English Language Teaching in its Social Context
English Language Teaching in its Social Context
English Language Teaching in its Social Context
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FACTORS AFFECTING SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING 31became successful because of their motivation? It is also plausible that early successheightened their motivation or that both success and motivation are due to their specialaptitude for language learn<strong>in</strong>g or the favourable context <strong>in</strong> which they are learn<strong>in</strong>g.IntelligenceThe term ‘<strong>in</strong>telligence’ has traditionally been used to refer to performance on certa<strong>in</strong> k<strong>in</strong>dsof tests.These tests are often associated with success <strong>in</strong> school, and a l<strong>in</strong>k between <strong>in</strong>telligenceand second language learn<strong>in</strong>g has sometimes been reported. Over the years, many studiesus<strong>in</strong>g a variety of <strong>in</strong>telligence ( ‘IQ’) tests and different methods of assess<strong>in</strong>g language learn<strong>in</strong>ghave found that IQ scores were a good means of predict<strong>in</strong>g how successful a learner wouldbe. Some recent studies have shown that these measures of <strong>in</strong>telligence may be more stronglyrelated to certa<strong>in</strong> k<strong>in</strong>ds of second language abilities than to others. For example, <strong>in</strong> a studywith French immersion students <strong>in</strong> Canada, it was found that, while <strong>in</strong>telligence was relatedto the development of French second language read<strong>in</strong>g, grammar, and vocabulary, it wasunrelated to oral productive skills (Genesee 1976). Similar f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs have been reported <strong>in</strong>other studies. What this suggests is that, while <strong>in</strong>telligence, especially as measured by verbalIQ tests, may be a strong factor when it comes to learn<strong>in</strong>g which <strong>in</strong>volves language analysisand rule learn<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>in</strong>telligence may play a less important role <strong>in</strong> classrooms where the<strong>in</strong>struction focuses more on communication and <strong>in</strong>teraction.It is important to keep <strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d that ‘<strong>in</strong>telligence’ is complex and that <strong>in</strong>dividuals havemany k<strong>in</strong>ds of abilities and strengths, not all of which are measured by traditional IQ tests.In our experience, many students whose academic performance has been weak haveexperienced considerable success <strong>in</strong> second language learn<strong>in</strong>g.AptitudeThere is evidence <strong>in</strong> the research literature that some <strong>in</strong>dividuals have an exceptional‘aptitude’ for language learn<strong>in</strong>g. Lorra<strong>in</strong>e Obler (1 989) reports that a man, whom she callsCJ, has such a spccialized ability. CJ is a native spcaker of <strong>English</strong> who grew up <strong>in</strong> an <strong>English</strong>home. His first true cxperience with a second language came at the age of 15 when he beganlearn<strong>in</strong>g French <strong>in</strong> school. CJ also studied German, Spanish, and Lat<strong>in</strong> while <strong>in</strong> high school.At age 20, he made a brief visit to Germany. CJ reported that just hear<strong>in</strong>g German spokenfor a short time was enough for him to ‘recover’ the German he had learned <strong>in</strong> school. Later,CJ worked <strong>in</strong> Morocco where he reported learn<strong>in</strong>g Moroccan Arabic through both formal<strong>in</strong>struction and <strong>in</strong>formal immersion. He also spent some time <strong>in</strong> Spa<strong>in</strong> and Italy, where heapparently ‘picked up’ both Spanish and Italian <strong>in</strong> a ‘matter of weeks’. A remarkable talent<strong>in</strong>deed!Learn<strong>in</strong>g quickly is the dist<strong>in</strong>guish<strong>in</strong>g feature of aptitude.The ‘aptitude’ factor has been<strong>in</strong>vestigated most <strong>in</strong>tensively by researchers <strong>in</strong>terested <strong>in</strong> develop<strong>in</strong>g tests which can be usedto predict whether <strong>in</strong>dividuals will be efficient learners of a foreign language <strong>in</strong> a classroomsctt<strong>in</strong>g.The most widely used aptitude tests are the Modern <strong>Language</strong> AptitudeTest (MLAT)and the Pimslcur <strong>Language</strong> Aptitude Battery (PLAR). Both tests are based on the view thataptitude is composed of different types of abilities:(1) the ability to identify and memorize new sounds;(2) the ability to understand the function of particular words <strong>in</strong> sentences;(3) the ability to figure out grammatical rules from language samplcs; and(4) memory for new words.