INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN L2 ACQUISITION

This paper is to fulfill the assignment of Second Language Acquisition

The lecturer : Hayu Dian Yulistianti, S.Pd., M.Pd

Created by:

1. Fitriyatul Munayyiroh (161320000262)

2. Windi Nuraini (161320000266)
3. Wilda Rizqi Aulia (161320000261)

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF NAHDLATUL ‘ULAMA (UNISNU)
JEPARA
2019

PREFACE
 Alhamdulillah, first of all, all praises to the Almighty Allah SWT because
of his blessings and guidance I could finally finish this report well. This report is
about teaching English in elementary school.
Secondly, Shalawat and Salam always be given to our lovely Prophet
Muhammad SAW. who has guided us from the darkness to the lightness in the
world as well in the next world.
Thirdly, I would like to say thank you to Mrs. Hayu Dian Yulistianti, S.Pd.,
M.Pd. as the lecturer of Second Language Acquisition that always teaches us and
give knowledge.
In completing this paper, the writer faced some problems, but with the help
of my friends, all the problems could be passed. May Allah SWT give the blessing
for them. Although this report has many deficiences in the arrangement and
explanation, the writer hopes that the reader can give the critics and suggestion for
improving the next report.
The writer also hopes that it can be used as a reference for the reader and it
can give the benefit for all of people.

Jepara, 1 July 2019

The writer

TABLE OF CONTENT

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PREFACE................................................................................................................ii
TABLE OF CONTENT...........................................................................................ii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION..............................................................................1
A. Background of the study..................................................................................1
B. Statements of the Problem...............................................................................3
C. Objective of the Problem.................................................................................3
CHAPTER II DISCUSSION...................................................................................4
A. Language Aptitude........................................................................................4
B. Motivation.....................................................................................................5
C. Learning Strategies.......................................................................................5
CHAPTER III CONCLUSION................................................................................9
A. Conclusion.......................................................................................................9
REFERENCES.......................................................................................................10

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 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the study

Learners vary enormously in how successful they are in learning a
language. This is true for both first language (L1) and second language (L2)
acquisition, although there is an important difference. In the case of L1
acquisition, children vary in their rate of acquisition but all, except in cases of
severel environmental deprivation, achieve full competence in their mother
tongue; in the case of L2 acquisition (SLA), learners vary not only in the
speed of acquisition but also in their ultimate level of achievement, with a few
achieving native-like competence and others stopping far short. How can we
explain these differences in achievement? Broadly speaking, three different
sets of explanatory factors have been identified; social, cognitive, and
affective.

This chapter, however, will consider only those factors that lie inside
the learner – the cognitive and affective factors – and will focus on L2
learning. Individual difference research has a considerable history in applied
linguistics. Horwitz (2000a), reviewing publications in The Modern Language
Journal from the 1920s up to the end of the 1970s, documents how interest in
L2 learners’ differences evolved over the decades. She notes a marked change
in the labels used to refer to individual differences: “The terms good and bad,
intelligent and dull, motivated and unmotivated have given way to a myriad of
new terms such as integratively and instrumentally motivated, anxious and
comfortable, field independent and field sensitive, auditory and visual” (p.
532, original emphasis). Horwitz characterizes these changes as evolutionary
rather than revolutionary, but they seem to reflect a radical shift in the way
learners are viewed; whereas earlier they were seen in absolute terms, as either
innately endowed with or lacking in language learning skills, in more recent
research they are characterized in more relative terms, as possessing different

