Second Language Learning and Teaching Series Editor Mirosław Pawlak For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/10129 About the Series The series brings together volumes dealing with different aspects of learning and teaching second and foreign languages. The titles included are both monographs and edited collections focusing on a variety of topics ranging from the processes underlying second language acquisition, through various aspects of language learning in instructed and non-instructed settings, to different facets of the teaching process, including syllabus choice, materials design, classroom practices and evaluation. The publications reflect state-of-the-art developments in those areas, they adopt a wide range of theoretical perspectives and follow diverse research paradigms. The intended audience are all those who are interested in naturalistic and classroom second language acquisition, including researchers, methodologists, curriculum and materials designers, teachers and undergraduate and graduate students undertaking empirical investigations of how second languages are learnt and taught. Mirosław Pawlak Editor New Perspectives on Individual Differences in Language Learning and Teaching 123 Mirosław Pawlak Department of English Studies Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts Adam Mickiewicz University Nowy Swiat 28–30 62-800 Kalisz Poland ISBN 978-3-642-20849-2 e-ISBN 978-3-642-20850-8 DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-20850-8 Springer Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London Library of Congress Control Number: 2011943321 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012 This work is subject to copyright. 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Cover design: eStudio Calamar, Berlin/Figueres Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Acknowledgments The editor would like to express his gratitude to Professor Jan Majer (University of Łódz´, Poland) who kindly agreed to review the papers included in the present volume. His invaluable comments and suggestions have without doubt greatly enhanced the quality of this work. v Contents Individual Differences in Language Learning and Teaching: Achievements, Prospects and Challenges .................... xix Mirosław Pawlak Part I Changing Perspectives on Individual Learner Differences L2 Learners’ Individual Differences and the Changing SLA Perspective ........................................ 3 Anna Nizegorodcew_ Individual Differences in the Light of New Linguistic Dispensation ................................... 15 Larissa Aronin and Basilius Bawardi Extra Input Biased Learning: A Connectionist Account of the Adult Language Learning Paradox...................... 33 István Ottó and Marianne Nikolov Part II Cognitive Factors and Instructed Language Acquisition Individual Differences, Aptitude Complexes, SLA Processes, and Aptitude Test Development ............................. 57 Peter Robinson Memory Abilities in Gifted Foreign Language Learners ........... 77 Adriana Biedron´ Age and SLA: Research Highways and Bye-Ways ............... 97 David Singleton and Justyna Les´niewska vii viii Contents The Concept of Linguistic Intelligence and Beyond............... 115 Szymon Wróbel The Relationship Between Multiple Intelligences and Teaching Style.......................................... 127 Anna Michon´ska-Stadnik Individual Differences: A Question of Meta Program Variety ....... 141 Fatma Alwan Part III Affective and Social Factors in Language Learning The Place of Affect in Second Language Acquisition.............. 157 Magdalena Ke˛błowska Language Anxiety Levels in Urban, Suburban and Rural Secondary Grammar School Students ................ 169 Ewa Piechurska-Kuciel Foreign Language Learners as Teachers: Individual Perceptions of a Teaching Process at the Pre-Service Level.................. 185 Danuta Gabrys´-Barker The Dynamic Nature of a Tertiary Learner’s Foreign Language Self-Concepts .......................................... 201 Sarah Mercer Motivation Research and SLA: Bringing it into the classroom ...... 217 Eowyn Crisfield and Joanna White An Overview of L2 Motivation Research in Hungary ............. 233 Kata Csizér Part IV Individual Differences in Learning and Teaching Practices Comprehensible Pragmatics: Where Input and Output Come Together ......................................... 249 Andrew D. Cohen Instructional Mode and the Use of Grammar Learning Strategies.... 263 Mirosław Pawlak Contents ix Individual Learner Differences and Accuracy in Foreign Language Pronunciation .......................... 289 Małgorzata Baran-Łucarz Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives on Individual Differences in Error Correction Preferences.................... 305 Zhou Chunhong and Carol Griffiths Individual Differences in Dictionary Strategy Use................ 319 Luciana Pedrazzini and Andrea Nava Part V Learners with Special Needs in Foreign Language Education Gifted Visually Impaired Children Learning Foreign Languages ...................................... 337 Małgorzata Jedynak Individual Differences in Language Learners with Dyslexia ........ 349 Joanna Nijakowska Contributors Alwan, Fatma She has experience in TEFL as a teacher (8 years), supervisor and teacher trainer (16 years) and text-book writer (3 years) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Education since 1985. She holds an Ed.D in TESOL from Exeter University and an M.A. in Educational Management from Bath University, UK. She is a certified trainer of NLP by the International NLP Trainers Association (INLPTA). She has multiple research interests related to teaching English as a foreign language, and has presented and published in areas of improving learning outcomes with NLP, teacher evaluation and curriculum development. She is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Asia TEFL. Ministry of Education, Abu Dhabi, UAE, e-mail: [email protected] Aronin, Larissa She received her Ph.D. in Moscow, is currently based at Oranim Academic College of Education, Israel and is affiliated to the Trinity College, Dublin. Dr. Aronin has published in a range of international journals on a wide array of topics connected with multilingualism-notably, complexity and multilingual education, individual multilingualism, the language awareness of multilinguals, and TLA. She serves as a Secretary of the International Association of Multilingualism. Aronin is an Editorial Board member of Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching (Adam Mickiewicz University) and an Advisory Board Member of Language Teaching (CUP). Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland; Oranim Academic College of Education, Haifa, Israel; Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel Baran-Łucarz, Małgorzata She holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in applied linguistics. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wrocław and has been since 1998 a teacher at the Teacher Training College in Wrocław. Apart from running classes in methodology, second language acquisition and phonetics at these institutes she also teaches phonetics in workshops organized by the Teacher Development Center for pre-service and in-service FL teachers. Her main areas of interest are meth- odology, SLA (particularly the issue of individual learner differences, such as field independence, aptitude, personality and affective factors), psycholinguistics, xi xii Contributors phonetics and pronunciation pedagogy. Institute of English Studies, University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland, e-mail: [email protected] Bawardi, Basilius He teaches and researches modern Arabic Literatureat Bar Ilan University in Israel. He is also the head of Teaching Languages program (M.Ed. program) at the Oranim Academic College of Education. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in modern Arabic literature from Haifa University. He publishes on Modern Arabic poetry, teaching modern Arabic poetry, Arabic Ideological text, the for- mation and development of genres in Modern Arabic literature (nineteenth and twentieth centuries) and the development of modern Arabic narrative fiction in nineteenth century. Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland; Oranim Academic College of Education, Haifa, Israel; Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel Biedron´, Adriana Pomeranian Academy in Słupsk, Słupsk, Poland, e-mail: [email protected] Chunhong, Zhou She is a lecturer from Beijing Sport University. She graduated with an M.A. degree in English Language and Literature from Zhongshan Uni- versity in 2005 and began her teaching career after graduation. Her research field is British and Irish literature and second language acquisition. In her three-year career as an English teacher, in addition to her classroom work she has acted as liaison person for international teachers and engaged in translation work. She has compiled