Hartono, S.S., M.Pd.

College of languages UNISSULA

(COLASULA)
 Ss can explain why one learner may be
more successful than another though he
experiences the same / similar learning
program.

Ss can mention and explain some

individual differences which may affect the
result of learning.
 Two or more English
learners are attending the same English
class, having the same
instructors and materials, doing the same
activities and exercises, proceeding for the
same duration of course program, and living
in the same environment.

In the end of the program, these

learners undergo a kind of English
competency assessment. But they achieve
different level of competence.
How couldonelearner bemore
successful than another?
What factor, otherthan instructors,
materials, activities, environment, and
sorts, mayaffect the result of learning?
 SLA acknowledges that there are
individual differences in L2 acquisition.
These differences are psychological.
Ellis (1985) categorizes these
differences into:
- personal factors
- general factors.
 Personal factors: Group
dynamics, Attitudes to the teacher
and learning materials, Individual learning
techniques.
General factors: Age,
Intelligence, Aptitude,
Cognitive Style, Motivation and Personality
 Aptitude:a natural ability for learning
an L2. It is believed to in part related
to general intelligence, but also to be
in part distinct.

It is thought to predict
success n i learning.
• Phonemic coding ability: The ability to
identify sounds of a foreign language
so that they can be remembered later.

• Grammatical sensitivity: the ability to

recognize the grammatical functions
of words in sentences.
 Inductive language learning ability:
the ability to identify patterns of
correspondence and relations between
forms and meaning.

Rote learning ability: the ability to

form and remember association
between stimuli. This is believed to
be important in vocabulary learning.
1)Early research revealed a substantial
relationship between performance on
language aptitude tests and performance
in foreign language learning that was
based on grammar translation or
audiolingual methods.
2.However, performance on language aptitude
tests seems irrelevant to L2 learning with the
adoption of a more communicative approach
to teaching.
3. Successful language learners may not be
strong in all of the components of aptitude.
Learners’ strengths and weaknesses in the
different components may account for their
ability to succeed in different types of
instructional programs.
• Motivation involves the attitude and
affective states that influence the
degree of effort that learners make to
acquire an L2.

• Various kinds of motivation have been

identified: Instrumental, integrative,
resultative, and intrinsic (Ellis, 1997)
Learners may make efforts to
learn an L2 for some functional
reason – to pass examination, to
get a better job / career, to get a
place at a university, etc.
Learners learn L2 because they are
interested in the people and culture
represented by the target-language
group.
Resultatiave motivation is the
motivation which is resulted from
learning. Learners who experience
success in learning may become more
motivated to learn.
The motivation that stems from inside the
learners themselves. The learner wishes
to learn L2 for personal growth.
 integrative and
1)Both

instrumental types of motivation are

related to success in L2 learning. Most L2 learning
situations involve a mixture of each type of
motivation.

2)Research strongly favors intrinsic

motivation, especially for long-term retention.
Intrinsically motivated learners are striving for
excellence, autonomy, and self-actualization.
◦ Motivating students into the lesson.
The content needs to be relevant to
their age and level of ability, and the
learning goals need to be
challenging yet manageable and
clear.
◦
◦ Varying the activities, tasks, and
materials to increase students’
interest levels.
◦ Using cooperative rather than
competitive goals to increase
students’ self-confidence.
 The particular approaches
or techniques that learners employ to
try to learn an L2.
-behavioral: repeating new words aloud
to help remember them.
- mental: use of linguistic or situational
context to infer meaning of a new word.
 Cognitive strategy: the strategies
that are involved in the analysis,
synthesis, or the transformation or
learning materials. An example is
‘recombination’, which involves
constructing a meaningful sentence by
recombining known elements of the
L2 in a new way.
Metacognitive strategy: strategies
involved in planning, monitoring and
evaluating learning. For example is a
‘selective’ attention, where the
learner makes a conscious decision to
attend a particular kind of input.
Social/affective strategy: it involves
the way in which learners choose to
interact with other speakers. An
example is questioning for
clarification. For example ‘asking for
clarification’ (i.e. asking for
repetition, paraphrase, an example,
etc.)
1. The success of learning a second / foreign
language is affected by personal factors.

2. Higher language aptitude results better in

second language acquisition.

3. Motivation (integrative, instrumental) are

related to success of second language
acquisition.