 AGE Different ages have different needs, competences, and cognitive skills. Steven Pinker – acquisition of language (L1, L2 or Foreign) is guaranteed for children up to age of six and steadily compromised until puberty, and is rare thereafter. (1) YOUNG CHILDREN  Up to the ages of nine or ten, learn differently from older children, adolescents, and adults in the following ways:  They respond to meaning even if they do not understand individual words.  They often learn indirectly rather than directly – learning from everything around them rather than only focusing on the precise topic they are being taught.

 Their understanding comes not just from explanation, but also from what they see and hear also have a chance to touch and interact with.  Generally display enthusiasm for learning and a curiosity about the world around them.  They have a need for individual attention and approval from the teacher.  They are keen to talk about themselves, and respond well to learning.  They have a limited attention span – easy to get bored unless the activities are appealing for them.

(2) ADOLESCENTS  Secondary schools students.  Less motivated and present outright discipline problems (Puchta and Schratz 1993:1)  A person who is searching for individual identity.  But if they are engaged, they will have :  A great potential for creativity,  A great capacity to learn, and  Passionate commitment to things  Teacher should :  Provoke student engagement with material which is relevant and involving

 Encourage the students to respond to texts and situations with their own thoughts and experience, rather than just by answering questions and doing abstract learning activities.  Give them tasks which they are able to do, rather than risk humiliating them.  Ask them to address learning issues directly  Discuss abstract issues with them  Provoke intellectual activity by helping them to be aware of contrasting ideas and concepts which they can resolve by themselves.

(3) ADULT LEARNERS  They can engage with abstract thought.  They have a whole range of life experiences to draw on.  They have expectations about learning process, and may already have their own set patterns of learning.  Tend to be more disciplined and often prepared to struggle on despite boredom.  Come to class with a rich range of experiences which allow teachers to use a wide range of activities with them.  Often have a clear understanding of why they are learning and what they want to get out of it.  But, they can be critical of teaching methods – previous learning experiences make them uncomfortable with the current unfamiliar teaching patterns.

 They may have experienced failure or criticism at school which makes them anxious and under- confident about learning a language.  They worry that their intellectual powers may be diminishing with age.

 Intelligence To refer to performance on certain kinds of tests (IQ). Tests are associated with success in school, and a link between intelligence and 2L learning. High IQ = successful a learner would be.  Aptitude Measure on ability of students Learning quickly is the distinguishing feature of aptitude.

 Personality – influence in success of language learning Self-esteem Empathy Dominance Talkativeness Responsiveness Introvert Extrovert

 Motivation and attitudes Positive attitudes and motivation lead to success in L2 (Gardner, 1985). Robert Gardner and Wallace Lambert (1972) coined the terms :  Integrative motivation – language learning for personal growth and cultural enrichment  Instrumental motivation – language learning for more immediate or practical goals.  Both showed a success in L2 learning.

Motivation in the classroom setting  Motivated students are usually those who participate actively in class, express interest in the subject- matter, and study a great deal.  Graham Crookes and Richard Schmidt (1991) pointed the higher levels of interest in learning by :  Motivating students into the lesson  Varying the activities, tasks, and materials  Using co-operative rather than competitive goals

 Learner preferences Learner styles by Keith Willing :  Convergers  Prefer solitary than groups  Independent  Confident in their own abilities  Analytic  Cool and pragmatic  Conformist  Prefer to emphasise learning ‘about language ‘over learning to use it.  Dependent  Perfectly happy to work in non-communicative classrooms  Prefers to see well-organized teachers

 Concrete learners  Enjoy the social aspects of learning  Like to learn from direct experience  Interested in language use and language as communication rather than language as a system  Enjoy games and group work in class  Communicative learners  Language use orientated  Comfortable out of class and show a degree of confidence  Willingness to take risks which their colleagues may lack  Much more interested in social interaction with other speakers of the language.  Perfectly happy to operate without the guidance of a teacher.

Learner styles by Reid (1995) :  Visual  Aural – listening/auditory  Kinaesthetic/Tactile – physical actions/activities  Learner beliefs Have strong beliefs and opinions about how their instruction should be delivered. Based on previous learning experiences and the assumption.