LEARNER VARIABLES INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
LEARNER VARIABLES INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Methods of English Language Teaching II/4 English majors Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education Tutor: Ilona Huszti, Ph. D
LEARNER VARIABLES AFFECTIVE COGNITIVE LEARNER VARIABLES SOCIAL BIOLOGICAL
AFFECTIVE VARIABLES AFFECTIVE MOTIVATION PERSEVERANCE INTROVERSION EXTROVERSION INTERESTS AND NEEDS SELF-CONCEPT ATTIDTUDE
COGNITIVE VARIABLES COGNITIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES ANXIETY LEARNING STYLE APTITUDE TOLERANCE OF AMBIGUITY BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE STUDENT BELIEFS
SOCIAL VARIABLES SOCIAL FAMILY BACKGROUND / SOCIAL CONTEXT RISK-TAKING A SENSE OF BELONGING
BIOLOGICAL VARIABLES BIOLO GICAL SEX / GEND ER AGE
DEFINITIONS n n n Aptitude — a set of abilities that facilitates the acquisition of linguistic material (Carroll 1981) Motivation — the primary impetus to initiate L 2 learning and later the driving force to sustain the learning process (Dörnyei 2005) Language learning strategies — specific actions, behaviours, or techniques that students use to improve their own progress in developing skills in an L 2. These strategies can facilitate the internalization, storage, retrieval, or use of the new L (Oxford 1999) Language learning styles — an individual’s natural, habitual, and preferred ways of absorbing, processing, and retaining new information and skills (Reid 1999) Learner beliefs — learner characteristics to count with when explaining learning outcomes (Horwitz 1985) Anxiety — is a feeling of fear to perform in a foreign language
APTITUDE = language learning ability Carroll (1981) outlines four components language aptitude: n Phonetic coding ability (an ability to form & retain associations between sounds and symbols) n Grammatical sensitivity (the ability to recognize grammatical functions of words in sentences) n Inductive language learning ability (the ability to infer rules from samples of language) n Rote learning ability (the ability to make rapid and efficient associations between sounds and meanings and retain them)
Oxford’s (1990) taxonomy of learning strategies Strategy Example Direct strategies (strategies that directly involve the target L) MEMORY Memorising a word by repeating it several times COGNITIVE Deducting the meaning of a word from its context COMPENSATION Using a similar word to the one that is not known by the learner Indirect strategies (provide indirect support for L learning) METACOGNITIVE Planning the learning activity AFFECTIVE Rewarding oneself for the successful completion of an activity SOCIAL Seeking opportunities to converse with native speakers
ANXIETY n • • = fear that one will be mistaken in some way. On an assignment Speaking in class On a test In competitions Maintaining one’s position in a community In interactions with native speakers On the job
Anxiety cont. Trait (a stable part of a person’s personality) and state (related to specific events or situations) n Debilitating (gets in the way of learning) and facilitating (mobilizes resources to accomplish a task) n
AGE AS AN INDIVIDUAL LEARNER DIFFERENCE Critical period = a period when language learning can take place naturally and effortlessly, but after a certain age the brain is no longer able to process language input in this way (Ellis 1986 : 107) Explanations for the existence of a critical period in SLA have focused on four perspectives: 1. Neurolinguistic explanation 2. Cognitive explanation 3. Social-psychological explanation 4. Linguistic explanation
Age: practical task n For questions 1– 12, decide whether the following advice to new teachers would be especially appropriate for teaching adults (A), teenagers (T) or young learners (YL). There may be more than one possible answer. 1 Change activities frequently. 2 Combine learning and play. 3 Discuss the best ways of learning so that students can learn how to learn. 4 Encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning and not leave everything to the teacher. 5 Encourage students to work on developing their own opinions and to use their powers of analysis to think critically. 6 Plan clear, short-term goals so that even if students find it difficult to return to learning, they can have frequent success. 7 Even though they are still often child-like, treat them as if they were grown up. 8 Use puzzles. 9 Use songs. 10 Use student interests and past life experience to help you decide what to teach. 11 When there are discipline problems, always behave in the same way. Students will trust you more because of it. 12 Don’t try to explain abstract grammar rules.
Age: practical task n KEY 1 YL 2 YL 3 T (A) 4 T (A) 5 T 6 A 7 T 8 YL (T, A) 9 YL (T, A) 10 A (T) 11 T (YL) 12 YL
MOTIVATION n Instrumental (learning to accomplish a task, e. g. n Motivation is sensitive to success or failure. (If one succeeds at a task, they are usually energized to do it some more. On the other hand, failure may need to avoidance of the challenge. ) passing a course, getting a better pay, etc. ) and integrative (desire to become part of a target language community) (Robert Gardner & Wallace Lambert, 1972) n Intrinsic (people do something for their own reasons and for internal satisfaction) and extrinsic (desire for some kind of external benefit, e. g. increased pay, passing a test, job enhancement, etc. )
Motivation: Practical task n For questions 1– 9, match the comments with the subject they are talking about A–I. Then decide whether the comment was made by a teacher (T) or a student (S). A Achievement C Agency E Instrumental motivation G Intrinsic motivation I Substitute teacher B Affect D Attitude F Integrative motivation H Level of challenge 1 For me the way the students feel about learning is really important, so I try to make them feel relaxed and comfortable. 2 I like our teacher. He is professional and he thinks of the best ways of teaching us. 3 I really want to pass the public exam so that I can get a better job. 4 I want my students to make some of their own decisions about learning. 5 I want to learn English because I admire Americans and their culture a lot. 6 If students fail all the time they will not become motivated. We need to help them to be successful. 7 If you make lessons too easy or too difficult then students will become less motivated. 8 Our teacher was sick so Ms Lopez took our lesson today. 9 The reason that I like learning English is because I just like learning for its own sake!
Motivation: practical task KEY 1 B (T) 2 D (S) 3 E (S) 4 C (T) 5 F (S) 6 A (T) 7 H (T) 8 I (S) 9 G (S) n
- Slides: 18