Some research difficulties of studying language learners’ beliefs
Some research difficulties of studying language learners’ beliefs

Summary/Abstract: Teaching languages involves at least two parties: the language learner and the language teacher. Teachers should be aware of the fact that language learners come to class with preconceived notions about how to learn languages, best strategies, worst techniques etc. These notions are learners’ beliefs about the nature of language learning, about the language itself and about the language learner’s abilities. These beliefs have impact on learners’ performance in the class, therefore they need to be thoroughly investigated. Researchers are increasingly interested in the study of these beliefs. However, more and more problems arise as the research field broadens. This present paper tries to list the most important and frequent problems a researcher meets during his or her studies on language learners’ beliefs. Defining beliefs, using the most appropriate reasearch tool, classifying the different beliefs, dealing with individual differences of language learners present difficult issues and hinder the fruitful results of a research. Collecting the most important issues met during research helps clarifying the research problems.

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