Abstract:
This paper presents a study that investigates university students' beliefs and perceptions
about language learning. Specifically, it looks at student conceptions, motivation, and
views on language leaming and its instructional means. The construct of beliefs
encompasses aspects such as emotion, mood, perceptions and the like. Results of the
study and data analyses are based on three means of research that include questionnaires
where a total of 152 were given out to seven sections of an English I class at the
Lebanese American University in Beirut, nonparticipant class observation, and
interviews with instructors to learn about students' beliefs and views. The findings
suggest that student motivation positively correlates with perceptions regarding language
learning and that variation in teaching methods as well as the student teacher talk ratio
playa significant role in ge3ling student conceptions. Results allow pertinent promotion
of the English program along with language awareness strategies to be effective tools in
changing students' perceptions from indecisiveness to the more positive and motivated
side of the pendulum.
