A.

Background
Why do some people almost achieve the native speaker‟s levels of competence in a foreign
language while others never seem to progress much beyond a beginner‟s level? Some second language
learners make rapid and apparently effortless progress while others progress only very slowly and with
great difficulty. The reason probably is that people are not homogenous! They have different
personalities and styles. Thus, each individual is different from the other. These individual differences,
according to Dörnyei, (2005) There are many misconceptions in recognizing the potential of children to
get their second language, especially the process they go through and differences ranging from age,
gender and learning style. Therefore, in this paper we will explain what differences should be
considered in the future.

1. Differences in learners
Differences among the learners in Psychological perspective is done to find out the main factors why
one student is more successful than the other in learning a second language. They are many factors
covers age, gender, motivation, talent, cognitive style, personality, and learning strategies.

1. Age

Age factors have different influences on brain function in absorbing second language. A number of
studies prove children are easier to absorb second languages because they have good brain plasticity;
Where they are able to adjust language differences quickly.

However, other studies say that adults are able to absorb foreign language lessons faster due to
learning capacity, including more vocabulary memorization. In addition, according salvoi troike and
Muriel (2009), adults also have a strong analytical power against foreign grammars.

For a long time, a debate on the existence or absence of a critical period of language learning has
been going on in the field of SLA. A critical period means that beyond a particular age successful
acquisition of a second language is not possible due to physiological changes in the brain (Kim et al.,
1997). Moreover, as one gets older, one becomes more self-conscious which hinders him/her from
making full use of his/her language skills, especially speaking skills.

2. Sex

Differences in Sex are related to hormone levels in each Sex. According Kimura in the journal Rod
Ellis the Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford University Press found high levels of androgen
hormones associated with better automation ability, and estrogen with better semantic/interpretive
abilities. In addition, he also found that women during menstruation tend to have better articulation and
motorist abilities. it was generally believed that male and female are born with different linguistic
advantages, such as, female learn to speak earlier than male, and female learn a foreign language faster
and better than male, etc.

3. Motivation

Motivation to learn a language is considered one of the most plausible reasons of success at second
language acquisition. According to 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 L2 development, often a key to ultimate level of
proficiency. According to Gardner and Lambert (1972) the following two types of motivation exist:

i. Integrative: found in individuals who want are interested in the second language in order to
integrate with and become a part of a target community/ culture; here the learner wants to
resemble and behave like the target community.
ii. ii. Instrumental: found in individuals who want to get learn a second language with the
objective of getting benefits from the second language skill. Objectives, such as business
advancement, increase in professional status, educational goals etc. motivate an individual to
learn a second language in this case. Both the types of motivations have different roles to play.
Both can lead to success.

According to Saville-Troike (2006) the relative effect of one or the other is dependent on complex
personal and social factors. L2 learning by a member of the dominant group in a society may benefit
more from integrative motivation, and L2 learning by a subordinate group member may be more
influenced by instrumental motivation. In most of the motivation research, the relationship between
motivation and second language achievement has been shown as a strong one. But whether the
achievement drives motivation or motivation drives achievement is yet to be tested. E. Learning

4. Aptitude

Aptitude is one of the abilities that are required for learning a second language. Thus, a learner with
high aptitude may learn faster and more successfully. There are official aptitude tests, for example, the
Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT) or the Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery (PLAB). In these
tests, the subject has to do exercise to find out, for instance, the ability to memorize words. In general,
they test the auditory ability, grammar sensitivity, inductive language learning ability and memory. For
example, the MLAT tests recognition, analogy, and understanding of syntactic structures. Language
aptitude researches are often criticized for being irrelevant to the problems of language learners, who
must attempt or learn a language regardless of whether they are gifted for the task or not.

5. Cognitive style

These styles concern the ways learners prefer to acquire and represent language. Such styles
contrast with aptitude in that aptitude is seen as more of an invariant attribute. Whereas, styles imply
scope for being moulded malleability. There is also the possibility that different styles may contrast with
one another, but each style may have its own advantages. The major style difference which hs
influenced the language learning field is the field independent vs. field dependent contrast.

The former style implies people who are analytic, breaking down (learning) problems into
component parts. Fedl dependents are holistic in comparison. Such people are also supposed to be
more person-oriented and warm. Research suggests that only the field of independent style correlates
moderately with language learning success. But the area is one of promise, rather than realized
achievement.
 6. Personality

Personality is the sum total of various factors that combine to make a person different from other
people. Personality of a second language learner is a major factor that influences his/her second
language acquisition. There are a number of personality traits which either facilitate or inhibit second
language acquisition. These include: self-esteem (Hye, 1979), extroversion (Busch, 1982), reaction to
anxiety (Bailey, 1983), risk taking (Ely, 1986), sensitivity to rejection (Naiman, 1978), empathy, inhibition
and tolerance of ambiguity. These features of an individual learner play vital role in his/her acquisition
of a second language. Therefore, second language teachers need to be aware of these traits in order to
be able to assess the learners’ success or failure.

7. Learning Strategies

The learning strategies are the strategies a learner selects for language acquisition. 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
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:

I. Cognitive strategies
Cognitive strategies “operate directly on incoming information, manipulating it in ways that
enhance learning”. Some of these strategies are
II. 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
III. 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:

2. The effects of multilingualism

Philosophically, the notion that multilingualism has positive effects on cognitive development was
traditionally related to the belief that foreign language study (especially Greek and Latin) is good for
“training the mind”; there is still an assumption in many parts of the world that multilingualism is an
essential characteristic of “educated” and “cultured” members of society.

Research since the 1960s has largely supported claims that multilingualism has positive effects on
intellectual functions, based on “measures of conceptual development, creativity, metalinguistic
awareness, semantic development, and analytic skills” (Diaz 1985 :18). The following list is a summary of
positive findings (Diaz and Klingler 1991 :184):

 Bilingual children show consistent advantages in tasks of both verbal and nonverbal abilities.
 Bilingual children show advanced metalinguistic abilities, especially manifested in their
 control of language processing.
 Cognitive and metalinguistic advantages appear in bilingual situations that involve
systematic uses of the two languages, such as simultaneous acquisition settings or bilingual
education.

Relatively recent negative claims regarding multilingualism have primarily addressed capacity
limitations for language acquisition and maintenance, with evidence that simultaneous bilingualism in
childhood may result in a narrower range of lexical development in either language, and that intensive
and continued use of L2 may reduce accessibility of L1. Common and stable multilingualism among
populations in many parts of the world, however, suggests that whatever limitations there may be are
not biological in nature. Some of the social factors influencing interaction between multilingualism and
other aspects of cognitive development and academic performance are discussed.

B. Conclusition
In learning to acquire a second language there are fundamental effects and differences that have
become debated by linguistics, one example is women learn to speak earlier than men, and women
learn foreign languages faster and better than men actual results showed women were usually superior
to men in almost all aspects of language learning. Except listening to vocabulary. Given the above
discussion it is clear that individual student differences are very influential in Second language for each
student. That's why teachers need to know about these factors. If ESL teachers are well trained and they
know about the individual differences of learners, they will be able to teach a second language in a way
that is acceptable to students. In this way, the knowledge of the teachers about individual differences
enrich the teaching of a second language.

C. Refrences
 https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/234693181.pdf
 https://www.academypublication.com/issues/past/jltr/vol03/04/07.pdf
 https://repository.bbg.ac.id/bitstream/588/1/Introducing_Second_Language_Acquisition_.pdf