Individual Learner

Differences
 The level of second language acquisition
depends on many factors controlled by
nature or shaped by nurture. Here, we shed
light on the role of individual learner
differences in second language acquisition
(SLA). The individual differences include age,
gender, aptitude, motivation, cognitive style,
learning strategies, and personality
 Why do some people almost achieve the
native speaker's levels of competence in a
foreign language while others never seem to
progress much beyond a beginner's level?
Some second language learners make rapid
and apparently effortless progress while
others progress only very slowly and with
great difficulty. The reason probably is that
people are not homogenous! They have
different personalities and styles. Thus, each
individual is different from the other.
 The differences that one can explore are:
 A. Age
 B. Gender
 C. Aptitude
 D. Motivation
 E. Learning Styles
 F. Learning Strategies
 G. Personality
Age
 Are children more successful second
language learners than adults? Many would
say yes, if we commonly observe the ease
with which children, especially young children
acquire easily second language speakers. But
Saville-Troike (2006) warns us against such
easy assumptions and argues that that one
must define the term ‘success’. According to
her, Some define ‘success’ as initial rate of
learning while other studies define it as
ultimate achievement.
 Some studies define “success” in terms of
how close the learner's pronunciation is to a
native speaker's, others in terms of how
closely a learner approximates native
grammaticality judgments and still others in
terms of fluency or functional competence”.
She further warns that the evaluative criteria
clearly must be kept clearly in mind while
judging conflicting claims about success.
 Children are believed to have only a limited number of
years during which normal acquisition is possible.
Beyond that, physiological changes cause the brain to
lose its capacity to assume the new functions that
learning language demands.
 So how much difference does age make? Long (1990)
argues that for language learners of more than 15
years of age, it is difficult to acquire native like fluency
and an absence of an ‘accent’. Saville-Troike (2006)
agrees with Long (1990) that, ‘some older learners can
achieve native-like proficiency, although they
definitely constitute a minority of second language
learners (89).’
Gender
 (Bacon & Finneman, 1992; Oxford, 1993; Ehrman
& Oxford, 1995), studies of individual language
learner differences related to gender (biological)
or gender (socially constructed) have shown that
females tend to show greater integrative
motivation and more positive attitudes to L2.
 Zhuanglin (1989) highlighted that, it was generally
believed that male and female are born with
different linguistic advantages, such as, female
learn to speak earlier than male, and female learn
a foreign language faster and better than male,
etc.
 Many language aptitude tests like TOEFL, IELTS have been
used for a long period to test the aptitude of a second
language learner of English. Carroll (1963), who along with
Sapon created the Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT)
which was designed to predict success foreign language
learning, provides us with the following four types of abilities
that constitute aptitude:
 i. Phonemic coding ability (discriminates and encodes foreign
sounds)
 ii. Grammatical sensitivity (recognizes functions of words in
sentences)
 iii. Inductive language learning ability (infers or induces
rules from samples) iv. Memory and learning (makes and
recalls associations between words and phrases in L1 and L2)
 Many scholars believe that aptitude alone
does not determine the language learning
ability of an individual. Skehan (1989)
suggests that individual ability may vary by
other factors. Other factors like personality,
language learning style and motivation must
be considered before taking into account.
Motivation
 Motivation to learn a language is considered one
of the most plausible reasons of success at
second language acquisition. According to
Gardner (1985) Motivation = effort + desire to
achieve goal + attitudes. Saville-Troike (2006)
claims that motivation is the second strongest
predictor (after aptitude) of second language
success. She further argues that motivation
largely determines the level of effort that learners
expend at various stages in their L2
development, often a key to ultimate level of
proficiency.
 According to Gardner and Lambert (1972) the
following two types of motivation exist:
 i. Integrative: found in individuals who want are
interested in the second language in order to integrate
with and become a part of a target community/
culture; here the learner wants to resemble and behave
like the target community.
 ii. Instrumental: found in individuals who want to get
learn a second language with the objective of getting
benefits from the second language skill. Objectives,
such as business advancement, increase in
professional status, educational goals etc. motivate an
individual to learn a second language in this case.
Learning Style
 Language learning styles refer to cognitive variations in
learning a second language. It is about an individuals‟
preferred way of processing, that is, of perceiving,
conceptualizing, organizing, and recalling information
related to language learning.
 According to Cornett (1983) the language learning styles
are the overall patterns that give general direction to
learning behavior.
 Brown (2000) states that unlike factors of age, aptitude,
and motivation, its role in explaining why some L2
learners are more successful than others has not been
well established, it involves a complex (and as yet poorly
understood) interaction with specific L2 social and
learning contexts.
 The following cognitive styles have been identified by Knowles (1972
as cited in Lochart & Richards, 1994):
 1. Concrete learning style Learners with a concrete learning style use
active and direct means of taking in and processing information.
They are interested in information that has immediate value. They
are curious, spontaneous, and willing to take risks. They like variety
and a constant change of pace. They dislike routine learning and
written work, and prefer verbal or visual experiences. They like to be
entertained, and like to be physically involved in learning.
 2. Analytical learning style Learners with an analytical style are
independent, like to solve problems, and enjoy tracking down ideas
and developing principles on their own. Such learners prefer a
logical, systematic presentation of new learning material with
opportunities for learners to follow up on their own. Analytical
learners are serious, push themselves hard, and are vulnerable to
failure.
 3. Communicative learning style Learners with a
communicative learning style prefer a social approach
to learning. They need personal feedback and
interaction, and learn well from discussion and group
activities. They thrive in a democratically run class.
 4. Authority-oriented learning style Learners with an
authority-oriented style are said to be responsible and
dependable. They like and need structure and
sequential progression. They relate well to a traditional
classroom. They prefer the teacher as an authority
figure. They like to have clear instructions and to know
exactly what they are doing; they are not comfortable
with consensus-building discussion.