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kinds of abilities and predispositions that influence learning in complex ways.
This change of perspective over the years reflects a development in the role of
individual difference research in applied linguistics. In earlier periods, the
primary concern was to provide a basis for selecting which learners should be
chosen to receive foreign language instruction. To this end, the main purpose
of individual difference research was to predict which learners would succeed.
This led ultimately to the development of tests of language aptitude such as
the Modern Language Aptitude Battery (Carroll & Sapon, 1959). More recent
research on motivation or on learning strategies, however, has sought to
explain why some learners succeed more than others and has been seen as
complementary to mainstream research in SLA. This later research continues
to have an “applied” side, however. It has been used to identify the
characteristics of “good language learners” as a basis for learner training (i.e.,
providing guidance in how best to learn). It has also served as a basis for
aptitude treatment interactions (i.e., matching learners to different types of
instruction so as to maximize learning). Interest in individual differences has
grown since the 1970s to the point where it has become a major area of
enquiry in SLA. This interest is reflected in numerous articles published in all
the major SLA journals (in particular Language Learning and The Modern
Language Journal), in several major surveys of individual differences (e.g.,
Skehan, 1991), and, increasingly, in full-length books devoted to specific
factors responsible for individual differences (e.g. Dörnyei’s 2001 book on
motivation). Research into individual differences has taken place alongside
and separate from mainstream SLA research, where the primary concern has
been the processes responsible for L2 acquisition (e.g., noticing, chunking,
restructuring). One reason for this is that universalist and differential
approaches have distinct agendas, the former seeking to explain the
mechanisms responsible for the commonalities observed in the process of
language learning (e.g., the “natural” order and sequence of L2 acquisition),
the latter directed at examining how and why learners differ. This separation,
however, is unfortunate, as it results in a piecemeal approach to understanding

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L2 acquisition that inhibits the development of an integrated theory to account
for how and to what extent learners allocate resources to different learning
mechanisms. As Breen (2001) emphasizes, an essential feature of
psycholinguistic processes is that they are selective. The task facing
researchers, therefore, must be to identify not just what the psycholinguistic
processes involved in L2 acquisition are or what motivates individual learner
selectivity, but how selectivity and processes interact in the performance of
different tasks. This review will be in two main parts. The first part will
discuss the methods that have been used to investigate individual differences,
in particular the instruments for measuring the various factors. The second
part will consider a number of factors that have been found to contribute to
individual differences in learning and will provide a review of the main
research findings relating to each factor.

B. Statements of the Problem

1. What is the components of Language aptitude?

2. What is the components of motivation?

3. What is the components of learning strategies?

C. Objective of the Problem

1. To know the components of Language aptitude.

2. To know the components of motivation.

3. To know the components of learning strategies.

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 CHAPTER II

DISCUSSION

A. Language Aptitude
Skehan believes that aptitude has consistenly been linked with L2
success but remains one of the under investigated areas of SLA. Saville-
Troike (2006) suggests that assumption that there is a talent which is specific
to language learning has been widely held for many years. Phonemic coding
ability : the ability to identfy the sounds of a foreign language so that they can
be remembered later.
Early work by John Carroll led to the identification of a number of
components of language aptitude. These are:
1. Phonemic coding ability : the ability to identfy the sounds of a foreign
language so that they can be remembered later.
2. Grammatical sensitivity : the ability to recognize the grammatical
functions of words in sentence
3. Inductive language learning ability : the ability to identify patterns of
correspondence and relations between form and meaning
4. Rote learning ability : The ability to form and remember associations
between stimuli.
Many scholars believe that aptitude alone does not determine the
language learning ability of an individual. Skehan (1989) suggests that
individual ability may vary by others factrs. Other factors like personality,
language learning style and motivation must be considered before taking
into account. Skehan (1989) further concludes that language learning
aptitude “is not completely distinct from general cognitive abilities as
represented by intelligence tests but it is far from the same thing”.
Moreover, aptitude can only predict success in second language
acquisition.

B. Motivation
Motivation to learn a language is considered one of the most
plausible reasons of successat second language acquisition. According to

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 Gardner (1985) Motivation = effort + desire to achieve goal + attitudes.
Saville-Troike (2006) claims that motivation is the second strongest
predictor (after aptitude) of second language success. She further argues
that motivation largely determines the level of effort that learners expend
at various stages in their L2n development, often a key to ultimate level of
proficiency. Various kinds of motivation have been identified:
instrumental, integrative, resultative, and instrinsic.

1. Instrumental Motivation

Learners may make efforts to learn an L2 for some functional reason to

pass en examination, to get a better job or to get a place at university.

2. Integrative Motivation

Some learners may choose to learn a particular L2 because they are

interested in the people and culture represented by the target language
group.

3. Resultative Motivation

An assumption of the research referred to above is that motivation is the

cause of L2 achievement.

4. Instrinsic Motivation

In some learning situation, it may not be learners’ general reason for

learning an L2 that are crucial in determining their motivation.

