LING 3Q91 Professor D.

Hayes

The Psychological Aspect of Second Language Acquisition: Personality Factors

Presenters’ Materials

Slide 1: Cover (Andrea)

- We’ll be reviewing the psychological aspect of second language acquisition: personality factors

Slide 2: Objectives (Andrea)

- Increase awareness of affective factors relating to SLA
- Reflect on how affective factors relate to our own SLA

Slide 3: Agenda (Andrea)

- Introduction
- Affective Domain-Activity One
- Affective Factors-Activity Two
- Reflection
- Class Discussion
- Conclusion

Slide 4: Modern Psychology (Andrea)

- “If we were to devise theories of second language acquisition or teaching methodologies that
were based only on cognitive considerations, we would be omitting the most fundamental side
of human behaviour”. (Brown, 2007, p. 152)

- Class Discussion: What does this mean?

- What is Brown referring to when he says “cognitive considerations”?
- Cognitive Factors:
- Intelligence, aptitude, learning styles
- How thought affects language, how language affects thought and how
linguists can best describe and account for the interaction of the two.
- Intellectual development stages, CPH, explicit/implicit learning,
lateralization, rote and meaningful learning.

- What about “most fundamental side of human behaviour”?

- Affective Factors:
- Egocentricity, language ego, second identity, attitudes, peer pressure.
- Isabell has an example of this “Andrew = André”

Slide 5: Modern Psychology (Isabell)

- Brown is reminding the reader that according to the science of Psychology, there are three parts
to an organism:
1. The cognitive (mind)
2. The conative (behaviour)
3. The affective (emotion)
The affective domain is seen as the most vital to us because “It is our emotional side
that makes us HUMAN!”

10/31/2010 By: Andrea Castrogiovanni & Isabell C. Camillo 1

LING 3Q91 Professor D. Hayes

Slide 6: Affective Domain (Isabell)

- Can someone define the term affective, or tell me what it refers to and provide an example?
- Has to do with moods, feelings and attitudes:
- Different aspects of motivation (instrumental/integrative orientations,
intrinsic/extrinsic).

- How does the affective domain relate to SLA?

- Affect the success of acquiring a subsequent language:
- Emotional issues that would hinder or enhance interaction with
language.

Slide 7: Extended Definition (Isabell)

- Provided by Krathwohl, Bloom and Masia, (1964) in Brown (2007).
- Language is a part of virtually every aspect of our behaviour.
- ACTIVITY ONE-Matching Game (5 minutes)
- Receiving - acknowledgement of target language
- Responding - willingly to the target language
- Valuing - deep belief in the value of SLA
- Organization - hierarchical formation of values in to belief system
- Value System - self-identification in accordance with belief system

 At this point in the presentation we should be at 10 minutes into our time (12-12:10pm)

Slide 8: Interpersonal Exchange (Andrea)

- Read the quote

Slide 9: Factors of the Affective Domain (Andrea)

- This brings us to activity two.
- Please take a look at your handouts. Read instructions together.
- You have about 5 minutes.

At this point in the presentation we should be at 20 minutes into our time (12:15-12:20pm)

Slide 10: Factors of the Affective Domain (Andrea)

SELF-ESTEEM
 Value an individual places on themselves and the knowledge of one’s capabilities, significance and
successes.
 Global Self-Esteem: general view a person holds of themselves
 Situational Self-Esteem: the view a person holds of themselves in a specific context (ie. academically,
athletically, etc.)
 Task Self-Esteem: the view a person holds of themselves in relation to a particular task within a
situation (i.e. Feel capable academically but feel they are better at writing essays then performing
presentations)

In relation to learning another language, self-esteem is important in that high self-esteem may result in
a student being more willing to communicate in the target language.

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LING 3Q91 Professor D. Hayes

Slide 11: Factors of the Affective Domain (Isabell)

SELF-EFFICACY
 One’s sense of being able to carry out a task will affect the effort put into achieving success.
 Essentially, a learner must believe in their writing abilities in order to successfully produce an essay.

WTC
 Related to self-efficacy and self-esteem
 “The intention to initiate communication give a choice” (Brown, 2007)
 The capability to communicate does not correspond to a willingness to do so
 Factors such as motivation and personality affect an individual’s willingness to communicate

Slide 12: Factors of the Affective Domain (Andrea)

INHIBITION
 Related to self-esteem and self-efficacy
 Putting up barriers to protect oneself from being embarrassed
 Language ego is the identity a person develops in relation to the language they speak.
 The more an individual feels a part of the culture, they less inhibitions they have in learning the
language.

- Isabell has an example of language ego and second identity in new culture:
- Phillip took BA in French; adopted new name “Phillipe”
- Isabell doesn’t feel she has a language ego or a second identity because she grew up in a
trilingual environment

RISK TAKING
 Ties into all above mentioned factors
 More willing to take chances in the target language with the possibility of being wrong

Slide 13: Factors of the Affective Domain (Isabell)

ANXIETY
 Language anxiety is a state level fear identifiable in communication apprehension, worry of negative
social evaluation and academic evaluation apprehension.
 Facilitative (helpful) anxiety is motivational factor that can lead to working harder (competitiveness’)
 Debilitative (harmful) anxiety can have a negative effect on performance

EMPATHY
 The ability to reach beyond the self and feel what someone else is feeling
 In using a second language, empathising becomes difficult because the learner is insecure and lacks
fluency in the language

Slide 14: Factors of the Affective Domain (Andrea)

EXTROVERSION
 In relation to SLA, extroversion is the need for reassurance from other people
 In relation to SLA, introversion is the affirmation that comes from inside oneself
 It is not clear if one is better than the other in relation to SLA

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LING 3Q91 Professor D. Hayes

 It was originally thought that extroverts would be more willing and frequent participants in class
(and thus possibly better at speaking), however a study testing oral skills showed that introverts
were significantly better than extroverts in pronunciation

At this point in the presentation we should be at 30 minutes into our time (12:25-12:30pm)

Slide 15: Reflection (Andrea and Isabell)

- Andrea will do question #1 -5 minutes to write down; 5 minutes to take up
- Isabell will do question #2 -3 minutes to write down, 2 minutes to take up
- Summary: Andrea will do question #3 (3 minutes open class discussion)

Slide 16: Conclusion (Isabell)

- We have learned so far that affective factors have a significant influence on L2 learning. Do you
think any of these factors are more significant than others? Why? Feel free to just say out loud.

So what we can then conclude is… (Read quote on screen)!

At this point in the presentation we should be at 50 minutes into our time (12:45-12:50pm)

10/31/2010 By: Andrea Castrogiovanni & Isabell C. Camillo 4