Good language

learner studies

The good language learner (GLL) studies

are a group of academic studies in the
area of second language acquisition that
deal with the strategies that good
language learners exhibit. The rationale for
the studies was that there is more benefit
from studying the habits of successful
language learners than there is from
studying learners who fossilize at an early
stage or stop studying altogether. It was
thought that if the strategies of successful
learners could be found, then that
knowledge could help learners who were
not getting such good results.[1]

The original studies were made in the

1970s, but petered out in the 1980s as
researchers concentrated on individual
learning strategies. [1] However, some
research on the topic has also been
carried out in more recent years.[2][3] The
main body of GLL research investigated
language learning in classroom situations.
It found that good language learners could
not be distinguished on the basis of
observable behavior alone, although
personality did seem to have an effect. It
also found that teachers did not treat
these learners differently from other
students, although they could distinguish
good language learners from learners who
were not so effective.[1]

Original studies
The first studies in the good language
learner tradition were made by Joan Rubin
and David Stern, both of which were
completed in 1975.[4][5] Both of these
studies proposed similar lists of strategies
that good language learners use. On the
basis of this, a large-scale study was
performed at the Ontario Institute for
Studies in Education (OISE) which
investigated 34 language learners with
good learning habits. This study found a
list of six different strategies, which were
similar to those proposed by Rubin and
Stern:[6]

1. Good language learners find an

appropriate style of learning.
2. Good language learners involve
themselves in the language-learning
process.
 3. Good language learners develop an
awareness of language as both
system and communication.
4. Good language learners pay constant
attention to expanding their language
knowledge.
5. Good language learners develop the
second language as a separate
system.
6. Good language learners take into
account the demands that second
language learning imposes.

Later work
In spite of the flurry of interest in the GLL
in the mid to late 70s, in the 80s and 90s
interest moved more in the direction of
socio/cultural influences[7] and individual
differences,[8] as well as developing the
concept of communicative competence[9]
into a communicative approach to
language teaching.[10]

In the new millennium, Norton and Toohey

re-visited the GLL.[11] Their new
perspective emphasized the influence of
situation, investment and identity on
successful language learning.
Seven years later, Griffiths, harking back to
Joan Rubin's original title, published
"Lessons from Good Language
Learners".[12] Whereas the early work in the
GLL field had tended to emphasize the role
of strategies, Griffiths' work took a broader
view and presented the GLL as a highly
complex being involving many different
variables, including motivation, age, style,
personality, gender, metacognition,
autonomy, beliefs, culture and aptitude. In
addition, the target variables (including
grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation,
function and skills) and some of the
situational factors (including method and
error correction practices) which learners
must manage if they are to be successful
were discussed.

See also
Individual variation in second language
acquisition
Interlanguage

Notes
1. Johnson 1999.
2. Sewell 2003.
3. Thompson 2005.
4. Rubin 1975.
5. Stern 1975.
6. Naiman 1978.
 7. Especially Vygotsky 1978.
8. For instance, Skehan 1989.
9. Hymes 1972.
10. For instance Widdowson 1978;
Littlewood 1981.
11. Norton & Toohey 2001.
12. Griffiths 2008.

References
Griffiths, Carol, ed. (2008). Lessons from
Good Language Learners. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-
71814-1.
Hymes, D. (1972). "On communicative
competence". In Pride, J. B.; Holmes, Janet
(eds.). Sociolinguistics. Harmondsworth,
U.K.: Penguin. pp. 269–293. ISBN 978-0-14-
080665-6.
Johnson, Keith (1999). "Good language
learner studies". Encyclopedic Dictionary of
Applied Linguistics. Cambridge: Blackwell
Publishers. pp. 141–142. ISBN 978-0-631-
22767-0.
Littlewood, William (1981). Communicative
Language Teaching . Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-28154-6.
Naiman, N. (1978). The Good Language
Learner. Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies
in Education. ISBN 978-0-7744-0151-7.
Norton, Bonny; Toohey, Kelleen (2001).
"Changing perspectives on good language
learners" (PDF). TESOL Quarterly. 35 (2):
307–322. doi:10.2307/3587650 . Retrieved
June 8, 2011.
Rubin, Joan (1975). "What the "Good
Language Learner" Can Teach Us". TESOL
Quarterly. 9 (1): 41–51.
doi:10.2307/3586011 .
Sewell, H. Douglas (2003-11-15). "The Good
Language Learner" (PDF). Birmingham
University. Retrieved 2011-03-07.
Skehan, Peter (1989). Individual Differences
in Second-Language Learning. London: E.
Arnold. ISBN 978-0-7131-6602-6.
Stern, H. H. (March 1975). "What Can We
Learn from the Good Language Learner?".
Canadian Modern Language Review. 31 (4):
304–318.
 Thompson, Sandee (April 2005). "The 'Good
Language Learner' " (PDF). Birmingham
University. Retrieved 2011-03-07.
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in Society.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
ISBN 978-0-674-57628-5.
Widdowson, H. G. (1978). Teaching
Language as Communication . Oxford:
Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-
437077-6.

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