Sociocultural Factors Affecting University Students' Grades

In identifying contributing variables to a language learning success or failure, too much attention has been paid to the cognitive aspects of language learning, while sociocultural factors are considered as peripheral or latent. Even to the socioculturalists, a predominantly language-oriented approach may have neglected the importance of human and social relationships among interlocutors in terms of how it ultimately triggers or hinders interactional processes in classroom participation. As an initial stage of investigation, this pilot study was conducted to extend and reconceptualize the roles of sociocultural variables in order to better understand how these affect current language learning contexts. 112 university students participated in this study taking three different types of language classes, that is, grammar, listening comprehension, and writing. The results of this study indicate that some variability exists in participants�� responses according to the types of language classes taken. Participants from grammar and writing-oriented classes nominated university and home factors, respectively, as highly influential variables, whereas participants from a listening comprehension-oriented class viewed individual, home, and university factors as being equally important. When the types of language classes are not considered, participants ranked university factors as the most contributing variables, followed by home and individual factors. The implications for language classroom and the directions for the future research in this realm are discussed and suggested.