1. Motivation and attitudes
1.1. Motivation is one of the most important factors in second language acquisition
1.2. It is obvious that learners who want to learn are likely to achieve more than those who do not.
1.3. The role of attitudes and motivation in SLA has been investigated by Gardner and Lambert (1972), who define motivation in terms of ‘ the learner's overall goal or orientation’, and attitude as ‘the persistence shown by the learner in striving for a goal’ (Ellis 1985:117).
1.4. They distinguish two types of motivation: a) integrative - when learners study a language because they are interested in the people and culture of the target language;
1.5. b) instrumental - when learners’ goals for learning the second language are functional, for example they need the language to get a better job.
2. Personality is another important aspect when it comes to practicing another language.
2.1. PERSONALITY
2.1.1. Personality has been described as a set of features that characterize an individual. It has been stated that this concept is difficult to define and measure because of its complicated nature. Studies which investigate personality traits are based on the belief that learners bring to the classroom not only their cognitive abilities but also affective states which influence the way they acquire a language.
3. Motivation & attitude are essential aspects for learning a language.
4. Inhibition and risk-taking
4.1. The concept of inhibition is closely related to the notion of self- esteem. All people protect their ego by building sets of defenses. The higher self-esteem the lower walls of inhibition and greater success in learning a foreign language. It has been suggested that inhibition influences language learning in a negative way because it discourages the risk-taking, which is an essential element in this process. It is necessary to make mistakes if a person wants to learn a foreign language. This is mainly a problem of adults who are more self-conscious than children are.
5. Putting yourself into other one's shoes will help you understand their process.
6. People need some degree of self-esteem, self-confidence in order to succeed in any activity. Coopersmith (1967:4-5, cited by Brown 1994:137) provided the following definition of self-esteem: “By self-esteem, we refer to the evaluation which the individual makes and customarily maintains with regard to himself; it expresses an attitude of approval or disapproval, and indicates the extent to which an individual believes himself to be capable, significant, successful and worthy.”
7. What factors do you think affect learning?
7.1. MOTIVATION
7.2. GENDER
7.3. AGE
7.4. SOCIO ECONOMIC STATUS
7.5. LEVEL OF PROFICIENCY
8. The general factors that influence second language learning are: age, aptitude and intelligence, cognitive style, attitudes, motivation and personality (Ellis 1985).
8.1. AGE
8.1.1. Age is one of the factors that influence second language learning. It is generally believed that children are better at languages than adults. However, only the studies conducted in naturalistic learning settings provide the evidence that supports this assumption. Researchers have proved that learners who start learning a foreign language as children achieve a more native-like accent than those who start as adolescents or adults (Oyama 1976; Asher and Garcia 1969) and they are also better in the acquisition of grammar (Patkowski 1980; 1990).
8.2. INTELLIGENCE AND APTITUDE
8.2.1. Intelligence is defined and measured in terms of linguistic and logical-mathematical abilities. Success in life and learning should correlate with high IQ (intelligence quotient) tests scores. The studies on intelligence show a strong relationship between intelligence and acquisition of a foreign language but only as far as academic skills are concerned. Learners with high IQ achieve better results on language tests. It is proved that intelligence can predict the rate and success of SLA in the formal language classroom (Genesee 1976).
8.3. LEARNING STYLE
8.3.1. Keefe (1979, cited by Ellis 1994:499) described learning styles as “the characteristic cognitive, affective, and physiological behaviors that serve relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment.