This student submitted a 5-page assignment on individual factors in language learning. The assignment instructions specify the formatting requirements and state that the assignment must be submitted through the specified procedure and not by email. The assignment is worth 100% of the final grade, and participation in tutorials can improve the mark. The assignment then analyzes 16 learner self-reports on their language learning and assesses which aspects of learning each learner attends to.

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SUBJECT ASSIGNMENT:
INDIVIDUAL FACTORS
GENERAL INFORMATION:
This assignment has to fulfil the following conditions:
- Length: between 5 pages (without including cover, index or appendices –if there are any-).
- Type of font: Arial or Times New Roman.
- Size: 11.
- Line height: 1.5.
- Alignment: Justified.
The assignment has to be done in this Word document and has to fulfil the rules of presentation
and edition, as for quotes and bibliographical references which are detailed in the Study Guide.
Also, it has to be submitted following the procedure specified in the Study Guide. Sending it to
the tutor’s e-mail is not permitted.
In addition to this, it is very important to read the assessment criteria, which can be found in the
Study Guide.
The assignment mark is 100% of the final mark, but the participation in the activities performed
during the tutorials can improve this mark.

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Assignment:
The following are taken from learner self-reports. Read, determine and explain what aspects of their
learning the learners attend to and assess. See the example provided.
For Example: Now that I'm in the 1st year of Bachillerato, I feel I'm not making any progress:
The student is showing a lack of motivation. It is quite common that after some years of foreign language
study, the student may feel that he/she is not making any progress as syllabuses at different levels tend to
repeatedly cover the same grammatical areas; at times the degree of difficulty is the only thing that
changes.
This comment may also be related to what Selinker calls "fossilisation", that is, we reach a certain stage in
our language learning when no noticeable progress is made.
Note: In each of your answers, try to relate each learner´s self-report to the study materials, by identifying,
for example, the type of motivation displayed by the student, his/her learning style or any learning
strategies used, and any personality factors which may seem relevant, etc. You are NOT expected to offer
teaching suggestions for how to deal with each student, nor to make judgemental comments on these
students´learning habits and styles. The length of each answer should be similar to that of the example
provided above.
1. I think one problem for me and perhaps everyone else learning a language is you have to be stimulated
to learn.
This student is showing a lack of motivation in the learning of the additional language. The reasons could
be various, including teacher’s techniques, teaching styles, as well as lessons that are more teacher
centred in which student’s extrinsic motivation is not being stimulated making him/her feel boring and
discouraged. Motivation is strongly related to achievement in language learning, and is influenced by
external factors such as society, family and friends, as well as in-class factors. Teachers’ mission is to
ignite these motivations by strategies that stimulate learners and always take in consideration the
importance of developing affective strategies, an area that is very important in language learning.
Krashen’s view of the affective filter states that in order to reach motivation and become effective learners,
students need an environment that lowers their anxiety and a teacher that gives them positive feedback. It
is the teacher’s responsibility to foster learners’ motivation to have them engaged positively and actively in
their learning process. Gardner and Lambert (1972) mention that when students feel they need to be
skilled in the target language to pursue a specific goal, they will be motivated to obtain the necessary skills.

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2.
1 P
I'm only interested in grammar. I don't like pair and group work activities.
It's just a waste of time.
This student is an intrapersonal and a field independent learner because he/she shows and inductive
learning ability and is more an autonomous learner than a social one. He/she is more analytic and
interested in a formal, grammatical system. This student feels more successful in formal instruction
environments, which his is perceived from the words that state he/she is only interested in grammar (Ellis
1995). A learner that prefers individual work than group activities relies on internal frame references when
information is processed, but seems to lack social strategies.
3.
2 P
Reading short novels helped me get real daily life in English.
This is a visual holistic learner that is interested in reinforcing his/her learning of an additional language
using a Cognitive strategy, which he/she feels helps him/her to learn more successfully. This student’s
learning style is visual and according to Reid (1987), a visual learning style is demonstrated by the ability to
learn mainly from seeing words in books, on the board, charts, etc. His/her cognitive style appears to be
Field dependent, in which he/she is not influenced by an existing structure but wants to discover real
language used in English. This learner must be interested in finding meaning through reading novels and
perhaps is being able to make connections through this reading gender and reaching personal pride in
his/her additional language learning. Students like this are usually confident in their language learning
skills.
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 is a visual student that is using a memory strategy when saying that he/she sees words and tries to
remember them. This makes him become more autonomous. He/she shows to be problem oriented that
uses learning strategies when encountering specific problems. This memory strategy is arranging words in
order to make associations that are personally meaningful and that will help this student store information
as well as to create mental linkage that will be able to retrieve when needed later.

