Week 15- Individual Learner Differences

ELS102: Theories of Language and Language Acquisition Week 15- Individual Learner Differences M R . J O S E P H C H R I S T O P H E R D T . B R I A N A , L P T , M A E L E D C O U R S E I N S T R U C T O R [email protected].

Learning Outcomes At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to: 1. Identify key individual differences that influence language acquisition 2. Analyze how these differences impact language learning outcomes and strategies [email protected].

Task 1: Let’s Reflect! Based on your prior knowledge and your own language learning experiences, determine how each of the following factors influence language learning/ acquisition. Fill out the given table/ Google docs. [email protected] Factor How does it influence language learning/ acquisition Age Anxiety Motivation Intelligence.

Individual Learner Differences The process of second language acquisition is based on mental conscious and sub-conscious processes described in different SLA models. However, these mental processes are affected by a variety of individual factors which might accelerate, slow down, or even stop the process of language acquisition. [email protected].

Individual Learner Differences The study of individual learner differences started in the late 1970s as a result of the shift of focus of modern teaching methodology from the teacher to the learner. The person of the learner and particularly the person of a good learner became the center of researchers’ attention. [email protected].

Individual Learner Differences The objective was to identify the factors that would lead to successful foreign language learning. The good learner studies identified cognitive and affective factors that could facilitate the FL learning process. It was found that the efficiency of SLA is largely affected by the individual physical, intellectual, and psychological/ affective features of the learner. [email protected].

Individual Learner Differences The list of those individual factors usually includes the following: 1. Age 2. General intelligence 3. Language aptitude 4. Cognitive style 5. Personality 6. Motivation and attitude 7. Learning strategies [email protected].

Age Research findings in relation to age. 1. The route of acquisition: the order of acquisition is similar in different age groups 2. The rate of acquisition: adults outperform children, especially in the acquisition of grammar. 3. Ultimate attainment: children are able to achieve accent-free, native- like performance whereas adult starters’ achievement is limited to grammatical and lexical subsystem. [email protected].

Age Larsen-Freeman (1991) presents four major explanations of age differences in SLA. 1. Social-psychological explanation- adults are more inhibited than children and their identity as speakers of L1 is firmly established. Consequently, they do not fully benefit from interaction, do not accommodate the L2 input and do not achieve accent-free pronunciation. [email protected].

Age Larsen-Freeman (1991) presents four major explanations of age differences in SLA. 2. Cognitive explanation- Adults’ higher rate of language acquisition may be explained with reference to Piaget’s theory of stages of cognitive development. Adults learn faster because they have reached a formal operations stage, which involves the ability to think abstractly and gives adults an advantage in solving problems. [email protected].

Age Larsen-Freeman (1991) presents four major explanations of age differences in SLA. 3. Input Explanation- Young learners are believed to receive a better-quality input; structurally and lexically simplified, concentrated on ‘here and now’. Children also receive more input as they more willingly participate in interactions. [email protected].

Age Larsen-Freeman (1991) presents four major explanations of age differences in SLA. 4. Neurological Explanation- The SLA difference between children and adults are the result of the loss of plasticity of the human brain due to brain lateralisation. It also leads to the loss of flexibility of neuromuscular coordination mechanism which for example leads to the inadequate acquisition of SL pronunciation in adults. [email protected].

General Intelligence and Language Aptitude Intelligence and language aptitude are both inborn abilities. Contrary to popular belief, their role in the process of SLA is limited to the development of academic skills in L2 and not overall language proficiency. [email protected].

General Intelligence and Language Aptitude Intelligence is often defined as a general academic or reasoning ability (Ellis, 1985: 110). It is one of the general factors which facilitate any form of learning, not only learning languages. As intelligence is an ability to learn, analyze, compare, select, and generalise incoming information, it might facilitate the process of SLA, especially the acquisition of skills associated with formal study (reading, grammar, and vocabulary). [email protected].

