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Shifts in Beliefs about Second Language Learning

■ This article is based on a study which investigated the beliefs about English language learning of 661 first-year university students and their 34 English teachers at a Japanese university. The focus of the article is the shifts in reported student beliefs over a nine-month period of English study between two administrations of the Sakui and Gaies (1999) beliefs survey instrument. Beliefs are usually considered as resilient constructs, self-perpetuating in nature. In this study, however, significant differences were found in student responses to almost a quarter of the items on the questionnaire. Two student discussion groups were also formed which provided further evidence of shifts in student beliefs about language learning during the nine-month period of English study.