A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE ATTRIBUTION FOR SUCCESS OF ENGLISH RELATED MAJOR STUDENTS VS. THAT OF THEIR INSTRUCTORS

The present study is a comparative study of the attribution of English related major students versus that of their instructors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the causes of attribution for students’ success identified by students of English translation, English teaching, and English literature in addition to their instructors. This study was carried out to find out why some students of English majors could communicate in English effectively and proficiently. By these results, instructors should attempt to improve the quality of their pedagogy. The researcher explored the attribution of 300 students of English related majors in five branches of Islamic Azad University in Iran and the variation among them and instructors. The students were asked to specify their attribution for success by a questionnaire. Thirty (English Foreign Language) EFL teachers were also wanted to mention what they attributed their students’ success to. The results of the questionnaire showed that students mostly attributed their success to external factors whereas their instructors attributed their students’ success to internal factors. Many significant differences were detected between the relation of students’ attribution in English related majors and their instructors. The findings of this study help the heads of departments to compare the learners’ ideas of studying English translation, literature, teaching and the instructors considering their attribution towards language pedagogy. They should identify the people who are responsible for students’ success in the process of learning or even the factors which have a say to their success to speak English well.