Learning Factors

Learning Factors

1. Age

   • Learners who start learning a foreign language as children achieve a more native-like accent than those who start as adolescents or adults
   • Studies have provided evidence that age does have an effect on LLS use.
   • At some age, certain strategies are suitable to be used, but some might not
     • A study of young children (Wong-Fillmore, 1979) showed that cognitive and social strategies were very important.

2. Intelligence and aptitude

   • Learn from experience.
   • Solve problems.
   • Adapt to new situations.
   • Influences
     • Genetic
     • Environmental
   • Gardner (1983) Types of intelligence
     • Linguistic
       • The capacity to use the language to accomplish certain goals
     • Logical-mathematical
       • Ability to detect patterns.
     • Spatial
       • Ability to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas.
     • Musical
       • Capacity to recognize and create musical pitches and rhythmic patterns.
     • Bodily-kinesthetic
       • Ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements
     • Interpersonal
       • capacity to understand intentions, motivations and desires of other people.
     • Intrapersonal
       • Ability to understand oneself, to develop a sense of self-identity
     • Naturalistic
       • Ability to understand the natural world
   • Intelligence
     • Learners with high IQ achieve better results on language tests.
     • It is proved that intelligence can predict the rate and success of SLA in the formal language classroom.
   • Aptitude
     • Aptitude as a stable factor, which cannot be trained; it is separate from motivation, achievement and intelligence.
     • It is an ability that allows to learn an L2 faster and with less effort.
     • Factors in language aptitude
       • Phonemic coding ability
       • Grammatical sensitivity
       • Inductive language learning ability
       • Rote learning ability.

3. Learning Styles

   • Visual
     • Flash cards
     • Pictures
       • Recall better by viewing charts, diagrams, etc.
     • Textbooks
       • Enjoy reading and displaying deep focus while reading, good speller.
   • Auditory
     • Auditory pupils prefer to understand more through sound and listening.
     • These students will rather listen to a speech than reading written notes.
     • Characteristics
       • Easily lose focus
       • Prefer written directions over spoken directions
       • Enjoy music
   • Kinesthetic
     • It is by experiencing or doing things that kinesthetic learners or "tactile" learners understand and process information.
     • Characteristics
       • Move a lot when studying
       • Like to participate in learning
       • Like doing things instead of reading about them.
   • Reading/Writing Learners
     • Reading/writing learners tend to learn by written words.
     • Characteristics
       • They like to read the narratives and descriptions.
       • Thoughts wander during lectures.
       • They are observant, but may miss out on a few things.

4. Motivation

   • Motivation somehow greatly influences the strategies that the language learners use in their studies.
   • The greater the motivation, the more the tendency for them to apply numbers of strategies in order for them to achieve 100% comprehension in that particular language.
   • Positive influences
     • Lessons with clear goals.
     • Meaningful context of learning.
     • Varied activities
     • Regular feedback
     • Ongoing assessments

5. Personality

   • Positive
   • Negative
   • The most important personality factors
     • Introversion/extroversion
     • Self-esteem, inhibition
     • Risk-taking
     • Anxiety and empathy.

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