C. Learning Strategies
The learning strategies are the particular approaches or techniques
that learners employ to try to learn an L2. Brown (2000) argues that the
choice of learning strategies is strongly influenced by the nature of their
motivation, cognitive style, and personality, as well as by specific contexts
of use and opportunities for learning. Many studies in SLA have ventured
out to identify which strategies are used by relatively good language

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learners, with the expectation that such strategies can be taught or
otherwise applied to enhance learning. According to O‟Malley and
Chamot (1990) strategies are the tools for active, self-directed involvement
needed for developing L2 communicative ability. O‟Malley and Chamot,
(1990) have identified the following strategies:

1. Cognitive strategies
Cognitive strategies “operate directly on incoming information,
manipulating it in ways that enhance learning”. Some of these
strategies are :
- Repetition: imitating other people's speech overtly or silently
- Resourcing: making use of language materials such as dictionaries
- Directed Physical Response: responding physically “as with
directives”;
- Translation: using the first language as a basis for understanding
and/or producing the L2
- Grouping: organizing learning on the basis of “common attributes”
- Note-taking: writing down the gist etc of texts
- Deduction: conscious application of rules to processing the L2
- Recombination: putting together smaller meaningful elements into
new wholes
- Imagery: visualizing information for memory storage;
- Auditory Representation: keeping a sound or sound sequence in the
mind
- Key Word: using key word memory techniques, such as identifying
an L2 word with an L1 word that it sounds like
- Contextualization: placing a word or phrase in a meaningful
language sequence
- Elaboration: relating new information to other concepts in memory
- Transfer: using previous knowledge to help language learning
- Inferencing: guessing meanings by using available information
- Question for Clarification: asking a teacher or native speaker for
explanation, help, etc..
2. Metacognitive strategies
Metacognitive strategies are skills used for planning, monitoring, and
evaluating the learning activity; “they are strategies about learning
rather than learning strategies themselves”. The following are some of
the metacognitive strategies

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 - Advance Organizers: planning the learning activity in advance
- Directed Attention: deciding to concentrate on general aspects of a
learning task
- Selective Attention: deciding to pay attention to specific parts of
the language input or the situation that will help learning
- Self-management: trying to arrange the appropriate conditions for
learning
- Advance Preparation: planning the linguistic components for a
forthcoming language task
- Self-monitoring: checking one's performance as one speaks
- Delayed Production: deliberately postponing speaking so that one
may learn by listening
- Self-evaluation: checking how well one is doing against one‟s own
standard
- Self- reinforcement: giving oneself rewards for success.
3. Social and affective strategies
Social and affective strategies involve interacting with another person
to assist learning or using control to assist a learning task. These
strategies are:
- Questioning for Clarification: Asking for explanation, verification,
rephrasing, or examples about the material; asking for clarification
or verification about the task; posing questions to the self.
- Cooperation: Working together with peers to solve a problem, pool
information, check a learning task, model a language activity, or
get feedback on oral or written performance.
- Self-talk: Reducing anxiety by using mental techniques that make
one feel competent to do the learning task. Distinction between
styles and strategies

According to Lombaard (2006) Language learning styles

characterize the consistent and rather enduring traits, tendencies, or
preferences that may differentiate you from another person while
strategies are specific methods of approaching a problem or task,
modes of operation for achieving a particular end, or plan designed for
controlling and manipulating certain information. Strategies vary
widely within an individual, while styles are more constant and

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 predictable (20). Oxford (2003) argues for need for awareness amongst
teachers regarding the types of strategies used by students in a class as
she believes that it foolhardy to think that a single L2 methodology
could possibly fit an entire class filled with students who have a range
of stylistic and strategic preferences

CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

A. Conclusion
From this paper, we can conclude that individual learners differences play
a crucial role in the acquisition of second language. Firstly, there are a number of
components of language aptitude, they are phonemic coding ability, grammtical
sensitivity, inductive language learning ability and Rote learning ability. Secondly,
there are four kind of motivation, instrumental motivation; integrative motivation;
resultative motivation; and intrinsic motivation.

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 REFERENCES

Ellis, R. (1997). Second Languange Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Zafar, S. (2012). Individual Learner Differences and Second. Journal of
Language Teaching and Research,, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 639-646.