INDIVIDUAL
DIFFERENCES IN SECOND
LANGUAGE LEARNING
A good language Learner
As we saw from first language acquisition children are almost always successful in acquiring
the language or languages that are spoken to them in early childhood, provided that they
have adequate opportunities.
This contrasts with our experience if second language learning, whose success varies
greatly.
Researches try to find the characteristics that describe a successful language learner and to
what extent we can predict the differences in the success of SLA if we have information
about learner’s personalities.
Research on Learner Characteristics
Does a variable as motivation e.g. affect SLA? How is research on the influence of individual
differences on SLA done?
1. They select a group of learners and give them a questionnaire to measure the type
and degree of their motivation.
2. Then some kind of test is used to assess their Language Proficiency
3. Correlation
 If two variables are found to be positively correlated the teacher will have to
discover what the relation between them is
Problems
 We can not directly observe and measure variables such as intelligence, motivation,
extroversion, or even intelligence.
 Characteristics are not independent from each other
 They may be asked how often they had the opportunity to use SL with native speakers but
this may not be because of the motivation but because of the opportunity. Willingness to
interact and opportunity to interact
 Which variable causes the other: successful because of motivation or motivated because
of success?
 Social and educational background must be considered
Understanding the relationship between individual differences, social situations, and success
in SLA is a great challenge. Researches seek to know how different cognitive and personality
variables are related and how they interact with learners’ experiences so that they can gain a
better understanding of human learning.
 Educators hope to help learners with different characteristics achieving success in
learning a second language.
Intelligence
 Traditionally = performance on certain kinds of tests associated with success at
school
 Link between IQ and L2-learning  predicting success
 IQ rather related to Metalinguistic knowledge than to communicative ability
 IQ influences language analysis and rule learning
 Nevertheless students with weak academic performance often succeed in L2-learning
Theory of Multiple Intelligences - Howard Gardner (1993)
 Different Types of Intelligences inlcuding
 Musical-Rhythmic
 Bodily-Kinaesthetic
 Inter- and Intrapersonal
 Logical/Mathematical
 Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence  assessed in traditional IQ-Tests
Aptitude
 Specific abilities predicting success in language learning
 John Carroll (1991): aptitude = ability to learn quickly
 Hypothesis: learner with high aptitude may learn easier and quicker but others may
also succeed if they keep up
Several Components of Aptitude Measured in Tests
Ability to
1) Identify and memorize new sounds
2) Understand the function of particular words in sentences
3) Figure out grammatical rules from language samples
4) Remember new words
Aptitude Test Results
 Relation between performance in Tests and foreign language  GTM and AL
 Communicative Approach  common belief: measured abilities irrelevant for LA
 Other beliefs: some measured abilities predict success in communicative settings
 learners’ individual aptitude profiles require different instructional programmes
Learning Styles
 Simlpy put: various approaches or ways of learning
 Reid (1995): Learning style = individual’s natural, habitual, and preferred way of
absorbing, processing and retaining new information and skills
Perceptually-based learning styles
 Visual Learners (Eye)
 Aural Learners (Ear)
 Kinaesthetic Learners (Physical Action)
Cognitive learning styles
 Field dependence (holistic/global thinking)
 Field independence (analytical thinking)
 Variation of methods and teaching activities needed to accommodate all types of
learning styles and aptitudes!
Personality
- Hard to measure
- A learner with an outgoing personality is a good language learner ≠ the quiet
observant learner may have greater success
Inhibition and Anxiety
-
Discourages risk taking which is neccessary for progress in language learning
Inhibition is a negative force for second language pronunciation performance
Experiment: small amount of alcohol  better pronunciation
Larger doses of alcohol  pronunciation deteriorated
-
Anxiety is dynamic and dependent on situations and circumstances, it is not a
permanent feature of a learners personality
Scales that measure anxiety (for example the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety
Scale)
This questionnaire does not consider that anxiety can be temporary and context
specific
Anxiety can also have a positive effect on learning
Motivation and focus an success
Positive term “tension”
 Anxiety can be both useful an harmful
Not personality alone but the combination with other factors contributes to second language
learning!
Ethnic group affiliation
-
Languages exist in social contexts
Children and adults are sensitive to social dynamics and power relationships
Students reluctant to speak in situations of imbalanced power
Learners with a high degree of accuracy perceived as “less loyal to their ethnic
group” than those with a “foreign accent”
Motivation
Motivation in second language learning is a complex phenomenon.
It has been defined in terms of two factors:
– Learners' communicative needs
– Attitudes towards the second language community
Zoltán Dörnyei developed a process-oriented model of motivation that consists of three
phases:
1) 'choice motivation'
 refers to getting started and to setting goals
2) 'executive motivation'
 is about carrying out the necessary tasks to maintain motivation
3) 'motivation retrospection'
 refers to students' appraisal of and reaction to their performance
Graham Crookes and Richard Schmidt point to several areas where educational research
has reported increased levels of motivation for students in relation to pedagogical practices:
1)Motivating students into the lesson
2)Varying the activities, tasks, and materials
3)Using co-operative rather than competitive goals
Learner beliefs
Learner beliefs can be strong mediating factors in their experience in the classroom.
Learners' instructional preferences will influence the kinds of strategies they use in trying to
learn new material.
Exam questions
1. How did Neil Naiman and his colleagues try to identify the personal characteristics
that make one learner more successful than another?
2. Name and explain the three phases of the process-oriented model of motivation.
3. What should teachers always bear in mind with regard to their choice of teaching
methods and activities?
4. Why is anxiety an important feature in the learners’ personality? Name negative
and positive aspects
5. To what extent can we predict differences in the success of SLA if we have
information about learners’ personalities?