The Effect of Individual Differences on Learners’ Translation Belief in EFL Learning

Abstract

This study investigated learners’ beliefs about translation and the effect of two variables of individual differences, risk taking and tolerance of ambiguity, on the mentioned variable. The participants of the study were 120 English learners homogenized through Oxford placement test. They received three questionnaires of translation belief, risk-taking and ambiguity tolerance whose validation was established and they were all in Likert-scale. Chi-square analysis reveals that participants had positive belief about translation. In order to determine the effect of risk taking on translation belief and an independent samples t-test was run which reveals negative effect of risk-taking on translation belief. In other words, risk-averse learners were found to have positive belief about translation. On the other hand, risk-takers were found to have negative belief about translation. Analysis of t-test on the effect of ambiguity tolerance on translation belief reveals that this individual characteristic had no effect on learner’s translation belief.