Cognitive influences on Language Learning

Cognitive influences on Language Learning

1. Intelligence or the "G" Factor

   • G = general, present in all learners
   • Correlation between intelligence and successful L2 learning
     • Influence in the acquisition of some skills
   • Gardner's (1985) multiple intelligences concept
     • 9. Spiritual
     • 8. Naturalistic
     • 7. Intrapersonal
     • 6. Interpersonal
     • 1. Logico-mathematic
     • 2. Linguistic
     • 3. Spatial
     • 4. Musical
     • 5. Bodily-kinesthetic

2. Language Aptitude

   • Aptitude = natural ability
   • Predictor of success with L2 learning
   • Carroll and Sapon (MLAT 1959) identified four components:
     • Phonemic/phonetic coding ability
       • Grammatical sensitivity
         • Inductive language learning ability
           • Rote learning ability (memory)

3. Cognitive Style

   • Dependence/Independence
   • How the learner perceives, monitors, conceptualises and recalls linguistic information
   • Perceptual learning tendencies (Reid 1987)
     • Visual learning
     • Auditory learning
     • Kinaesthetic learning
     • Tactile learning
   • Learning styles (Willing 1987)
     • Concrete
     • Analytic
     • Communicative
     • Authority-oriented

4. Learning Strategies

   • Particular approaches or techniques
     • Steps that aid acquisition, storage and retrieval of information (Oxford, Crookall 1989)
   • Cognitive strategies
     • Memory strategies
       • Compensation strategies
         • Metacognitive strategies
           • Social strategies
             • Affective strategies
               • Communicative strategies
   • Strategy learning
     • Out-of-class learning