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5. I want to learn English because I want to know more about the English-speaking world.
This learner displays an internal desire to learn the additional language and can be considered as a Field
independent because he/she wants to learn the language in a social context. This learner is following a
cognitive strategy by analysing the target language and appears to be stimulated by an intrinsic motivation
that makes him/her engage better in the learning process because it is found enjoyable and satisfying and
as a personal gratification experience. An integrative motivation can also be spotted due to the desire to
integrate into the English speaking culture, learning the language with the intention of participating in the
culture of its people. This student will continue to excel!
6. In that class we laughed and joked in English. We made friends. They
didn't care about the mistakes I made.
This student is an auditory learner that is comfortable without visual input and who enjoys having
conversations. He/she is in a class with a teacher that believes in the effectiveness of affective strategies
and where anxiety is lowered through fostering the practice of the target language in a supportive
environment. This student shows to be in an environment where the strategies chosen are social, affective
and communicative oriented. The learner seems to be confident to express him/herself while talking,
laughing and joking in an affective environment. In this case, communication is shown to be the teacher’s
target, having students share with others as part of a social strategy, and as a consequence students feel
motivated from internal, as well as external sources.
7. I felt I was losing my English. I found I could only use simple words.
I think the age of the student must be stated because if he/she is an adult, he/she could be facing a “loss of
plasticity,” Ellis (1994), which is making him not feel, motivated either. If not the case of having an
acquisition rate affected by his/her age, this learner seems to lack some Cognitive strategies. In general,
students that have greater cognitive abilities will normally make faster progress. Nevertheless, the student
exhibits an intrinsic motivation while diagnosing that there is something going on that is not sufficient and is
not at his/her expectations levels. This learner is also showing Field Independence by being mindful of an
English vocabulary level perceived and evaluating his/her learning process that could later lead him/her to
be an autonomous learner.
5 P
6 P

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8.
7 P
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.
This student is an auditory and linguistic learner. He/she prefers to learn by listening and enjoys having
conversations as well as a chance to interact with others. In this case, the total immersion helps him/her
apply and practice learned communication strategies. This student is considered a communicative learner,
possessing a social attitude with an integrative motivation, and who is anxious to reach English Language
knowledge by interacting with native speakers and participating in their culture. These learners learn
through interactions based on listening, conveying meaning and exchange. The bottom line for an effective
Language Learning is to try to communicate in English, being around people that speak English and
listening for news and TV native speakers as much as possible. There are many experiences to be
obtained from living in a foreign country, nevertheless, all the resources needed to be successful language
learners can be easily found without migrating as a must, and this can be possible as long as learners are
motivated to show their best effort.
9.
8 P
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.
This student is motivated by an eventual desire to get a good job in a near future, wants to learn the
language and will enjoy learning it. According to Gardner and Lambert (1972), motivation can be
Integrative or Instrumental. This student is showing an Instrumental motivation due to the fact that he/she is
learning the target language with a purpose related to the advantages it could imply for a further occupation
motive. This motivation is also extrinsic because the learner is learning the target language because of
external reasons that he/she is sure will consider as a reward for him/her in the future. Research has
proved that when learners have a professional goal for learning English, this will heavily impact their need
and desire to work harder on their English pronunciation.
10.
9 P
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.

