LIFELONG LEARNING : NOT A 21 ST CENTURY , BUT AN OMNITEMPORAL SKILL

As humans, we have various needs, and one of these needs is undoubtedly learning. Learning never ceases as we continue our lives; what is more, it is learning that helps humans improve their lives. It also gains more importance in achievement situations. Therefore, the present study investigates the lifelong learning tendencies of university students. To go into detail, it aims to identify lifelong learning dispositions in terms of learning foreign language. Since lifelong learning skills occupy great significance in adult education, participants were composed of university students in their 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th years. The data were gathered through Lifelong Learning Tendency Scale and grid table designed as qualitative instrument to elicit students’ lifelong learning propensities. Therefore, mixed research design was used in this study. The study provided insights into the lifelong learning tendencies from language learning aspects and implications for both students and instructors.


INTRODUCTION
Learning is an indispensable part of our life.Learning empowers us, and it does not cease throughout our lives."Lifelong learning is widely adopted as an educational target and as a necessary workplace element."(Kirby, Knapper, Lamon & Egnatoff, 2010).The authors also mention the literal interpretation as "learning that continues from the cradle to the grave" (p.292).Habits gained within classroom walls can be carried outside the classroom, which reflects the vivid and dynamic side of learning.Consequently, students turn into individuals who can manage and continue learning a lifetime."The concept of lifelong learning relates to a set of values and principles regarding the role of ongoing acquisition, integration, and application of new knowledge throughout one's lifetime, and also includes the practices and structures that position professionals to be relevant, effective, and engaged in their career" (Nissen, Pendell, Jivanjee & Goodluck, 2014, p.386).In this study, lifelong learning tendency addresses the students' deeds and plans as regards language learning, which hints at their probable propensity for life-wide learning.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Learning is a process and lasts lifetime.It never leaves individuals alone.The continuing nature of learning presents itself in every phase of life ranging from academic to social contexts.Boburka, Wesp, Eshun and Drago (2014) mention the necessity of defining essential competencies and values of lifelong learning required to become lifelong learner."Lifelong learning is first and foremost about learning, with this learning occurring over the lifespan" (Cornford, 2002, p.358).Concerning the issue, Edwards, Ranson & Strain (2002, p.532) assert that "any understanding of learning that is lifelong and life-wide requires analysis of the learning that takes place outside of as well as inside institutionalized, accredited participation in formal education and training".Hager (2004) perceives lifelong learning as ineluctable for humans, and informal learning as an element of lifelong learning since learning is a continuous process.Longworth (2003) deems lifelong learning as performing things in a different manner, providing learners with the tools through which they can engage in learning in accordance with their learning styles and needs, not as teaching or training in a confined meaning.The author also offers the European Commission' definition of lifelong learning as "all learning activity undertaken throughout life, with the aim of improving knowledge skills and competencies within a personal, civic, social and/or employment related perspective" (p.83).Jarvis (2007) suggests a broader description of lifelong learning and states that lifelong learning is a mixture of processes in a lifetime while an individual integrates cognitive, emotive and practical transformation in social situations and comes to experience a continual change.Lifelong learning objects to learning or training that is limited to childhood, adolescence or early adulthood; on the contrary, lifelong learning is pictured as a continuum in which everybody participates throughout their lives (Tight, 1998).Kungu (2010) depicts lifelong learning as deliberate and intentional in nature, including the conscious attempt to take part in the learning process.Kiley andCanon (2005 cited in Uzunboylu andHürsen, 2011) consider features of lifelong learning process as finding more effective ways in the limited resources in teaching and learning, fulfilling the quickly increasing educational needs, meeting the expectations of students with different backgrounds, new professions, opportunities and change, explosion of internet and technology, transition into information society.The authors additionally refer to the relevant literature (Demirel, 2009c;Figel, 2006;Otten & Ohana, 2009;Hürsen et al., 2010) to manifest the skills that lifelong learners are expected to have are "mother tongue communication skill, communication in foreign language, competence in mathematics and science, basic competencies in technology, numerical competencies, learning how to learn, social and citizenship competencies, entrepreneur and cultural awareness and expression.As it is apparent, communication in foreign language and learning how to learn are given within the scope of lifelong learning.In line with the demands to be active in the life-wide development process, Longworth (2003) provides insight into the basic abilities to progress as a lifelong learner: Lifelong learning highlights self-actualization as the responsibility of the individuals (Chang, Wu and Lin, 2012).Lifelong learning also enables the people to address the problems in the lack of certainty and security (Edwards, Ranson & Strain, 2002).In addition, Milic (2013) regards the construction of lifelong learning strategy at university level as quite significant on the grounds that lifelong learning constitutes one of the efficient answers to the alteration to be encountered in life.Concerning the issues of self-direction, changing situation and self-fulfilment, Tight (1998, p. 474) cites Cropley (1980, p.3) in order to portray the probable features of lifelong education as  lasting the whole life of each individual  leading to systematic acquisition, renewal, upgrading and completion of knowledge, skills and attitudes, as became necessary in response to the constantly changing conditions of modern life, with the ultimate goal of promoting the self-fulfilment of each individual  being dependent for its successful implementations on people's increasing ability and motivation to engage in self-directed learning activities  acknowledging the contribution of all available educational influences including formal, non-formal and informal.
Regarding lifelong learning, Lee (2014) holds the belief that it can make educational opportunity accessible to everyone, empower individuals as active learners and facilitate their functioning better in society in addition to enabling experiences to be turned into knowledge generation.The author is also of the opinion that lifelong learning hints at the fact that formal and informal education is not isolated from each other; lifelong learning requires individuals to learn, and as a consequence supply of lifelong learning chances can prepare individuals to fulfil the changing needs.Furthermore, Lewis (1998 cited in Nissen, Pendell, Jivanjee & Goodluck, 2014) lists the features of lifelong learning as being life-wide, leading to systematic boost in a person's skills and knowledge and attitude change, enhancing self-actualization, improving self-directed learning and accepting the contribution of all educational effects.Even though lifelong learning exceeds the classroom environments, Klug, Krause, Schober, Finsterwald and Spiel (2014) assert that the essentials of lifelong learning are provided at school; therefore, they pose high importance the role of teacher, and the authors suggests paying attention to what occurs in the classroom for the preparation of thriving lifelong learning.Gendron (2001) recommends reinforcing lifelong learning through courses which state the problem-solving and knowledge-using skills, render people autonomous learners and enable them to detect their own learning needs in future.In a broader sense, Longworth (2003, p.140) proposes fundamental skills for lifelong learning world:  (1994) and Knapper and Cropley (2000) in order to keynote the need for students to learn to learn, and reflect the characteristics of lifelong learners as goal setting, application of suitable knowledge and skills, engagement in self-direction and self-evaluation, location of required information and adaptation of their learning strategies to different situations.
Lifelong learners also favour deep learning owing to the fact that surface learning involves extrinsic motivation and rote learning (Kirby, Knapper, Lamon and Egnatoff, 2010).Promotion of lifelong learning enables individuals, groups or communities to gain much (Merriam & Kee, 2014).Individuals attain individual, social and vocational progress via lifelong learning (Günüç, Odabaşı & Kuzu, 2014).Charungkaittikul and Henschke (2014) also support the benefit of lifelong learning within the professional context.Pursuing lifelong learning constitutes the only way for university students to keep up with the developments in their fields (Diker Coşkun & Demirel, 2012).Within the scope of lifelong learning, an individual gains and broadens knowledge, abilities and inclinations to boost well-being throughout life (Laal & Salamati, 2012).Accordingly, lifelong learning "should be a process of conscious continuous learning that goes throughout life and directed towards providing both the individual needs and that of the relevant community, that will not only develop individuals to become responsible to themselves and their communities, but understand and involve actively at all levels of their societies" (Abukari, 2004cited in Laal & Salamati, 2012, p.400).Regarding the positive outcomes of lifelong learning, students can build a plan as equipment for lifelong learning in a way of benefitting from a learning consultant frequently, investigating the development regularly, updating the plan, constructing cooperation with inner self, having short-term checkpoint targets, combining learning techniques with the plan and never underestimating oneself and one's potential to learn (Longworth, 2003).
As its name suggests, lifelong learning concerns the act of learning throughout life; hence, individuals can take essential steps in their lives to adopt and attain lifelong learning skills, which can facilitate their personal, social and professional improvement.
The continuity of learning is indispensable part of our lives; therefore, higher education is supposed to enable students to self-regulate their own learning beyond the classroom walls in real-life vocational environments (Cremers, Wals, Wesselink, Nieveen & Mulder, 2014).However, it is not an easy process.It requires the individuals to adopt and absorb the habit independent study.As a consequence, learner empowerment takes its fundamental place within the context of lifelong learning

METHOD
The present study is descriptive in nature, and aims to explore the lifelong learning tendencies of university students within the framework of language learning.It is comprised of both quantitative and qualitative data.
Thirty-five university students from first, second, third and fourth years constituted the participants of the study.
Students were inquired to complete Lifelong Learning Scale developed by Kirby, Knapper, Lamon and Egnatoff (2010) in order to gauge their propensity of occupied with lifelong learning.It was a 14-question scale with five dimensions.The dimensions were designed based on the five features of lifelong learner set forth by Knapper and Cropley (2000).These were as follows:  Goal setting  Applying appropriate knowledge and skills  Engaging in self-direction and self-reflection

 Locating information
 Adapting learning strategies to different conditions It was a Likert type scale with five points.Students were asked to determine their degree of agreement by choosing one of the points ranging from strongly agree (5) to strongly disagree (1).The items were comprised of seven positive and seven negative statements.
In addition to the scale, a grid table was designed as a qualitative instrument to evaluate the participants' lifelong learning inclinations.The grid table was provided to the each participant so as to receive their future plans as regards language learning.The table was separated into three parts.The first one probed students' current deeds concerning language learning; the second part investigated their perceptions of ideal language learner; that is to say, it aimed to shed light into their ideal selves concerning language learning; and the last part explored their future plans to continue learning, which attempted to mirror their lifelong learning disposition The scale, which forms the quantitative side of the study, was analysed by Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) program.The qualitative data were subjected to the content analysis.

Findings from the Lifelong Learning Tendency Scale
Students' disposition for lifelong learning was gauged through Lifelong Learning Scale developed by Kirby, Knapper, Lamon and Egnatoff (2010).The scale addressed five different characteristics of a lifelong learner; therefore, the relevant features were analysed separately to make it more concise.Frequencies and percentages were unravelled descriptively in the tables below.A great majority of the students do not prefer having others plan their learning.They seem not to favour others' taking charge of planning their own learning.Only three students appear to have unclear ideas about the issue.However, four students incline to support the notion of others' making plan for their own learning, which hints at their lack of learner autonomy.In a similar manner, more than half of the students (51,4 %) disagree with infrequent reflection on their own learning and the way of improving it.Roughly two thirds of the students (22,9 %) display strong disagreement with seldom thinking about learning and enhancing it.Therefore, most of the students seem to devote time for their own learning and boosting it.However, 17,2 % of the students claim to think rarely about their own learning.Nevertheless, there are students who spare less time for their own learning despite low degrees.Moreover, a number of students (82,9 %) remark that they try to focus on the details rather than big picture when they learn something new.However, only two students manifest disagreement with this notion.They can be said to be able to dwell on the whole.Four students remain undecided about focusing on details rather than big picture.However, almost all of the students claim to be self-directed learner.Two students disagreed to consider themselves as self-directed learner.Two students seem to be unsure of their sense of self-direction in learning.In addition, about 92 % of the students love learning for its own sake.Two students put forth opposite remarks.Hence, it can be thought that most of the students in the study seem to have higher intrinsic motivation and have positive attitude towards learning.Nonetheless, most of the students seem to elicit positive outcomes from negative situations.When it comes to association of theory with practice, which is of great importance, almost all of the students state that they relate academic learning to practical issues.Only two students seem to have unsettled opinions about their effort of association theoretical knowledge with the practical issues.No student showed disagreement or strong disagreement with this issue.Likewise, when approaching new material, 88,6 % of the students assert that they try to relate it to what they know.While only three students stayed unclear about such kind of association, only one student disagreed with this statement.Thus, the participants seem to be positive about their ability of applying appropriate knowledge and skills.As seen in the table, represents one item of the scale, which constitutes one of the characteristics of lifelong learner, location of information.More than half of the students (51,4 %) seem not to often find difficult to locate information when they need it.However, it is frequently hard to locate information when needed for one fourth of the students in the study.Similarly, nearly 23 % of the students are not sure about spotting the information when it is necessary.The mean score of this item is 3.34, which reflects their uncertainty about the issue.Table 5 addresses students' remarks with respect to problem solving and uncertain conditions.More than two thirds of the students (68,6 %) express that they do not prefer problems for which there is only one solution.Therefore, it seems that more than one solution do not confuse and bother them.Only three students show inclination towards problems with one solution.However, nearly a quarter of the students remain undecided about their tendency for one-solution problems.By the same token, 26 out of 35 students are confident about their ability in dealing with the unexpected and solving problems as they arise.No student showed disagreement while two students strongly disagreed with their problem solving skill.However, 20 % of the students put forth undecided response for tackling the problems.When it comes to uncertainty, more than half of the students agreed to feel uncomfortable under conditions of uncertainty, and one fourth of the students expressed strong agreement with this issue.Only three students seem not to feel disturbed due to uncertain conditions.Thus, cases of vagueness cause the sense of uneasiness for most of the students in the study.
Different groups in the study were thought to have differing dispositions for lifelong learning since 1 st and 2 nd year students have compulsory English courses at university whereas 3 rd and 4 th students are not offered such course.Therefore, Kruskal Wallis analysis was conducted to determine whether different groups of students had statistically significant difference in terms of lifelong learning tendency.The results of this analysis were exhibited in Table 6 below.Table 6 uncovers the findings of Kruskal Wallis analysis from the lifelong learning tendency aspect among different groups of students (1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd and 4 th year students at university).In accordance with the findings, it can be stated that different groups of students have difference in terms of their lifelong learning inclination although this difference was not found to be statistically significant.Further, 1 st year students have the highest mean score; thus, they seem to incline to the lifelong learning most of all the other groups.They are followed by the 3 rd year students.4 th and 2 nd year students have minor difference between themselves and come after the other groups respectively.Hence, comparing all the mean ranks it can be remarked that 1 st year students have more inclination for lifelong learning while 2 nd year students have the least disposition for such kind of learning in parallel with the table.
There seem differences between the four different groups according to their years at university in terms of their lifelong learning disposition

Findings from the Grid Table
Grid Table 7 demonstrates the deeds performed currently by students to learn English.Their actions were categorized under five titles as internet and technology, socializing with foreigners, individual study habits, course-related requirements and no action.Concerning internet and technology, students claim to watch movies (5 citations) and listen to songs (5 citations) in English.They also seem to utilize internet (4 citations) to improve their English and take online courses (2 citations).In addition, benefit from podcast, chatting and videos, which are cited once, take place among their current actions in terms of using audio visual materials.Apart from technological instruments, students appear to engage in socializing with foreigners.This socialization presents itself as communication with foreign instructors at school (3 citations) and with foreign friends (2 citations).Taking part in the EU projects (1 citation) and applying for international organizations to join as translator (1 citation) reflect the other aspect of socialization.When it comes to individual study habit, eight citations indicate vocabulary improvement.
Excerpt 1:"Currently, I am memorizing words to enlarge my vocabulary." In line with this, two citations mention dictionary work.Some students claim to make translations (3 citations) for the sake of learning English.Furthermore, some students specify that they collect resources (2 citations), which may suggest that they have plans to get engaged in English learning.Dealing with reading and learning proverbs, making review and practice are among the current deeds voiced by the participants.Some students are engaged with English due to the fact that they have English class at university; therefore, they learn it as a course requirement.Concerning the issue, two citations refer to studying Business English provided at school.Other deeds include preparing assignments and studying for the exams.As opposed to these actions taken by the students on the path to doing something for English, some students remarked doing nothing (12 citations) currently for English.High frequency of no action may imply lack of lifelong learning inclination for some students.In line with the first question, second question focuses on the students' suggestions for what to do in order to learn the language and how to be an ideal learner.Results of the analysis of the second question are given in Table 8 below.Table 8 shows the students' suggestions on what a person who wants to learn English should do and on how an ideal language learner should be.Four different concepts arose out of their answers.The first concept is personal traits.Students noted personal traits of an ideal language learner from their standpoints.The highest frequency belongs to being willing (7 citations) to learn the target language.Will to learn is followed by selfconfidence (5 citations) and interest in learning (4 citations) respectively.Displaying diligence (4 citations) and patience (3 citations) while learning language presents itself within the frame of the expected characteristics of an ideal learner, as well.These features can be deemed as signs of persistence (1 citation) and perseverance (1 citation), which may also pave the way for prevention of learned helplessness.Even though the frequency of citation is low for these personal traits, students' awareness on these notions can be improved.Being inquisitive (2 citations) and curious (1 citation) takes their place within the students' mindset.Curiosity is thought to be a strong indicator of lifelong learning by Diker Coşkun and Demirel (2012).These traits also indicate their motivation, and thus enthusiasm (1 citation).In addition, one citation suggests being active in learning, which can be viewed as precious for learner autonomy since it also requires taking responsibility of the learning.Similarly, one student draws attention to the concept of courage in learning, which can be regarded to have parallel with risk-taking in the learning process.Furthermore, being planned, devoted and idealist are among the suggested personal traits of an ideal language learner, each cited once.The second concept emerged from the analysis is individual study habits.It has also three different sub-categories as study skills, language skills and materials since students mentioned those features.Within the frame of study skills, students express continuous learning (6 citations).
Excerpt 2:"It is of necessity to study always.A person who confines himself or herself to what teacher gives should not expect anything.Foreign language can be learnt easily when there is continuity." It is possible to construct a bond with their tendency for lifelong learning since continuous learning can be considered to be pertinent to lifelong learning.Making practice (6 citations) and repetition (5 citations) also seem to hold importance for students to be successful in learning English.Watching movie also stands out with five citations; therefore, it is safe to say that students regard watching movies significant.Their response is consistent with their current actions in learning English in Table 62 above, as well.Translation (3 citations) is also among their desired techniques, which has also consistency with their current deeds.What is more, independent study (2 citations) presents itself again within this category, which can be inferred that taking responsibility in learning attracts attention for success.Three citations also suggest regular study while learning a language.Hayashi (2009) propounds that effective study together with time and energy devotion is necessity for success in language learning.Apart from these, students voiced engagement in learning practical English, preparing assignments, making exercises, doing a dictionary work, following news, making search and playing games as suggested study skills.As to the language skills, it is obvious that students focus on linguistic abilities such as reading (5 citations), listening (5 citations), boosting vocabulary knowledge (2 citations), writing (1 citation), fostering pronunciation (1 citation) and learning grammar by applying (1 citation).What stands out here is that receptive skills like reading and listening were cited more frequently than other skills.Similarly, it can be said that not only getting grammar but also using it holds significance.Considering the materials subcategory, benefit from appropriate resources (4 citations) and usage of various resources (3 citations) rather than getting stuck with only one resource can be noted to seen as important for learning language.The third concept reached after analysis appears as internal components.In the first place, perceiving English as part of life (4 citations) is provided by the students.It may also reflect the notion of internalizing what is learnt in language education.It is followed by not giving up (3 citations) to learn the target language.This theme holds a great importance for this study since giving up is regarded to be strong sign of learned helplessness in this study.Their citation for not giving up can signal their awareness on this issue.Students also can be said to give value to love for English (3 citations) and awareness of its necessity (2 citations).Like internalization, viewing English not just as lesson (2 citations) is recommended by the students, as well.In addition, selfevaluation (2 citations) is suggested to be an ideal language learner.Rewarding oneself, identifying differences from mother tongue, devoting time, giving importance, displaying commitment to learning, avoiding negative beliefs, showing care and making other love English, each cited one time, constitute the other recommendations of the participants to learn English and to be an ideal learner.The last concept is composed of external component in acquiring success in English.Attending a language course (7 citations) possesses the highest frequency within this group.Therefore, it is safe to remark that those students put a value on the effect of languages courses upon learning English.Consulting others (5 citations) and going abroad (3 citations) comes after language courses.Furthermore, one citation represents learning English for specific purposes, finding a pen-pal and listening to the instructor at school.All these mirror students' own suggestions for success on the path to learning English.Given their lifelong learning tendency, Table 9 below summarises their future plans for learning English.9. What they want to do in the future in order to learn English were analysed in four categories.The first one is concerned with their study habits.
For instance, vocabulary improvement (5 citations) and focus on reading skill (5 citations) are among their plans for the future.Those plans include making practice (4 citations) and studying English (4 citations), as well.Benefitting from a variety of materials (3 citations) takes its part in their plans as in their suggestions for an ideal language learner.They also consider continuous learning (2 citations), which can be viewed to reflect the essence of lifelong learning tendency.Furthermore, they want to benefit from translation (2 citations) as in their problem solving strategies.Use of audio visual materials such as animations/movies (4 citations), songs (1 citation) and videos (1 citation) is one of their plans they would like to realize to learn English better.The second category is exterior supports.The highest frequency belongs to attending a language course (16 citations) in the future.
Excerpt 3:"I want to attend a language course.I hold the belief that I can learn English only if I attend a language course." The students also mentioned this activity in their coping strategies, which may imply that they place importance on receiving support from language courses.Their plans centre on the activities from an international perspective, as well.To illustrate, going abroad (3 citations), going to America by WAT (2 citations) and joining Erasmus programme (2 citations) present themselves as their future plans for gaining more language knowledge.Taking online courses and consulting others were also cited one time by the students.When it comes to inner approaches, the third category, it is clear that they voice self-improvement (2 citations).In addition, view of English as part of life, self-motivation, avoidance of being far from English, time devotion, effective and meaningful learning, each with one citation, are regarded as the things they want to do for English in the future from an internal standpoint.Even though all these plans hint their inclination to lifelong learning in terms of English, there are two citations referring no attempt to do something for English.It suggests that those students do not have any plans to improve English in the future.However, since doing nothing has low frequency, it may offer strong results for their lifelong learning tendency.

DISCUSSION
In the study, university students were examined in terms of their lifelong learning propensity within ELF context.The scale administrated to them aimed to gauge this notion from different perspectives.Students were found to think about their own learning and how to improve it and prefer planning their own learning, which can imply that students are willing to take an active part in their own learning process.Lifelong learning demands favourable attitude, self-confidence in the ability to begin, pursue and accomplish in a job, high level of willingness and the skill to manage and control unpleasant emotions with success (Firmin & Miller, 2005cited in Garipağaoğlu, 2013).Apart from this, if students have false perceived success and failures, this will influence their future attempts directly (Fatemi & Asghari, 2012).Parallel with this, most students were detected to view themselves as a self-directed learner.In the study, most students also considered making sense of what they learn at school as their responsibility.Moreover, the participants appeared to be positive about their ability of applying appropriate knowledge and skills.Students put forth remarks concerning their current deeds for the sake of learning English.Even though about one third of the students claimed to do nothing for learning it, there were citations referring active steps taken on this path such as benefitting from movies, songs, internet, online course, vocabulary improvement, foreign friends and projects.Besides, when it comes to future plans, except for two citations, students specified various attempts to be taken in the future such as attending a language course going abroad, improving vocabulary, benefitting from audio-visual materials and learning continuously.All these may manifest that most students plan to be active in term of pursuing English learning.Developing positive conceptions for lifelong learning can help students to engage in learning throughout life as Garipağaoğlu (2013) considers the role of undergraduate programs significant in inducing favourable stance towards lifelong learning and in equipping students for the requirements of life which they will experience upon graduation.However, as for the groups of students, 1 st year students were established to have the highest score for lifelong learning tendency though it was not ascertained to be statistically significant.For this result reasons may include the fact that they are new to the university, they have newly started English classes at the university which may have triggered their positive stance towards it.Consequently, students seemed not to be totally passive for lifelong learning within the framework of target language improvement.
Awareness for the importance of lifelong learning should be ensured to the students through supervision.
Besides, it would be beneficial to provide students with elective courses based on problem solving and lifelong learning skill and strategies.Students need to be motivated to attend in lifelong learning courses which can boost their performance (Eleftheriou & Seixas, 2014)."Implementation of lifelong learning presents a challenge to twenty-first-century universities to develop a variety of elective courses and to open doors to students from various age groups and backgrounds" (Milic, 2013, p.154).Seminars can be organized on the concept of lifelong learning, as well.Similarly, students can be encouraged to participate in the projects focusing on lifelong learning at university level.Chang, Wu and Lin (2012) suggest the re-evaluation of the ways to remove or at least lessen the obstacles that influence adults' participation into the lifelong learning.What is more, effective academic supervision which also includes cooperation with the students should be developed.Students can be encouraged to take responsibility in their own learning process.As Diker Coşkun and Demirel (2012) put forth, schools own an important role in generating lifelong learning societies, and university helps students enhance lifelong learning skills.Therefore, all stakeholders at university should cooperate to instil life-wide learning awareness, motive and habit into students.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Skills for a Lifelong Learning Age Core Skills and Competencies for Personal Survival in the Lifelong Learning Age Self-management skills  Being determined to fulfil personal potential  Continuously developing personal skills and confidence  Setting and achieving realistic personal targets  Purposeful introspection  Maintaining perspective and a sense of humour Handling and interpreting information  Using information technology tools and techniques  Collecting, storing, analysing and combining information  Recognizing patterns and links Applying new knowledge into practice  Seeing the connection between theory and practice  Transforming knowledge into action Learning to learn  Staying open to new knowledge and new learning techniques  Identifying and using sources of knowledge  Relating learning to personal objectives Questioning, reasoning and critical judgement  Knowing the difference between good, bad and indifferent  Continually wanting to improve procedures, processes and situations  Never being satisfied with the status quo Management and communication skills  Expressing oneself clearly orally and verbally in formal and informal situations  Persuading others  Listening to others  Helping others to help themselves

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Basic skills and competencies required for lifelong learning

Table 1 .
Goal Setting Table 1 describes students' lifelong tendency from the perspective of setting goal.

Table 2 .
Applying Appropriate Knowledge and SkillsTable 2 provides a descriptive presentation of another aspect of lifelong learners, application of suitable knowledge and skills.As regards sense-making, 80 % of the students view themselves as able to impose meaning upon what others see as disorder.This also implies their inclination of positive thinking, which occupies a crucial place in learning process.Whereas four students seem to have unclear ideas about the issue, three students appear not to regard themselves able to make sense of what others deem as something negative.

Table 3 .
Engaging in Self-Direction and Self-Reflection Concerning the engagement in self-direction and self-reflection, Table3reveals students' responses in frequencies and percentages.Nearly half of the students (48,6 %) feel others are in a better position that they are to evaluate their success as a students.However, 40 % of the students do not think that others can evaluate the participants' own success better, which may indicate that those students are confident about their selfevaluation.Four students seem unsure of their ability in self-evaluation.Apart from evaluation of success, a majority of the students (88,6 %) hold the belief that it is their responsibility to make sense of what they learn at school, which reflects the signals of autonomy in learning.While one student disagreed to accept the responsibility of placing meaning upon what is learnt at school, no student showed strong disagreement with such kind of responsibility.Therefore, it is safe to remark that most of the participants are aware of taking the responsibility of their own learning.

Table 5 .
Adapting Learning Strategies to Different Conditions

Table 6 .
Students' Lifelong Learning Tendency

Table 8 .
Students' Perceptions of Ideal Language Learner

Table 9
Total 78Students' future plans as regards learning English are covered in Table