: The Role of Adult Learners' Attributions of Success in Shaping Language-Learning Behaviour

This article reports on an investigation into the attributions of success and perceived areas of strength and weakness of adult learners of English as a foreign language in the Department of Continuing Education at Minsk State Linguistic University, Belarus. The students attributed their limited progress in learning the foreign language mainly to the teacher's competence, the frequency and length of classes, the number of activities for listening and speaking, and consultations with the teacher. Little awareness was shown of the role played by their own learning skills. Comparisons with teachers' ratings of their performance and teachers' own attributions of student progress revealed significant divergences in attributions. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the development of learner responsibility, motivation and effective language teaching.