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This learner is a visual learner who prefers to see the words he needs to understand. He also has an
extrinsic motivation because he/she is thinking about the consequences of the activity, in obtaining a good
mark (a reward), or a failure grade (a punishment). Speaking exams are high in anxiety, especially for
language learners. The anticipation to a situation in which the student may not understand the question or
not find the exact words to communicate his/her thoughts, may lead to go blank. This may be a strong part
of personality factors, which in this particular case may guide to a “situation specific anxiety.” This
personality factor involves lack of self-confidence, self-esteem and introversion, as well a perception of
threat that when is too high, may severely affect performance and proficiency.
11. English pronunciation is so difficult for me. I try to imitate the tapes and the teacher, but I always get it
wrong.
This student is manifesting a high external locus of control, feeling that the tasks are too difficult. He/she is
a reflective learner with an integrative motivation that could be facing determinate pronunciation accuracy
due to his/her age or culture. In this case, the age of the student should be stated to confirm this
hypothesis or to think of other reasons as specific native language and motivation that could make it more
difficult to try to imitate certain other languages’ natives’ pronunciation. Other aspects to take in
consideration here are age of first contact with English language, exposure to this language or teacher’s
pronunciation model. In general, this learner is showing an extrinsic motivation since he/she is doing
something to try to overcome the given situation.
12.
11 P
I have two pen friends in England and I often write letters to them in
English. It's fun.
This is a linguistic student that is showing a high intrinsic motivation to communicate in the target language
out of the class. This is a learning strategy where learners expand their knowledge in the L2 language
culture thus developing an integrative motivation in the language learning. Writing to pen friends has this
student keeping in touch with people from the target language’s community while facilitating his/her
language acquisition. Moreover, pen friends promote purposeful interaction and meaningful tasks with real
audiences in an affective and low anxiety environment, between non-native and native speakers of the
target language. This student, who has native speaker pen friends, will definitely learn more rapidly.

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13.
12 P
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.
This student is showing a clear lack of motivation. This lack of motivation could have different reasons to
be happening, as not motivating teacher strategies, English learning difficulties or possibly insufficient
vocabulary. Another factor that could be causing this negative attitude towards English could be to be part
of a community where this feeling is shared. In the case of students that do not have enough vocabulary,
these will have trouble to command the target language effectively. This situation will definitely lead to a
situation specific anxiety since learning difficulties and language-specific anxiety are strongly interrelated.
Taking in consideration how motivation is strongly related to achievement in language learning, it is
important to highlight the fact that students need an environment that lowers their anxiety. The teacher’s
role is to motivate and encourage this learner, if not possible to do it by convincing him/her of the
effectiveness of learning English, then to do it through performing activities considered as attractive and fun
to do at this student’s age.
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 is a linguistic student that shows to be an extroverted English learner besides being a good, active,
dynamic, reflective and motivated student. These learners usually like to be heard as well as to work in
pairs or groups. Saying he is very good at English and remembers things quickly shows his/her positive
attitude towards the target language learning. Even though his communicative competence is not
mentioned, the motivation he carries will lead him to a good English language achievement, but not
necessarily to a native pronunciation.
15.
14 P
I always fear I'm going to say things wrong and so I speak very little in
class.
This student is more a visual learner who does not like speaking in front of an audience and shows to be
introverted. Learners like this are often sensitive and like individual work. Public speaking or oral exams
could be heavily felt as “situation specific anxiety” and do not motivate this learner, affecting his/her

