Differences between learners

Second Language Acquisition Research (1)Differences Between Learners: 

Second Language Acquisition Research (1) Differences Between Learners Learning Style, Motivation, Age, Personality, Attitude, Affective Variables, Aptitude, Learning Strategies, L1, Cultural Background, Educational Background

Age: 

Age The Critical Period Hypothesis : The claim that human beings are only capable of acquiring a language between up to adoloescence. Not proven – research contradictory?

Aptitude: 

Aptitude Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT), (Carroll and Sapon 1959). Tests four aptitude components : phonemic coding ability : the capacity to perceive and memorise new sounds grammatical sensitivity : the capacity to identify the functions that words fulfil in sentences; inductive language learning ability : the capacity to take a corpus of material in a target language and pick out patterns (i.e. make generalisations about rules) from that material associative memory : a capacity to remember L1 and L2 word pairings. Other tests and proposals eg : Pimsleur Language Attitude Battery –also took into account general academic ability and motivation

Other Factors: 

Other Factors Gender Personality Cultural /Educational Background

Learning Strategies: 

Learning Strategies How does the learner go about learning? Metacognitive strategies Cognitive strategies Social strategies O’Malley and Chamot, Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition, CUP(1990)

Motivation, Attitudeand Affective Variables: 

Motivation, Attitude and Affective Variables How you feel about the learning experience.

Some Models: 

Some Models Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Integrative and Instrumental Motivation Attribution Theory Maslow’s Hierarchy … and many others

Intrinsic and Integrative Motivation: 

Intrinsic and Integrative Motivation Intrinsic Motivation Interest in the learning activity Anticipated enjoyment of the learning activity Integrative Motivation Interest in social interaction with members of another group Interested in the culture and country of the target language

Extrinsic and Instrumental Motivation: 

Extrinsic and Instrumental Motivation Interest in the consequences and benefits resulting from L2 language competence : Extrinsic motivation Increase in personal status, self-esteem etc Instrumental motivation Interest in concrete benefits, eg: need to increase IELTS score to get into university ability to do one’s job better

Attribution Theory(Weiner 1980/1992): 

Attribution Theory (Weiner 1980/1992) A person’s belief about why they succeeded or failed in the past will affect their performance in the future. People will interpret their environment in such a way as to maintain a positive self-image.

Four attribution factors potentially affecting learning: 

Four attribution factors potentially affecting learning Ability Task difficulty Effort Luck

Four attribution factors potentially affecting learning: 

Four attribution factors potentially affecting learning Ability is a relatively internal and stable factor over which the learner does not exercise much direct control. Task difficulty is an external and stable factor that is largely beyond the learner's control. Effort is an internal and unstable factor over which the learner can exercise a great deal of control. Luck is an external and unstable factor over which the learner exercises very little control.

Attribution Theory: 

Attribution Theory Students will be most persistent at academic tasks if they attribute their academic successes to either: internal, unstable, factors over which they have control (e.g. effort) or internal, stable, factors over which they have little control but which may sometimes be disrupted by other factors (e.g. ability disrupted by occasional bad luck) And if they attribute their failures to internal, unstable factors over which they have control (e.g., effort).  

Simplifying the models …: 

Simplifying the models … Oxford and Shearin (1994) identified six factors common to the various models that impact motivation in language learning: attitudes beliefs about self goals involvement environmental support personal attributes

Simplifying the models …: 

Simplifying the models … attitudes (i.e., sentiments toward the learning community and the target language) beliefs about self (i.e., expectancies of and attitudes to success, self-efficacy, and anxiety) goals (perceived clarity and relevance of learning goals as reasons for learning) involvement (i.e., extent to which the learner actively and consciously participates in the language learning process) environmental support (i.e., extent of teacher and peer support, and the integration of cultural and outside-of-class support into learning experience) personal attributes (i.e., aptitude, age, sex, and previous language learning experience).

Building heightened success expectations: 

Building heightened success expectations do not give the learners tasks that are too difficult provide sufficient preparation offer assistance let students help each other make success criteria as clear as possible consider and remove potential obstacles to learning

Creating realistic learner beliefs: 

Creating realistic learner beliefs Learners may have dubious beliefs or prejudices about how language learning works : You can only master a foreign language if you have a native ability for language learning. You should not say anything in the foreign language until you are certain about the grammar. If I make mistakes, it must mean I’m not learning. In order to create realistic learner beliefs teachers should find out what their students think about language learning and help them to sort out the facts from the prejudices.

Creating realistic learner beliefs: 

Creating realistic learner beliefs The main points to be addressed: The difficulty of language learning in general and learning the specific L2 they are studying in particular. The realistic rate of progress students can expect. What is required from the learner to be successful. How languages are best learned. Dörnyei, Zoltán, Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom, Cambridge University Press, 2001