General Intelligence and Language Aptitude Language aptitude is a set of cognitive abilities needed for SLA Carroll (1965) proposed four components of language aptitude: • phonemic coding ability (the capacity to discriminate and code foreign sounds for further use) • grammatical sensitivity (the capacity to recognise the grammatical function of words in sentences) • inductive language learning ability (the capacity to analyse language materials and identify patterns involving form and meaning) • rote learning ability for foreign language materials (the ability to memorise FL items mechanically, especially the associations between sounds and meanings, word lists, etc.) [email protected].

Cognitive Style Cognitive style is "the manner in which people perceive, conceptualise, organise, and recall information." (Ellis 1985: 114) Particular cognitive styles are usually grouped in contrastive pairs; however, it does not mean that each individual has a preference for onecognitive style or the other. Cognitive styles represent a continuum, and individual learners have preferences towards one style of the pair without totally losing the ability to utilise the other. Some styles may facilitate the development of certain aspects of language proficiency, but at the cost of other aspects. Consequently one cannot claim that a particular cognitive style leads to the development of overall foreign language proficiency. [email protected].

Personality Similarly to cognitive styles, the personality of a learner is not a predictor of success or failure. Though certain personality traits do affect some aspects of SLA, they do not affect the route, rate or success of SLA as a whole. Personality has only an indirect influence on SLA by affecting learners' performance or other individual learner differences, especially motivation. [email protected].

Personality Extroversion/ Introversion Extroverts are sociable, risk-taking, lively, and active. In a classroom environment, they prefer group work and oral activities. They are more fluent. [email protected].

Personality Extroversion/ Introversion Introverts are quiet, non-social. In a classroom environment, they prefer individual work and written activities. They are more accurate. There are two major claims concerning extroversion/introversion (Ellis 1994: 520): 1. Extroverted learners do better at acquiring basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS): the sociability of the extroverts results in more opportunities for communication and more input. 2. Introverted learners do better at developing cognitive academic language ability (CALA): the time spent on reading and writing leads to academic success. [email protected].

Personality Anxiety Anxiety is a state of uneasiness, tension or stress usually as a reaction to certain situations (state anxiety) or, in some cases, as a permanent characteristic of one's personality (trait anxiety). Anxiety does not directly affect the process of SLA itself, but it can motivate the learner to put in more effort, or lead to learner demotivation, resulting in the abandonment of the learning task. Two types have been distinguished in connection with language learning: • facilitating anxiety (motivating to work harder) • debilitating anxiety (demotivating) [email protected].

Motivation and Attitude Motivation is usually defined as an inner drive, desire, or need to perform a particular action. Attitude is a set of beliefs that a learner holds towards members of the target language group, target language culture, and also his/her own culture. (Brown 1981) [email protected].

Learning Strategies Learning strategies are as important in SLA as motivation. Motivation makes the L.2 learner strive for success: learning strategies give the learner the tools for achieving the goal. They facilitate particular aspects of the learner's competence: phonological, grammatical, lexical, communicative, and his/her emotional states involved in the language learning process. Additionally, they develop self-direction in learners, which means that the learner takes responsibility for his/her own learning instead of being dependent on the teacher. An autonomous (self-directed) learner is the main objective of modern education. [email protected].

Learning Strategies Definition Bialystok (1985: 258): 'learning strategies are constructed as activities undertaken by learners, whether consciously or not, that have the effect of promoting the learner's ability either to analyse the linguistic knowledge relevant to the language under study, or to improve the control of procedures for selecting and applying that knowledge under specific contextual conditions.' O'Malley et al. (1985: 23) 'Learning strategies have been broadly defined as any set of operations or steps used by a learner that will facilitate the acquisition, storage, retrieval or use of information? Weinstein and Mayer (1986: 17) claim that 'learning strategies are the behaviours and thoughts that a learner engages in during learning that are intended to influence the learner's encoding process? [email protected].

Learning Strategies [email protected].

Learning Strategies.