Understanding Successful Learners

Authors

  • Karima Lakehal-Ayat

Keywords:

Language learning strategies, successful learners, competence in English as a Foreign Language.

Abstract

This paper addresses the subject of
individual differences in language
learning, a topic whose complexity needs
continuing investigation. It reports on a
study that was developed and used to
examine use of strategies by successful
Algerian learners of English inside and
outside the classroom. The present study
uses multiple data types, for example,
interviews, questionnaires, and follow-up
emails as a triangulation strategy to
provide a rich and complex picture of the
experiment. The results establish a range
of learning strategies in three broad
categories: metacognitive, cognitive and
affective/socio-cultural.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Chamot, A. (1987). “The learning strategies of ESL students”. In A. Wenden and J.

Rubin (eds.), Learner Strategies in Language Learning (pp. 71–83). Englewood Cliffs, NJ:

Prentice-Hall.

Dörnyei, Z. (2008). The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual differences in

second language acquisition. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Dörnyei, Z. (2009). “Individual Differences: Interplay of Learner Characteristics and

Learning Environment”. Language Learning 59:Suppl. 1, December 2009, 230–248.

Ehrman, L.E, Leaver, B.L., Oxford, R.L. (2003). “A brief overview of individual

differences in second language learning”. System 31, 313–330.

Ellis, R. (2004). “Individual differences in second language learning”, in A. Davies &

C. Elder (eds), Handbook of Applied Linguistics. (pp. 525-551). Black Publishing

Limited.

Horwitz, E. K. (2001). “Language anxiety and achievement”. Annual Review of Applied

Linguistics, 21, 112-126.

Hsiao, T.Y., & Oxford, R. L. (2002). Comparing theories of language learning

strategies: A confirmatory factor analysis. Modern Language Journal, 86(3), 368–383.

Inbar, O., Donitsa-Schmidt, S., & Shohamy, E. (2001). “Students’ motivation as a

function of language learning: The teaching of Arabic in Israel”. In Z. Dörnyei & R.

Schmidt (Eds.), Motivation and Second Language Acquisition (pp. 297–311). Honolulu,

HI: University of Hawaii Press.

Kinsella, K. (1995). “Understanding and empowering diverse learners in ESL

classrooms”. In J. Reid (Ed.), Learning styles in the ESL/EFL classroom (pp. 170–194).

Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Naiman, N., Fröhlich, H., Stern, H., & Todesco, A. (1995 [1978]). The Good Language

Learner. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

O’Malley, J. & Chamot, A. (1990) Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Oxford, R. (1990). Language Learning Strategies: What every teacher should know.

Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Oxford, R. L., & Anderson, N. J. (1995). “A crosscultural view of learning styles”.

Language Teaching, 28, 201–215.

Oxford, R. L., Ehrman, M. E., & Lavine, R. Z. (1991). ““Style wars”: Teacher student

style conflicts in the language classroom”. In S. Magnan (Ed.), Challenges in the 1990s

for college foreign language programs (pp. 1–25). Boston MA: Heinle & Heinle.

Oxford, R., Hollaway, M.E., & Horton-Murillot, D., 1992. “Language Learning Styles:

Research and Practical Considerations for Teaching in the Multi-Cultural Tertiary

ESL/EFL Classroom”. System, Vol. 20 N°4, 439-456.

Pintrich, P. R., Smith, D. A. F., Garcia, T., & McKeachie, W. J. (1993). “Reliability and

predictive validity of the motivated strategies for learning questionnaire (MLSQ)”.

Educational and Psychological Measurement, 53, 801–813.

Pintrich, P. R., Smith, D. A. F., Garcia, T., & McKeachie, W. J. (1991). A manual for the

use of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Ann Arbor:

NCRIPTAL, School of Education, University of Michigan.

Rubin, J. 1975. “What the good language learner can teach us”. TESOL Quarterly 9, pp

-51.

Skehan, P. (1989). Individual Differences in Second-Language Learning. London: Edward

Arnold.

Stern, H.H. (1975). What can we learn from the good language learner? Canadian

Modern Language Review, 31, 304-318.

Stern, H.H., 1983. Fundamental Concepts in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Ushioda, E. (2009). “A person-in-context relational view of emergent motivation and

identity”. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2

self (pp. 215–228). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Vann, R., & Abraham, R. (1990). “Strategies of unsuccessful language learners”.

TESOL Quarterly, 24(2), 177-198.

Warr, P. & Downing, J. (2000). “Learning strategies, learning anxiety, and knowledge

acquisition”. British Journal of Psychology, 91, 311-333.

Weinstein, C. E., Schulte, A. C., & Palmer, D. R. (1987). LASSI: Learning and study

strategies inventory. Clearwater, FL: H & H Publishing.

Zimmerman, B. J., & Martinez-Pons, M. (1986). « Development of a structured

interview for assessing students’ use of self-regulated learning strategies”. American

Educational Research Journal, 23, 614–628.

Zimmerman, B. J., Martinez Pons, M. (1988). « Construct validation of a strategy

model of student self-regulated learning”. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80, 284–290.

Published

2023-09-14

Issue

Section

Articles