COGNITIVE INFLUENCES ON LANGUAGE LEARNING

COGNITIVE INFLUENCES ON LANGUAGE LEARNING

1. Cognitive factors refer to the mental conditions, strategies or processes which the learner has access to while learning a foreign language.

2. INTELLIGENCE OR THE "G" FACTOR

   • Intelligence is referred to in SLA studies as the "G" factor, the "G" standing here for 'general' since it presents in all learners. In general, intelligence has been defined and measured in terms of linguistic and logico-mathematical abilities.
   • What does research say about the effect of intelligence on language learning?
     • Some studies (Genese 1976; Ekstrand 1977) seem to show that intelligence may influence the acquisition of some skills associated with SLA, specifically those used in formal study of an L2 such as reading, writing, speaking, etc.
     • The construct of "intelligence" used in these studies reflects the dominant view of intelligence of the time for example that is consists only on logico-mathematical and linguistic ability.
     • ...intelligence seems to be a strong factor when it comes to learning second languages in classrooms, particularly if the instruction is formal. when the classroom instruction is less formal, however, so called 'intelligence' may play a less important role. (Lightbown & Spada 1993 : 37)

3. LANGUAGE APTITUDE

   • Aptitude is considered to be the 'natural ability' which we have to learn languages, and people possess it to varying degress.
   • Researchers have been interested in aptitude as a predictor for successful language learning. in other words, they have focused on trying to define the different components of aptitude in order to then 'test' learners on these to see whether a high aptitude score corresponds wit a high L2 competence.
   • Carroll and Sapon's Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT, 1959) and Pimsleur's Language Aptitude Battery (LAB, 1966, 1968) represent not only a more progressive and scientific approach to aptitude test construction but they also reflect the audiolingual principles in fashion a the time. They identified 4 main components in language aptitude.
     • Phonemic or phonetic coding ability. that is, the ability to discriminate and recall new sounds.
     • Grammatical sensitivity, the ability to recognize the different grammatical functions that words perform in a sentence. (The Subject & Object of a sentence)
     • Inductive language learning ability, the ability to identify patterns of relationships and differences between grammatical forms and meanings.
     • Rote learning ability, the ability to make associations between native language words and target language words. in other words, memory.

4. COGNITIVE STYLE

   • Refers to the manner in which the learner perceives, monitors, conceptualises and recalls linguistic information.
   • Brown (1973) considered cognitive style as a combination of affect and cognition and he groups the following specific variables as characteristic of it.
     • Reflective-impulsive thinking
     • Broad-narrow categorizing
     • Skeletonizing-embroidering
     • Belief congruence-contradiction
   • Several scholars such as Reid (1987) and Willing (1987) distinguish other types or modalities of learning styles.
     • Visual Learning; Learning mainly from seeing words in books, on the board, in workbooks, charts, drawings, photos, etc.
     • Auditory Learning; by hearing words spoken and from oral explanations as well as by listening to tapes or to lectures.
     • Kinaesthetic Learning; by experience, by being involved physically in classroom experiences.
     • Tactile Learning; hands-on learning, learning by doing, working on experiments in a laboratory, etc.

5. LEARNING STRATEGIES

   • Cognitive Strategies
   • Memory Strategies
   • Compensation Strategies
   • Metacognitive Strategies
   • Social Strategies
   • Affective Strategies
   • Communication Strategies
   • Strategy training
     • This is the area of most interest to us as classroom teachers. the implication is that learning strategies are not fixed, immutable characteristics, but something which we, as teachers, can help our students to develop through specific pedagogical practices.
     • Learners should be trained to learn on their own without the physical presence of the teacher. one of the tasks of the language teacher is to help the student to learn more happily and effectively.
   • Out of class learning strategies
     • Self motivated learners will make the effort to improve their English outside of formal instruction, by using strategies such as going to the movies, reading newspaper, magazines, articles in Enlgish.