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Date Posted: 16:54:51 10/18/05 Tue
Author: Eduardo Ferreira Costa
Subject: Final paper for evaluation: Factors affecting Second Language Learning

Factors Affecting Second Language Learning.
When we think about Second Language acquisition, one of the question is why a student learns a particular language and another one does not, once they are in the same class.
This question can be answered when we consider that learning is not linear and each student has individual learning styles.
In addition, there are some crucial factors, such as Intelligence, Aptitude, Personality, Motivation and attitudes, Learners preferences and beliefs and Age of acquisition, which influence the whole process. Within these factors, we focus our study on those that teachers face more frequently.
When we mention intelligence, we refer to the most difficult aspect to quantify, once IQ tests do not measure precisely many kinds of abilities and strengths. Otherwise, the relation between high grades and good second language learners are not linear. According to a study conducted by Genesee (1976), apud Spada et al. (2001:52), there are aspects, which prove that even if someone has a good grade in IQ tests, he or she has not achieved success as a second language learner. This reality takes place in different educational contexts from institute of languages to regular schools. Our Educational System focuses on grade as an instrument to measure knowledge, trying to exactly quantify it.
Another aspect refers to Aptitude, which concerns to the individual innative capacity to easily acquire a second language. According to Lorraine Obler (1989), apud Spada et al. (2001:53), for those individuals with this ability, the language learning process demands less time. It can be observed when our students are interacting in class, by doing exercises, having a conversation or listening. Some of them have the innative capacity to acquire the language by just listening; meanwhile, others have to keep on studying a lot. It is also important to consider that aptitude is composed by different types of abilities, such as the ability to identify and memorize new sounds; the ability to understand the function of particular words in sentences; the ability to figure out grammatical rules from language samples; and memory for new words.
Moreover, motivation and attitudes are two topics which could be considered the most influential ones, once a motivated individual is able to change and adequate himself to different contexts of learning. Here, motivation is considered as an internal force that leads the learner towards success. It is important to mention that teachers do not motivate anybody. However, as teachers, we can provide students external factors in order to make them feel comfortable and motivated. Therefore, the student role in the process corresponds to his/her attitude. An active role is essential, once students will learn by doing.
Equally important is the learner’s age. It is the easiest topic to measure and a lot of people believe the age interferes drastically in the process. A lot of researchers are developed concerning this topic and there is not a definite answer yet. Some theories, such as the Critical Period Hypothesis, investigate the age and its influence. According to this view, to be a good second language learner, the individual should learn the second language before his/her puberty. Although, age cannot be considered as a singular factor, once an older person can learn much better than a younger one depending on the attitudes.
On the other hand, some researches later proved that the younger one will have more similarities with a native speaker; referring to pronunciation and accent.
To sum up, it is difficult to make precise predictions about the real individual’s characteristics in his or her success as a language learner, due to the lack of clear definitions and methods for measuring those characteristics.
On the other hand, it is in class that a sensitive teacher, will take learner’s individual personalities and their learning styles into account and create a learning environment focused on success where all students could be good second language learners.

Bibliography:
LIGHTBOUN, Tatsy M., SPADA, Nina. How languages are acquired? Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

ELLIS, Rod. Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.

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