INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN L2 ACQUISITION

Hartono, S.S., M.Pd.College of languages UNISSULA

(COLASULA)

Ss can explain why one learner may be more successful than another though he experiences the same / similar learning program.

Ss can mention and explain some individual differences which may affect the result of learning.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

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 level of competence.

SAME EXPERIENCE, DIFFERENT RESULT

How could one learner be more successful than another?

What factor, other than instructors, materials, activities, environment, and sorts, may affect the result of learning?

THE QUESTIONS

SLA acknowledges that there are individual differences in L2 acquisition.

These differences are psychological. Ellis (1985) categorizes these differences

into:- personal factors - general factors.

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Personal factors: Group dynamics, Attitudes to the teacher and learning materials, Individual learning techniques.

General factors: Age, Intelligence, Aptitude, Cognitive Style, Motivation and Personality

Aptitude: a natural ability for learning an L2. It is believed to in part related to general intelligence, but also to be in part distinct.

It is thought to predict success in learning.

LANGUAGE APTITUDE

• Phonemic coding ability: The ability to identify sounds of a foreign language so that they can be remembered later.

• Grammatical sensitivity: the ability to recognize the grammatical functions of words in sentences.

Components of Aptitude

Inductive language learning ability: the ability to identify patterns of correspondence and relations between forms and meaning.

Rote learning ability: the ability to form and remember association between stimuli. This is believed to be important in vocabulary learning.

1)Early research revealed a substantial relationship between performance on language aptitude tests and performance in foreign language learning that was based on grammar translation or audiolingual methods.

Research findings on Aptitude

2.However, performance on language aptitude tests seems irrelevant to L2 learning with the adoption of a more communicative approach to teaching.

3. Successful language learners may not be strong in all of the components of aptitude. Learners’ strengths and weaknesses in the different components may account for their ability to succeed in different types of instructional programs.

• Motivation involves the attitude and affective states that influence the degree of effort that learners make to acquire an L2.

• Various kinds of motivation have been identified: Instrumental, integrative, resultative, and intrinsic (Ellis, 1997)

MOTIVATION

Learners may make efforts to learn an L2 for some functional reason – to pass examination, to get a better job / career, to get a place at a university, etc.

Instrumental Motivation

Learners learn L2 because they are interested in the people and culture represented by the target-language group.

Integrative Motivation

Resultatiave motivation is the motivation which is resulted from learning. Learners who experience success in learning may become more motivated to learn.

Resultative Motivation

The motivation that stems from inside the learners themselves. The learner wishes to learn L2 for personal growth.

Intrinsic Motivation

1)Both integrative and instrumental types of motivation are related to success in L2 learning. Most L2 learning situations involve a mixture of each type of motivation.

2)Research strongly favors intrinsic motivation, especially for long-term retention. Intrinsically motivated learners are striving for excellence, autonomy, and self-actualization.

Research findings:

◦Motivating students into the lesson. The content needs to be relevant to their age and level of ability, and the learning goals need to be challenging yet manageable and clear.

◦

Motivating Learners in the Classroom

◦Varying the activities, tasks, and materials to increase students’ interest levels.

◦Using cooperative rather than competitive goals to increase students’ self-confidence.

The particular approaches or techniques that learners employ to try to learn an L2.

- behavioral: repeating new words aloud to help remember them.

- mental: use of linguistic or situational context to infer meaning of a new word.

LEARNING STRATEGIES

Cognitive strategy: the strategies that are involved in the analysis, synthesis, or the transformation or learning materials. An example is ‘recombination’, which involves constructing a meaningful sentence by recombining known elements of the L2 in a new way.

Types of learning strategy

Metacognitive strategy: strategies involved in planning, monitoring and evaluating learning. For example is a ‘selective’ attention, where the learner makes a conscious decision to attend a particular kind of input.

Social/affective strategy: it involves the way in which learners choose to interact with other speakers. An example is questioning for clarification. For example ‘asking for clarification’ (i.e. asking for repetition, paraphrase, an example, etc.)

1. The success of learning a second / foreign language is affected by personal factors.

2. Higher language aptitude results better in second language acquisition.

3. Motivation (integrative, instrumental) are related to success of second language acquisition.

CONCLUSIONS