An Investigation of the University Students' Beliefs on the Unenviable Reputation of Turkish Students in Learning English

This study examined (1) whether there is a difference between male and female undergraduate English language teaching (ELT) students perception with regard to the reasons they attribute to the unenviable reputation of Turkish students in learning English, (2) to what extent the age of the ELT students accounts for attributing English learning failure of Turkish students to different reasons, and (3) whether the English language learning time of the ELT students can affect their attributing Turkish students' failure in learning English to any particular reason. A total number of 59 ELT students studying at different private and public universities in Turkey completed a standardized form of Turkish Students' Failure in Language Learning Scale online. Results indicated no significant difference between male and female students perception with regard to attributing the reasons to Turkish students’ poor performance in learning English. Nor did age play a significant role in their attributing the failure to any particular reason. Besides, the time spent on learning English was not significantly a determining factor in ascribing the failure to any different reason.

Keywords

Proficiency, Turkish Students, Unenviable Reputation, English, Language Learning.