Learner Differences

Affective Factors

Learner Differences Motivation Anxiety Attitudes Intelligence and aptitude Personality factors

Learner differences How quickly learners learn a

language How successfully learners learn a

language

Opportunities for learning Number of opportunities Kind of opportunities

Number of opportunities More is better More listening chances and more

speaking chances result in more learning opportunities

Kind of opportunities Learners cannot be passive

Learners must interact with the language

Language must be at an appropriate level

Motivation The inner drive to do something Communicative need

Communicative need Integrative motivation

Desire to be part of a group Instrumental motivation

Desire to learn a language so that it can be used

Higher motivation results in greater progress

Motivation Most important affective factor Motivation is needed to

Start learning Continue learning

Anxiety Learners must be comfortable in

their learning environment Anxiety about the environment can

affect learning both negatively and positively

Attitudes 1 What you think about something

Positive Negative

Favorable attitudes usually result in more interaction with a second language community

Attitudes 2 Language is part of our cultural

identity Using another language means

giving up part of that identity and adopting another identity

Accepting another culture will help when learning that culture’s language

Intelligence and Aptitude Higher intelligence usually means

higher language ability Intelligence and language ability

are often tested by similar tests No surprise that there is a close

relation

Personality factors 1 Extroversion / Introversion

Extroverted learners thought to be better because they enter into more conversations

Self-esteem Learners with high self-esteem may

be more ready to risk making mistakes

Personality factors 2 Tolerance for ambiguity

Learners cannot always understand everything 100%

Learners who can handle not always understanding may be less overwhelmed

Empathy Understanding thoughts and feelings

of others may enable learners to take on a new identity more easily

Conclusions Motivation is the only factor that

has shown a clear effect Other factors play some role

Which are most important is difficult to say

Some factors have a direct role; other an indirect one