The Road to Success or Failure: Attributions among Finnish 8th Graders and Upper Secondary School Students Learning English as a Foreign Language

Abstract

Attribution is originally a concept from psychology, but the interest in it has expanded the research field. Attributions in SLA context have been studied since 1990s, but the research has mainly focused on gender differences and differences in proficiency level. Foreign language attributions for success and failure have not been studied as extensively from the perspective of learners’ age. Therefore, more research is needed. This thesis examines the attributions of the Finnish learners of English. The aim is to find out which attributions explain success and failure among the Finnish learners. In addition, the study aims to discover differences among two age groups by comparing the attributions of 8th grade students and 2nd year upper secondary school students. The study examined ninety-seven participants, fifty-six 8th graders and forty-one 2nd year upper secondary school students. The data was gathered via online questionnaire which was designed for the purpose of this study based on previous studies and theoretical knowledge (Weiner 1972; Wu 2011; Curtis and Trice 2013; Lei and Qin 2009). The data was analyzed quantitatively using several statistical methods. The quantitative analysis was also supported by qualitative content analysis. The results of the present study showed that the participants made internal and external attributions for success and external attributions for failure. More specifically the internal attributions for success were ability and effort, and the external attribution was task difficulty. The external attribution explaining failure was luck. Moreover, both groups attributed success to ability, and the 2nd year upper secondary school students attributed success also to effort and task difficulty. Failure, on the other hand, was attributed to luck by the 2nd year upper secondary school students, but the data does not give any explanations for the 8th graders’ failure. Based on the results, it can be stated that the older students attributed their success more widely than the younger students. These differences can be the result of more advanced cognitive development. However, several other reasons might explain these results and therefore further studies are needed. The results of the present study can be useful for everyone involved in the educational system. They can provide important information that will help both students and teachers in the foreign language learning context