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outcome in the activity. Teachers should implement strategies and different approaches to better identify
anxious students and their anxieties causes, and adapt their lessons to minimize this anxiety. Learning an
additional language may have different aspects that may trigger anxiety, but listening and speaking are
considered as the most anxiety builders in SLA activities.
16.
15 P
I enjoy doing projects but I'm not sure whether I'm really learning much
with them.
This is a kinesthetic student that is lacking metacognitive strategies because he/she is not being able to
think about thinking and make inferences about how these projects’ activities are applied to a specific
learning outcome. The teacher needs to engage this student with topics that can help them make
connections to their personal interests, as well as carefully explain the learning outcomes of a specific
activity. If this student’s teacher would guide him/her to understand what he/she needs to know and learn
from a certain project, it will help this learner have an idea about how to use that activity or strategy to learn
something new, an could also serve as a motivation strategy.
17.
16 P
In the last exam I got a "B+”, now I want to be given an "A", and I'm going
to work for it.
This student has an extrinsic motivation, a need for achievement, a good self-esteem as well as self-
confidence. This learner has a high internal locus of control because he/she feels that his/her goal is
achievable and can obtain it with a bit of effort, Weiner (1980). He/she is really motivated and will work hard
to obtain a reward, a good grade. Weiner (1980) mentions that when learners have a high internal goal, this makes
him/her see this as more achievable and works towards obtaining it with just an additionaleffort,generatingapersonalcontrol
and autonomy in the learning process. We can also say that this student has an instrumental motivation because he/she
wants to work towards a specific markconsideredas his/hergoal.Whenthereareexternalmotivations tosucceedinlearning,
thestudent’s performancetowards giving its besteffortis fostered.
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!
This learner is analytical because he/she is concentrating on some words considered for him/her as
important and then guesses. He/she is perhaps getting hooked to certain techniques as inferring and
finding context clues. In this case, this learner is using a compensation strategy where he/she applies

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knowledge to guess the unknown. Second language teaching should be very careful of being sure to
include vocabulary pre-teaching before listening activities, as well as to practice inferring vocabulary
meanings from a given context. The other main point to take in consideration is that language learner
students may need to deal with different teachers’ accents presented in audio files, from American, to
British or Australian accents, and these types of activities the teacher needs to ensure students need only
to concentrate on finding meaning in the vocabulary and not being confused by an unfamiliar accent. This
student is a good language learner that tries to look for clues that will help him understand, even though
sometimes making guesses.
19.
18 P
I always try to imitate the teacher's pronunciation and I even write in
Spanish how the word sounds in English.
This learner is an auditory learning that is using a communication strategy. This means that he is finding a
way to overcome a specific problem, a problem solving strategy, and an inductive learning ability. This
student is motivated to learn from teacher’s pronunciation, and imitation is a key to learning pronunciation.
He/she shows an intrinsic motivation exhibited by his/her personal control in the learning process. This
student has a task motivation and since English is not phonetic, he/she is approaching the task in a
personal and creative way. I can also infer that this student is a good learner because he is taking
advantage of a specific strategy, looking for pronouncing clues, that he/she feels, helps him/her elaborate
awareness about English pronunciation.
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.

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term denotes not only attitudes towards learning foreign languages and towards the L2 group generally, but
also the learner’s willingness to interact with members of that L2 community
Integrativeness and attitudes towards the learning Some learners have a personal affinity for the people
who speak a particular language. This is the second type of language learning motivation described by
Gardner and Lambert and is called integrative motivation.
Learners with an instrumental motivation want to learn a language because of a practical reason such as
getting a salary bonus or getting into college
Whether intrinsic or extrinsic in nature, motivation plays a significant role with language achievement.
Additionally, if the language is needed to further a certain goal (acceptance at a desired university, career
goal, speaking to relatives, etc.) then those students will make greater efforts to learn the language and in
turn, they will make quicker progress. Those students who are encouraged by their teachers and families
and those students in environments that encourage education, learning and languages make more
progress.
Reading
Dornyei, Z. (1994) Motivation and motivating in the foreign language classroom. Modern
Language Journal, 273 – 284.
Bandura, A. (2004). Cultivate self-efficacy for personal and organizational effectiveness. In E. A. Locke
(Ed.), Handbook of principles of organizational behavior (pp. 120-136). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Covington, M. (1984). The self-worth theory of achievement motivation: Findings and implications. The
Elementary School Journal, 85(1), 5-20.
Skehan, P.(1989) Individual Differences in Second Language Learning
Brewer, E. W., & Burgess, D. N. (2005). “Professor’s role in motivating students to attend class”. Journal of
Industrial Teacher Education, 42(3), 24.

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Ramage, K. (1990). Motivational factors and persistence in foreign language studyLanguage Learning, 40,189-
219.
Young, D. J. (1991). Creating a low-anxiety classroom environment: What does language
anxiety research suggest? The Modern Language Journal, 75(4), 426- 437.
http://changingminds.org/explanations/motivation/yerkes-dodson.htm

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Name and surname(s):

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Login:
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Date: