Understanding the Reasons for Class Repetition in an English Language Preparatory Department

Repeaters experienced some unknown difficulties in learning English in the English language preparatory department (ELPD) of a Turkish university. Therefore, the present study aimed to find out what the difficultieswere and how the difficulties were experienced. The present study was designed as a hermeneutic phenomenological study. Sixteen students who studied in a level once or more than once participated into the study. The data were collected with semi-structured interviews and content-analyzed.Different strategies like thick description and decentralization were used for the trustworthiness of the study. The findings indicated that six sources led to the students’ fear of failure and influenced their perception of education negatively, which resulted in studying in a level many times