Dr.

Majid MaSafadaran Mosazadeh-Kohan

Individual
Factors in
the Learners
Development

LIZZA BELLE MENDIETA BENDAA

HNFPMTFL1037564
Group: TEFL 2013-06
JUNE 29,2014

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INDEX
Introduction.... page 3
Case #1.... page 3
Type of Activities and Skills Involved......... page 4
Objective of the Activities..... page 4
Contents Students Should Master.. page 4

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Introduction
Learning is a very intrinsic concept. It is not just a mere act of a teacher being in front
of a student it goes further than that. We would like to think that all students learn in
similar ways, thus research has proven the opposite. In order to be able to aid learners
and develop an effective strategy for the language learning process, an evaluation of
the learners perception must be assessed. Following you will encounter nineteen
cases of students self-reports in which aspects of their learning will be addressed as to
determine what areas need to be tended to.

Students Self Reports

Case 1. I think one problem for me and perhaps everyone else learning a language is
you have to be stimulated to learn.

The student in this case reflects lack of motivation. A variety of researches have been
conducted and they have proven that motivation is strongly linked to the achievement
in language learning. Studies by Ellis (1994) concluded that motivation was the single
most powerful influence on the choice of learning strategies

Lack

of

motivation

is

what

this

student

has.

Various

studies have found that motivation is very strongly to

achievement in language learning (e.g. Gardner and Lamber,
1972;

Garner,

1980).

this

comes

from

different

sides,

influenced by a number of external factors outside the

classroom such us the attitude of society, family and peers
or by a number of internal factors inside the classroom
this is the kind of motivation students bring to class and
is activated by the teachers methods, activities, etc. H.
Douglas Brown says motivation is something that can, like
self- esteem, be global, situational, or task-oriented.
Considering the research carried out by Oxford and Nyikos
(1989) this statement is false. The study showed that
motivation was the single most powerful influence on the
choice of learning strategies (as quoted in Ellis 1994:

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542) resulting in more strategies being used in a variety

of different formal, functional, general and conversational
situations by highly motivated learners than by unmotivated learners. The type of motivation manifested by
the learner also had correlation with the type of
strategies used so that students having mainly instrumental
motivation to obtain good grades would use more analytic
strategies than students with integrative motivation. Being
motivated will inevitably affect the use of learning
strategies since there is more interest involved on the
students part to understand and improve both as a learner
and in learning. The learners attitudes also have certain
reciprocity with motivation in that one can lead to the
other. Learners with positive attitudes towards the TL
language and native-speakers would tend to feel a stronger
incentive to find out about and speak the language and thus
employ strategies in accordance to what they want to use
the language for.
2. I'm only interested in grammar. I don't like pair and group work activities. It's just a
waste of time.
This learner could be seen as field independent, under the category of Not so socially
aware. Also he could be Analytic. I can say that this learner appears to be Authorityorientated learning style. He likes to be told what to do and how to do it. This learner
seems to lack Social strategies.

The student is field independent, it is to say that she/he is more autonomous learner;
she/he is centred in a formal, grammatical system and is more successful in formal
instruction environments (Ellis 1995). There is a marked learning style in this student
because s/he is focus on form. A student who does not like pair or group work activities
relies on internal frame reference when processing information. He has an analytic
learner style.
3. Reading short novels helped me get real daily life in English.
The learner is really interested in learning a new language under the category of using
Cognitive strategy. Field dependent seems to be his cognitive style. He/she is not
influenced by the existing structure and wants to discover real language used in English
spoken countries. Also this learner follows the Out-of-class learning strategy.

According to Reid (1987), visual learning style is defined as the ability of learning
mainly from seeing words in books, on the board, charts, drawing, photos etc. It is
normal for this student to find a lot of meaning reading novels. However, s/he is kind of
analytic learner as mention by Willing, because his/her capacity of making connections
and inferences throughout reading short novels and taking personal satisfaction in
her/his English learning progress.

The students in Pickards study read mainly novels,

newspapers and magazines out of class. Students either read
magazines or other current affairs publications cover to
cover, or chose three or four articles to read in depth per
week.
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The vast majority of students in the study read for

pleasure and used dictionaries sparingly. Most of the
students reported that they became interested in reading
newspapers during their later years at school, after
leaving school and especially after completing a study year
in the USA. This suggests that reading for pleasure is
linked to an attempt to become integrated in the culture of
the target language. Such an approach tells us that the
students are taking a holistic or field dependent path.
The students also read novels for pleasure as they felt it
improved their passive vocabulary. The choice of author
suggests that, whether consciously or unconsciously, the
students were opting for texts that would provide them with
enough comprehensible input. This is borne out by the
comment from a student about not reading Passage to India
properly at school. Most people would agree that a work by
E.M. Forster is a lot more challenging than anything by
Jeffrey
Archer.
It is clear that reading for pleasure is directly linked to
the age and maturity of a student. Nobody is likely to try
and keep up with current affairs in a foreign language if
they do not already do it in their own. The students
strategies depend on their ages and maturity and as the
students got older, they showed more initiative by choosing
to read for pleasure as well as reading magazines.
They used good reader strategies such as guessing
vocabulary
from
context,
not
relying
too
much
on
dictionaries, and showing initiative in finding reading
material.
4. ...there are some words that appear again and again in the reading passage. I
generally take them down and try to remember them.
This student is typically problem-oriented. He employs learning strategies when he faces
some problems and he can explain how they tried and learned something. Another
strategy is the memory strategy; techniques that help learners store and, when
necessary, retrieve the stored information.

The student sees words and tries to remember them, what is a clear use of memory
strategy, not only because s/he tries to memorize them but because the words are
taken down kind of grouping to create a mental link proper of the mentioned strategy.
5. I want to learn English because I want to know more about the English-speaking
world.
The learner is clearly Field dependent; he/she wants to learn material with social content
best. He/she follows the cognitive strategy because he/she wants to analyze the new
language. Intrinsic motivation is another influence he/she uses to be engaged in the
learning process. He/she displays Integrative motivation and has the desire to identify

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with and integrate into the target language culture.The learner shows a desire of

learning the second language, this king of motivation could be graded as extrinsic
motivation according to Gardner (1972); It could also be identified as integrative
motivation because the learner reflects a sincere and personal interest in the people
and culture represented by the other group in this case English speaking culture.
6. In that class we laughed and joked in English. We made friends. They didn't care
about the mistakes I made.
The learner is clearly affected by the Affective strategy. Self-reinforcement and positive
self-talk can be part of it. Also she/he says they laugh and joke in class, it means their
anxiety is low enough to practice the new language and they dont care about their
mistakes. This learner follows the Social and Affective strategies. There is an expression
of personal control in the learning process. Therefore, he/she is motivated from internal
and external sources.Oxford(1990 and Ellis1986) present a typology where different

types of strategies are well presented and in this student report it is evident that social,
affective and communicative strategies are used. The learner manifest that in that talk
laugh and joy was the main ingredient what low down anxiety and creates a affective
environment. She/he made friends and that empathising with others is part of a social
strategy and finally, the way they didnt care about mistakes aloud a communication
strategy because what is important is the communicative goal.
7. I felt I was losing my English. I found I could only use simple words.
The learner seems to lack some Cognitive strategies. The type of motivation I can say is
Intrinsic since he/she realizes that something done is not satisfactory to his/her interests
and the leaner needs to be adapted to reality. Field independence in that the learner is
aware of his/her level which could be a sign of a fairly autonomous learner.There are

several factors which affect 2LA and the use of learning strategies can influence the
process of acquiring the target language. The cognitive style is the manner in which
the learner perceives, monitors, conceptualises and recalls linguistic information
(Funiber, 2013 pg. 11) in some cases students are able to realise and auto evaluate
their own learning process and furthermore, (Funiber quoting Wilkins et al. 1971), it is
a characteristic self-consistent mode of functioning which individuals show in their
perceptual and intellectual abilities.
8. I don't believe anyone can learn English just from studying here in our country.
That's why I say we have to live the language... the best way to learn English is to go
somewhere where I don't know anyone who speaks any language but English.
The kinaesthetic language learning style which is characterised by learning by hands
on, and auditory style are basically ways in which the learner learns throughout total
immersion this open the door to apply communication strategies which allow a good
achievement of 2L focusing on the main goal of communication proposed by their
interlocutors.
9. If I have a good level of written and spoken English when I finish C.O.U., I may be
offered a good job in the future.
What motivates this students is the eventual desire of getting a good job. Gardner and
Lambert (1972, 1973), present series of motivation types among them there is the
extrinsic type, this is based on the outside social types of motivations an individual has.
Moreover, Gardner instrumental motivation relies on the advantages that learning a
foreign language can give the learner; when the learner mentions the her/his interest in
getting a good job, instrumental motivation takes great importance.
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Skehan 1989, considers this motivation is less effective because it is not set in the
personality of the learner but on external pressures.
10. I don't like exams at all. Written exams are OK but when I have to do oral exams in
English I get really nervous.
According Funiber 2013:60 there are moments in which a learner can react, to a
particular situation or in a specific situational context; this is part of personality factors.
In this case the student has a reaction of anxiety getting nervous because of oral
exams and this type of anxiety is called situation specific anxiety, in this case it is
manifested while taking exams.
11. English pronunciation is so difficult for me. I try to imitate the tapes and the teacher,
but I always get it wrong.
12. I have two pen friends in England and I often write letters to them in English. It's
fun.
13. I don't know what the whole thing is about. What's the use of learning English? I
don't think I will ever use English in my future life.
14. Antonio is very good at English. He remembers things quickly and he doesn't mind
speaking English in front of the other students.
Antonio has probably high language proficiency, not precisely for being talkative or
extroverted learner but because he is a good learner it could be for his good study
methods, personality or both. The fact he can remember things easily make him adopt
an active participation in class. As Ellis (1985) states good learning characteristics
reflects the social, cognitive and affective factors that have been seen to be important
in SLA.

15. I always fear I'm going to say things wrong and so I speak very little in class.
16. I enjoy doing projects but I'm not sure whether I'm really learning much with them.
17. In the last exam I got a "B+, now I want to be given an "A", and I'm going to work
for it.
When there is an external motivation to succeed in learning as in the case showed
above, behaviour is affected and self-control in ones actions arise and the individual
makes and effort in order to get the purpose. This theory is called Attribution and it
states that when an individual has a high internal locus of control s/he thinks things ara
achievable and just with a bit of effort s/he can obtain them. (Weiner 1980).
18. Whenever we do listening exercises in the English class, I always try to concentrate
on the most important words and then I do a lot of guessing. It sometimes works!
19. I always try to imitate the teacher's pronunciation and I even write in Spanish how
the word sounds in English.

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Important: you have to write your personal details and the subject name on the
cover (see the next page). The assignment that does not fulfil these conditions
will not be corrected. You have to include the assignment index below the cover.

IF- Assignment

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