My Reflection on Attribution Theory

江燕文

【摘要】Attribution theory is one of the most significant theories in the world of psychology.This article is going to have a brief introduction and to tell my understanding about it，especially in the field of English education，about how teachers utilize it to improve language teaching and learning.

【關鍵詞】attribution；education；language teaching

【中圖分類號】G44 【文獻標識碼】B 【文章編號】2095-3089（2017）06-0061-02

Attribution theory is about how people interpret and perceive events，relating to their thinking and understanding about the behavior.It was first proposed by social psychologist Fritz Heider （1958），who regarded it as “na?ve psychology”.He suggested that people were likely to make two attributions：the internal and the external attribution.Weiner，then identified it into four main aspects：ability，effort，task difficulty and luck.They can be classified into three dimensions：locus of control （internality/externality），stability，and controllability.

Attribution theory is closely related to self-concept and achievement motivation.Different people have different views on attributions.If success is attributed to internal factors，such as ability，it is of great possibility to create proud and confidence；if failure is related to external factors，people may feel hostile or angry，but it doesnt lower their self-esteem.So attributing success to internal，stable and controllable factors，people are encouraged and behavior is likely to happen again；attributing success to external，unstable and uncontrollable factors，peoples achievement motivation wont be reinforced or is probably reduced.If we account failure for internal，stable and controllable factors，we will be de-motivated；if we relate failure to external，unstable and uncontrollable factors，we wont blame ourselves of being incapable instead well be motivated to do better.Thus attribution can be separated into positive and negative.Positive ones help to gain higher motivation while negative ones creates bad effects.

Attribution theory is quite significant in language teaching.Students should be guided to attribute success or failure to proper factors，so as to have perpetual enthusiasm in language learning and thus to learn happily and effectively.

First，have a comparatively good understanding of the students and treat them differently.Students may be different from family background，knowledge structures and so on.Some may be active，extrovert while others may be quiet and introvert.Teachers must pay attention to their attribution tendency.A quiet and introvert student may consider failing in learning English resulting in poor ability，the internal and uncontrollable factor.Teachers should make it clear that it is caused by insufficient efforts or difficult language points.For those who easily get haughty，teachers may refer their success to an easy task or better condition，and greater efforts are needed to have a continuous progress.Some boys dont do well in English learning，and they view their failure due to low ability or poor gift.They think girls can always learn English better because they were born gifted for language learning and they are more careful.Teachers should convince them that they dont do so well because they havent worked hard enough，and they can be that successful by paying efforts.Students meet various difficulties and obstacles while learning a language，some may feel frustrated and helpless.Teachers should guide students to view them in a positive way，attribute to proper factors and solve the problem effectively.endprint

Second，teachers should appropriately perform compliments and criticisms.Teacher is always considered to be students model.His/her behavior，moods and attitudes greatly influence students，from which they make judges of themselves，whether Im a good student or not，whether Im clever enough，etc.Thus，when praising students，teachers should consider whether for their ability or hard work or carefulness；when criticize them，teachers should take care not to hurt their self-respect，especially referring to internal and uncontrollable factors，like ability.If the teacher shows doubts about the students ability，he/she is likely to attribute all failures to low ability，thus confidence.Either compliments or criticisms are to enable students to realize their good points as well as short-comings，to build up confidence and set proper goals for themselves.Therefore，teachers should give students modest and impartial judgment.

Third，teachers should also have a proper attribution for their own work.Great improvement and progress ought to be reinforced while weakness should be confronted.Teachers look back upon their work from various aspects.Making objective assessment，teachers should be aware of their efforts，loss and gains and be confident，to obtain greater progress and set good examples for the students.

Conclusion：Attribution theory helps to explain and resolve problems.In order to practice effective language teaching and learning，educators should make good use of attribution theory，and apply it to instruct our teaching and learning activities.

References

[1]Marion，W & R.L Burden，1997.Psychology for Language Teachers，Cambridge University Press.

[2]李新宇，2004，《歸因理論在教學實踐中的運用》，重慶三峽學院學報，Vol.20.

[3]林嵐，2004，《歸因理論對英語教學的啟示》，兵團教育學院學報，Vol.14.

[4]韓仁生，2004，《歸因理論在教育中的應用》，教育理論與實踐，Vol.24.

[5]陳平文，2005，《歸因理論及其對外語教學的啟示》，哈爾濱學院學報，Vol.26.endprint