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Individual Differences in Language Learning

The document discusses individual differences in second language acquisition, highlighting why learners may achieve varying levels of success despite similar experiences. It categorizes these differences into personal and general factors, including motivation and cognitive style, and emphasizes the role of language aptitude. The document also outlines components of aptitude and research findings that indicate its varying relevance to different teaching approaches.

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Diego Giménez
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25 views2 pages

Individual Differences in Language Learning

The document discusses individual differences in second language acquisition, highlighting why learners may achieve varying levels of success despite similar experiences. It categorizes these differences into personal and general factors, including motivation and cognitive style, and emphasizes the role of language aptitude. The document also outlines components of aptitude and research findings that indicate its varying relevance to different teaching approaches.

Uploaded by

Diego Giménez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

T.E.C.

2° Year
Date: 18/01/2025

Topic: “INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN 2ND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION”

Course objectives.
- Explain why one learner may be more successful than another though they
experience the same/similar learning program.
- Explain and mention some individual differences which may affect the result of
the learning
“SAME EXPERIENCE, DIFFERENT RESULT…”
THE QUESTIONS (TO KEEP IN MIND)
- How could one learner be more successful than another?
- What factor, other than instructors, materials, activities, environment,
and sorts, may affect the result of learning?
Individual Differences
Second language acquisition acknowledges that there are individual differences in
second language acquisition.
These differences are psychological. Dr. Rod Ellis (1985) categorizes these differences
into:
- Personal Factors: group dynamics, attitudes to the teacher and learning
materials, individual learning techniques (in the personal factors the teacher has
an influence)
- General Factors: age, intelligence, aptitude, cognitive style, motivation and
personality.
Language aptitude.
Aptitude: a natural ability for learning an L2 . It is believed to in part related to general
intelligence, but also to be in part distinct. It is thought to predict success in learning

Components in aptitude.
- Phonemic coding ability: the ability to identify sounds of a foreign language so
that they can be remembered later.
- Grammatical sensitivity: the ability to recognize the grammatical functions of
words in sentences.
- Inductive language learning ability: the ability to identify patterns of
correspondence and relations between forms and meaning.
- Rote learning ability: the ability to form and remember association between
stimuli. This is believed to be important in vocabulary learning.
Research findings on aptitude:
1. Early research revealed a substantial relationship between performance on
language aptitude tests and performance in foreign language learning that was
based on grammar translation or audiolingual methods.
2. However, performance on language aptitude tests seems irrelevant to second
language learning with the adoption of a more communicative approach to
teaching.
3. Successful language learners may not be strong in all of the components of
aptitude. Learners´ strengths and weaknesses in the different components may
account for their ability to succeed in different types of instructional programs.

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