SLA acknowledges
that there are individual differences in L2 acquisition. Social factors to do
with the context of learning have an effect of how successful individual L2
learners are, and possibly on how interlanguage developed as well. Affective
factors and learners’ preferred ways of learning are the example of
psychological dimensions of difference. Now, we will focus on two of the major
dimensions—language aptitude and motivation—and also explore how differences in
learning strategies can affect development.
Language Aptitude
Language aptitude is a natural ability that is possessed by
learners for learning an L2. Learners who score highly on language aptitude
tests typically learn rapidly and achieve higher levels of L2 proficiency than
learners who obtain low scores. According John Carroll, there are four
components of language aptitude:
- Phonemic coding ability: the ability to identify the sounds of a foreign language and to handle sound-symbol relationship. (i.e. to identify the sound which ‘th’ stands for).
- Grammatical sensitivity: the ability to recognize the grammatical functions of words in sentences (i.e. to recognize the subject, predicator, or object of sentence)
- Inductive language learning ability: the ability to identify patterns of correspondence and relations between form and meaning (i.e. to recognize the relation between word “to” and the meaning as “direction”, and “at” which means “location”)
- Rote learning ability: the ability to form and remember associations between stimuli. This is believed to be important in vocabulary learning.
Motivation
Motivation involves the attitude and affective states that
influence the degree of effort that learners make to learn an L2. It can result
from learning as well as cause it. Moreover, it is dynamic in nature, and
it is not something that varies from one moment to the next depending on the
learning context or task. There are various kinds of motivation. Those are:
- Instrumental motivation: Learners may make efforts to learn an L2 for some functional reasons: to pass an examination, to get a better job, or to get a place at university.
- Integrative motivation: Learners learn L2 because they are interested in the people and culture represented by the target language group.
- Resultative motivation: Learners may learn L2 because they motivate from the success of other people. So, motivation is the cause of L2 achievement.
- Intrinsic motivation: The motivation involves the arousal and maintenance of curiosity and can ebb and flow as a result of such factors as learners’ particular interests and the extent to which they feel personally involved in learning activities.
Learning Strategies
Learning strategies are the
particular approaches or techniques that learners employ to try to learn an L2.
They can be behavioral (i.e. repeating new word to remember it), or they can be
mental (i.e. using the linguistic or situational context to infer the meaning
of a new word).
There are different kinds of
learning strategies which have been identified. Those are:
- Cognitive strategies: These strategies are involved in the analysis, synthesis, or transformation of learning materials. An example is recombination.
- Metacognitive strategies: These strategies are involved in planning, monitoring, and evaluating learning. An example is selective attention.
- Social/affective strategies: These strategies concern the ways in which learners choose to interact with other speakers. An example is questioning for clarification.
Some
studies show that successful learners use more strategies than unsuccessful
learners. They have also shown that different strategies are related to
different aspects of L2 learning. Thus, strategies that involve formal practice
contribute to the development of linguistic competence whereas strategies
involving functional practice aid to development of communication skill.
Questions:
- Please could you suggest other learning strategies that can be used for L2 learners?
- Why does an instrumental motivation seem to be the major force determining success in L2 learning?
