Differences in learners

age

childrenhave only a limited number of years during which normal acquisition ispossible. Beyond that, physiological changes cause the brain to lose itsplasticity,

older learners may haveinclude higher levels of pragmatic skills and knowledge of L1, which maytransfer positively to L2 use.

Women are better L2 learnes.

Better in memorizingcomplex forms,

better at computing compositionalrules

This belief is probably primarily a social construct.

hormonalvariables

higher androgen level correlates with better automatizedskills

high estrogen with better semantic/interpretive skills

aptitudePhonemic coding ability

The ability to understand by listening and produce a target language.

Inductive language learning ability and

grammatical sensitivity

The ability to organize, assimilate and recognize elements in the central process

Associative memory capacity

The ability to get new vocabulary and practice with it.

motivationSome learners are more succesful than others

interestTo integrate a dominant group

satisfaction which results

Cognitive styleDeductive (or “top-down”) processing begins with aprediction or rule and then applies it to interpret particular instances ofinput.

Inductive (or “bottom-up”) processing begins with examininginput to discover some pattern and then formulates a generalization orrule

Lower anxiety levelsmight very well

facilitate language learning;

Small-group performance

generates lessanxiety than whole-class

activity.

Low anxiety and high self-

confidence increase student

motivation tolearn.

there is some evidence that being imaginativeor creative, empathetic, and tolerant of ambiguity is advantageous.

personalities