Conceptions of Language and Language Learning.

Abstract This paper questions whether the notion of learner beliefs as conceived in the SLA literature is adequate to capture the complexity of learners' thinking about language learning. It proposes as an alternative, an analytical framework based on three levels: conception, approach and belief. The notion of conceptions of language and language learning is proposed as higher level category conditioning specific beliefs. The notion of approaches to learning is proposed as a category describing the level at which beliefs are made manifest in specific contexts of learning. These categories are illustrated with reference to the authors' data drawn from interviews with university students in Hong Kong.

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