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Foreign Language Teaching in Romanian Higher Education pp 149–169Cite as

Personal Epistemology: A “Dark Matter” That Matters in How We Teach and Learn Languages at University

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Part of the book series: Multilingual Education ((MULT,volume 27))

Abstract

Personal theories of knowledge influence choice of learning strategies and results, as cognitive psychology demonstrated. How personal epistemology, learning approach and performance are connected interest higher education, because teachers expect a seasoned approach to knowledge and to self from students, while they are still developing in these areas. Classroom experience prompted research into personal epistemology and language learning, using the Epistemological Beliefs Survey (EBS), Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) and Strategies Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). Data from 160 medical students in 2012 fed descriptive statistics, correlations and factor analyses, corroborated with direct observation. Results prompt methodological, ethical and curricular considerations. In short, junior medical students with Romanian cultural and educational background transition from pre-reflective, simplistic, absolutistic learning habits to thinking reflectively about knowledge and its limitations. Medical communication benefits from skill in handling multiple, subjective perspectives of hard facts. Understanding students’ personal epistemologies contributes to purposefully using cognitive disequilibrium in teaching professional language and communication.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Of the different instruments used to investigate discipline-generic epistemic beliefs, the EBS was selected because it was found to produce higher internal consistency scores (DeBacker et al. 2008).

  2. 2.

    The scores in the tables below should be seen in relation to the scale used for the answers: 1 = I strongly disagree, 2 = I disagree, 3 = I’m unsure, 4 = I agree and 5 = I strongly agree.

  3. 3.

    For the SILL set of items referring to language learning strategies, the answers were still on a 5-point Lickert scale, but the scores were labelled as follows: 1 = never true to me, 2 = almost never true to me, 3 = somewhat true to me, 4 = almost always true to me, 5 = always true to me.

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Acknowledgments

This chapter is based on the post-doctoral research made by the author during 2012-2013, as affiliated with the Iași Branch of the Romanian Academy, within The Knowledge Based Society Project supported by the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development (SOP HRD), financed from the European Social Fund and by the Romanian Government under the contract number POSDRU 89/1.5/S/56815. The text is based on two conference papers presented locally and otherwise unavailable online. For the publication of this chapter we have obtained prior written approval from the Iași Branch of the Romanian Academy and our intention is to facilitate more visibility and engagement with such topics of educational and scientific interest.

  • Crețu I. 2013. Personal Epistemologies and Language Learning: A Case of Romanian Medical Students Studying English. Paper at the International Conference “Experience and Explanation in Knowledge Society”, Baia Mare, 15-17 March 2013.

  • Crețu I. 2012. Personal Epistemologies and Higher Education: Towards an Understanding of Students’ Beliefs about Knowledge. In Unity and Diversity in Knowledge Society: Anthropology and Cultural Studies, Psychology and Educational Sciences – Proceedings of the International Conference, September 27-30, 2012, Iași – Romania, eds. Nicu Gavriluță, Codrin Dinu Vasiliu and Irina Frasin, 247-263. Iași: Institutul European Publishing House.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Medicine and Interdisciplinarity, Faculty of Medicine, Gr. T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iași, Romania

    Ioana Creţu

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  1. Ioana Creţu
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Correspondence to Ioana Creţu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Modern Languages and Business Communication, Faculty of International Business and Economics, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania

    Lucia-Mihaela Grosu-Rădulescu

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Creţu, I. (2018). Personal Epistemology: A “Dark Matter” That Matters in How We Teach and Learn Languages at University. In: Grosu-Rădulescu, LM. (eds) Foreign Language Teaching in Romanian Higher Education. Multilingual Education, vol 27. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93329-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93329-0_8

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