Individual Differences in

Second Language Learning

• Two or more English learners are attending the
same English class, having the same
instructors and materials, doing the same
activities and exercises, proceeding for the
same duration of course program, and living in
the same environment.
• In the end of the program, these learners
undergo a kind of English competency
assessment. But they achieve different levels
of competence.
• Individual differences are the stable, consistent
ways in which people are different from one
another.
• Factors affecting SLL:
• 1- intelligence
• 2- aptitude
• 3- learning styles
• 4- personality
• 5- motivation and attitude
• 6- identity & ethnic group affiliation
• 7- learner beliefs
• 8- age of acquisition & the CPH
 1- Intelligence
• What is the term used for ?
The ability to solve problems and to adapt and
learn from experiences.
It is used traditionally to refer to performance on
certain kinds of tests.
• IQ scores were a good means of predicting
success in SLL which involves language
analysis and rule learning.
• This kind of intelligence may play a less
important role in classrooms where the focus is
on communication and interaction.
•
 ‘Multiple Intelligences’
• In recent years, many educators have been
influenced by Howard Gardner's (1993)
proposal that individuals have 'multiple
intelligences' and that traditional IQ tests have
assessed only a limited range of abilities.
• Among the multiple intelligences Gardner
includes abilities in the areas of music,
interpersonal relations, and athletics, as well
as the verbal intelligence that is most often
associated with success in school.
1. LINGUISTIC /VERBAL
The ability to use spoken or written words (authors,
journalists, speakers)
2. LOGICAL-MATHEMATICAL
Inductive and deductive thinking and reasoning abilities,
logic, as well as the use of numbers and abstract pattern
recognition (scientists, engineers, accountants)
3. VISUAL-SPATIAL
• The ability to mentally visualize objects and spatial
dimensions (architects, artists, sailors)
4. BODY-KINESTHETIC
The wisdom of the body and the ability to control physical
motion (surgeons, crafts people, dancers, athletes)
5. MUSICAL-RHYTHMIC
The ability to master music as well as rhythms, tones and beats (composers,
musicians, and music therapists)

6. INTERPERSONAL
The ability to communicate effectively with other people and to be able to
develop relationships (successful teachers, mental health professionals)

7. INTRAPERSONAL
The ability to understand one’s own emotions, motivations, inner states of
being, and self-reflection (theologians, psychologists)
8-Naturalist skills
the ability to observe patterns in nature and understand natural and human-
made systems (farmers, botanists, ecologists, landscapers)
 2- Aptitude
• Language aptitude refers to special abilities to
learn quickly. Thus, we may hypothesize that a
learner with high aptitude may learn with
greater ease and speed but that other learners
may also be successful if they persevere.
• Aptitude tests are based on the following components:
a. identify & memorize new sounds
b. understand the function of words
c. figure out grammatical rules
d. memory for new words

• Learners’ strengths and weaknesses in these different

components may account for their ability to succeed in
different types of instructional programs.
 3-Learning Style
• The term is used to describe an individual's
natural, habitual, and preferred way of
absorbing, processing, and retaining new
information and skills.
• Information enters our brain in three main
ways: sight, hearing and touch, which one you
use the most is called your Learning Style.
• Visual Learners learn by sight.
• Auditory Learners learn by hearing.
• Kinesthetic Learners learn by touching or
physical action.
Those styles are called perceptually –based
learning styles.
• Visual Learners: Prefer to see information
such as pictures, diagrams, cartoons,
demonstrations
• Picture words and concepts they hear as
images.
• Easily distracted in lecture with no visual aids.
• Benefit from using charts, maps, notes, and
flash cards when studying.
• Auditory Learners : Prefer to hear
information spoken
• Can absorb a lecture with little effort.
• May not need careful notes to learn.
• Often avoid eye contact in order to concentrate
• May read aloud to themselves.
• Like background music when they study.
• Kinesthetic Learners : Prefer touch as their
primary mode for taking in information
• In traditional lecture situations, they should
write out important facts.
• Create study sheets connected to vivid
examples.
• Role-playing can help them learn and
remember important ideas.
• There are many questions about how learning
styles interact with success in LL.
• However, we should encourage learners to use
all means available to them.
• The challenge is to find instructional
approaches that meet the needs of learners
with a variety of aptitude and learning styles
profiles.
 4- Personality
• Personality refers to those aspects of an
individual’s behaviour, attitudes, beliefs,
thought, actions and feelings which are seen as
typical and distinctive of that person.
 • A number of personality characteristics have
been proposed as likely to affect SLL. The
main ones are:
• Extroversion
• Inhibition
• Anxiety
• Self-esteem
• Empathy.
 Extroversion/Introversion
• An introvert is a person who tends to avoid
social contact with others and is often
preoccupied with his or her inner feelings,
thoughts and experiences.
• An extrovert is a person whose conscious
interests and energies are directed towards
other people and events than towards
him/herself.
• An extroverted person is well suited to
language learning.
• Researches, however, do not always support
this conclusion .
In certain learning situations the quiet
observant may have greater success.
 2- Inhibition:

