University students in Turkey are required to complete a one-year English preparatory education before starting their education at their faculties. For some time, it has been clear that students have difficulties in learning English in these preparatory programs. The reasons behind this have always been a hot topic in research areas. To have a deeper look and offer solutions, it is necessary to understand how these students and their instructors perceive language learning first. Their perceptions reveal the learning theories that they have adopted, and these learning theories shape the way teachers teach and the students learn that language. In this framework, this study aims to reveal the underlying learning theories behind students' and instructors' perceptions of learning English in English preparatory programs. The phenomenology method was used in this study among the qualitative research methods. Ten students and ten instructors were interviewed during the study. Themes and codes were created with the content analysis of the data. It was seen that there is not a single learning theory dominating students' and instructors' perceptions of learning English.