English Language Teaching in its Social Context

24 ROSAMOND MITCHELL AND FLORENCE M Y L E SCognjtivefactorsIntelligence: Not very surprisingly perhaps, there is clear evidence that L2 students who areabove average on formal measures of intelligence and/or general academic attainment tendto do well in L2 learning, at least in formal classroom settings.Language aptitude: Is there really such a thing as a ‘gift’ for language learning, distinct fromgeneral intelligence, as folk wisdom often holds? The most famous formal test of languageaptitude was designed in the 1950s, by Carroll and Sapon (1 959, in Gardner and Maclntyre1992, p. 2 14).This ‘Modern Language AptitudcTest’ assesses a number of subskills believedto be predictive of L2 learning success: (a) phonetic coding ability, (b) grammatical sensitivity,(c) memory abilities, and (d) inductive language learning ability. In general, learners’ scoreson this antl other similar tests do indeed ‘correlate with. . . achievement in a secondlanguage’ (Gardner and MacIntyre 1992, p. 2 15), and in a range of contexts measures ofaptitude have been shown to be one of the strongest available predictors of success (Harleyand Hart 1997).Language Iearning strategies: Do more successful language learners set about the task insome distinctive way? Do they have at their disposal some special repertoire of ways oflearning, or strategies? If this were truc, could these even be taught to other, hitherto lesssuccessful learners? Much research has been done to describe antl categorize the strategiesused by learners at different levels, and to link strategy use to learning outcomes; it is clearthat more proficient learners do indeed employ strategies that arc different from those usedby the less proficient (Oxford and Crookall 1989, quoted in Gardner and Maclntyre 1992,p. 2 17). Whether the strategies cause the learning, or the learning itself enables differentstrategies to be used, has not been fully clarified, however.Afecti vefactorsLanguage attitudes: Social psychologists have long been interested in the idea that the attitudcsof the learner towards the target language, its speakers, antl the learning context, may allplay some part in explaining success or lack of it. Research on L2 language attitudes haslargely been conducted within the framcwork of broader research on motivation, of whichattitudcs form one part.Motivation: For Gardncr and MacIntyrc, the motivated individual ‘is one who wants toachieve a particular goal, devotes considerable effort to achieve this goal, and experiencessatisfaction in the activities associated with achieving this goal’ (1993, p. 2). So, motivationis a complex construct, defined by three main components: ‘desire to achieve a goal,effort extended in this direction, and satisfaction with the task’ (p. 2). Gardner and hisCanadian colleagues have carried out a long programme of work on motivation with EnglishCanadian school students learning French as a sccond language, and have developed a rangeof formal instruments to measure motivation. Over the years consistent relationships havebeen demonstrated between language attitudes, motivation, and L2 achievement; Gardneraccepts that these relationships are complex, however, as the factors interact, and influenceeach other (1 985, cited in Gardncr and Maclntyre 1993, p. 2).Language anxiety:Thc final learner charactcristic which Gardncr and Maclntyrc considerhas clearly been shown to have a relationship with learning success is language anxiety (andits obvcrse, self-confidence). For these authors, language anxiety ‘is seen as a stable pcrsonalitytrait referring to the propensity for an individual to react in a nervous manner whenspeaking . . . in the second language’ (1 993, p. 5). It is typified by self-belittling, feelings ofapprchcnsion, and even bodily responses such as a faster heartbeat! The anxious learner is