• A shy or nervous feeling that stops you from

expressing your real thoughts or feelings.
• It has been suggested that inhibition discourages
risk- taking which is necessary for progress in
language learning.
• This is often a particular problem for adolescents
who are more self-conscious than younger
learners.
• It has been found that inhibition is a negative
force at least for second language pronunciation
performance.
 3- Anxiety:

• Anxiety refers to learners’ feelings of worry,

nervousness, and stress when learning a second
language.
• Recent research acknowledges that anxiety is dynamic
and dependent on situations or circumstances.
• Anxiety can play an important role in SLL if it interferes
with the learning process.
• It has been argued that not all anxiety is bad and a
certain amount of tension can have a positive effect and
even facilitate learning. For example, a learner’s
willingness to communicate has been related to anxiety.
• Research states that learners who willingly
communicate in a wide range of conversational
interactions are able to do so because their prior
language learning has led to develop self-confidence.
• Several other personality characteristics such as self-
esteem , empathy, talkativeness, and responsiveness
have also been studied.
• Many researchers believe that personality has an
important influence on success in language learning,
however it is not personality alone but the way in which
it combines with other factors that contribute to second
language learning.
• However, in general, the available research does not
show a single clearly defined relationship between
personality traits and second language acquisition. And,
as indicated earlier, the major difficulty in investigating
personality characteristics is that of identification and
measurement.
• Another explanation that has been offered for the mixed
findings of personality studies is that personality
variables may be a major factor only in the acquisition
of conversational skills, not in the acquisition of
literacy or academic skills.
 5- Motivation and Attitudes
• Robert Gardner and his colleagues have
carried out a program of research on the
relationship between a learner's attitudes
towards the second or foreign language and its
community, and success in second language
learning.
 Two types of motivation
• Intrinsic motivation:
• motivation to participate in an activity because
it is enjoyable. (it could be derived from
knowledge, accomplishment, stimulation).
• Extrinsic motivation:
• motivation to participate in an activity in order
to achieve an instrumental end.
• Motivation has been defined in terms of two
factors:
• a. learners’ communicative needs: If learners
need to speak the second language in a wide
range of social situations or to fulfill
professional ambitions, they will perceive the
communicative value of the second language
and will therefore be motivated to acquire
proficiency in it.
• b. Learners’ attitude to SL community: if
learners have favourable attitudes towards the
speakers of the language, they will desire more
contact with them.
• It is difficult to know whether positive attitudes
produce successful learning or successful learning
engenders positive attitudes, or whether both are
affected by other factors.
• Although research cannot prove that positive
attitudes and motivation lead to success in
learning, there is ample evidence that positive
motivation is associated with a willingness to
keep learning .
 7- Learner beliefs
• Learners have strong beliefs and opinions
about how their instruction should be
delivered.
• These beliefs are usually based on previous
learning experiences and the assumption (right
or wrong) that a particular type of instruction
is the best way for them to learn.
• Research on learner beliefs about the role of
grammar and corrective feedback in second
language learning confirms that there is often a
mismatch between students' and teachers' views.
• All students desire to have their errors corrected
while very few teachers felt this was desirable.
• Most students believe that formal study of the
language is essential, just half of the teachers
share this view.
• Learners’ instructional preferences will influence
the kind of strategies they use in trying to learn
new material.
 8- Age of Acquisition and the CPH
• Age here refers to the age at which learning
begins.
• It has been hypothesized that there is a critical
period for second language acquisition just as
there is for first language acquisition.
• Critical Period Hypothesis: there is a time in
human development when the brain is
predisposed for success in language learning.
• Language learning that occurs after the end of
the critical period may not be based on innate
biological structures, but rather depends on
more general learning abilities. These abilities
are not as effective for language learning as the
more specific, innate capacities that are
available to the young child.
 Rate of learning
• Studies show that adults and adolescents learn
faster than children in the first year of second
language development.
• However, children can catch up and probably
surpass the older if they continue to have
adequate opportunity to use the language.
• Thus, adults and adolescents can make
considerable and rapid progress in contexts where
they use the language in social, personal,
professional or academic interaction.
• At what age should second language
instruction begin?
• Decisions about when to start second language
programs in school should be based on
realistic estimates of how long it takes to learn
a second language.
• One or two hours a week will not produce
advanced second language speakers no matter
how young they were when they began. Older
learners may be able to make better use of the
limited time they have for second language.
• Age is one of the characteristics that determine
the way in which an individual approaches
second language learning.
But the opportunities for learning, the motivation
to learn and individual differences in aptitude
for language learning are also important
factors that affect both rate of learning and
eventual success in learning.
• It is difficult to compare children and adults as
second language learners. In addition to
possible biological differences suggested by
the Critical Period Hypothesis, the conditions
for language learning are often very different.
• Younger learners in informal language learning
environments usually have more time to
devote to learning language. They often have
more opportunities to hear and use the
language in environments where they do not
experience strong pressure to speak fluently
and accurately from the very beginning.
Furthermore, their early imperfect efforts are
often praised or, at least, accepted.
• Older learners are more likely to find themselves in
situations that demand more complex language and the
expression of more complicated ideas. Adults are often
embarrassed by their lack of mastery of the language
and they may develop a sense of inadequacy after
experiences of frustration in trying to say exactly what
they mean.
• Such negative feelings may affect their motivation and
willingness to place themselves in situations where they
will need to use the new language.