Linguistics | Motivation | Determines

LINGUISTICS

  Motivation / Determines

Individual Learner Differences:

Motivation, Learning Strategies, and Learning Styles

We have seen that there are differences among second language learners and that these differences may affect their success in learning a second language. In the previous chapter, we have considered age and aptitude as important influencing factors. In this chapter, we consider motivation, learning strategies, and learning styles.

Motivation

Motivation is another factor that determines what researchers call individual differences (traits that vary across individual learners). As we have seen, simply put, motivation to learn another language is the degree and type of wishing and wanting to learn. L2 researchers distinguish two distinct motivations in the SLA field: integrative and instrumental. Integrative motivation refers to the learners’ internal impetus to relate to, identify with, or integrate into the L2 culture. Instrumental motivation is related to purposeful uses of language, such as wanting languages for educational, economic, or other benefits. With this kind of motivation, language is seen as a tool to benefit from second language learning.

Learning Strategies

In general, learning strategies are the ways learners attempt to work out the meanings and uses of words, grammatical rules, and other aspects of the language they are learning. They can be thought of as efforts on the part of learners to enhance or assist their language-learning experience.

Examples of learning strategy types include metacognitive strategies, social strategies, resource management strategies, and memory strategies.

Metacognitive strategies include being aware of one’s own learning, making an organized plan, monitoring and evaluating one’s own progress in learning.

Social strategies include cooperating with others in the learning process, working with peers in a classroom setting and seeking out friends who are native speakers of the target language.

Resource management strategies include setting aside a regular time and place for language study.

Memory strategies for entering new information into memories storage and for retrieving it when needed.  

As we can see from the above types of strategies, learning strategies involve effortful and conscious choice and selection on the part of the learner; they are goal-directed (i.e. they are purposeful in nature and geared about task completion).  They involve intentionality and awareness. In other words, in SLA, a strategy is usually an intentional behavior carried out with the goal of learning.

Learning strategies are featured from communication strategies that center on how learners compensate for incomplete competence during interactions in the L2.

Learning styles

Learner's approach learning in different ways. Learning styles are preferences about how people go about learning and acquiring new information. They are particular ways of learning preferred by specific learners. As such, learning styles refer to the different ways in which learners perceive, absorb, process, and recall new information and skills. Unlike learning strategies that may be specific to tasks, learning styles encompass broad traits concerning learning.

To get a good idea of what is meant by learning styles, let us consider a concrete example. Authors A. F. Grasha and S. Hruska-Reichmann have put forth a theory of learning styles. According to Grasha and Reichmann’s theory, learners can be classified into six categories according to their learning styles:

independent, collaborative, dependent, participant, competitive, or avoidant.

Independent learners prefer to work on their own and require less guidance.

Collaborative learners find themselves the most productive when they work with peers and gladly share their ideas in pairs and groups.

Dependent learners learn what is expected and prefer a teacher-oriented lesson.

Participant learners are good at self-learning, take responsibility for their results and want to take part in most activities.

Competitive learners want to do better than others and enjoy recognition; they usually lead in pairs or groups.

Avoidant learners prefer to make as little as possible just to get the marks enough to pass, unenthusiastic and not really engaged.

These different learning styles lead to various degrees of success in L2 learning. Note that some learners are mixed types.

Independent activity: 

a fun exercise to do is to reflect on the kind of second language learner you think you are. In order to answer this question, you can use the categories we have discussed above, namely:

Age: when did I start learning my second language(s) (late childhood, adolescence, or adulthood? Did that help or hamper my second language learning?

Aptitude: do I possess any degree of aptitude for L2 learning? What kind of aptitude do I think I have?

Motivation: am I motivated to learn my second language(s)? what kind of motivation drives my learning?

Learning strategies: what learning strategies do I use in my second language learning?

Learning style: what learning style do I adopt in my second language learning? Do I use a mixture of learning styles?