Failure attributions and metacognitive awareness of EFL learners

Abstract Foreign language learners’ failure in learning English despite many years of language instruction in state schools has been a widely discussed topic. However, relatively few studies have attempted to explore possible effects of failure attributions and metacognitive awareness on language learning. As metacognitive awareness is an acknowledged prerequisite for language performance and as attributions determine future expectancy for success in language learning, the relationship between both concepts deserves closer attention. This case study, conducted with 218 Turkish EFL learners in an upper secondary state school in Turkey, aims to reveal language learners’ failure attributions and their metacognitive awareness levels, and investigates the relationship between both variables. To this end, the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory and the Multidimensional-Multiattributional Causality Scale were translated into and applied in Turkish. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, one-way ANOVA and Pearson correlation test were run for data analysis. The findings indicated that language learners have high metacognitive awareness levels and explain their failure in learning English with their lack of effort. A weak negative correlation among achievement attributions and metacognitive awareness levels was also revealed.