This document discusses learner differences that can affect second language acquisition. It identifies several affective factors, including motivation, anxiety, attitudes, intelligence/aptitude, and personality factors. Motivation is considered the most important affective factor influencing how quickly and successfully a learner acquires a new language. The number and type of opportunities to use the language are also important, with more interactive opportunities generally leading to better learning outcomes.

1. Learner Differences
Affective Factors

2. Learner Differences
 Motivation
 Anxiety
 Attitudes
 Intelligence and aptitude
 Personality factors

3. Learner differences
 How quickly learners learn a language
 How successfully learners learn a
language

4. Opportunities for learning
 Number of opportunities
 Kind of opportunities

5. Number of opportunities
 More is better
 More listening chances and more
speaking chances result in more
learning opportunities

6. Kind of opportunities
 Learners cannot be passive
 Learners must interact with the language
 Language must be at an appropriate
level

7. Motivation
 The inner drive to do something
 Communicative need

8. Communicative need
 Integrative motivation
 Desire to be part of a group
 Instrumental motivation
 Desire to learn a language so that it can be
used
 Higher motivation results in greater
progress

9. Motivation
 Most important affective factor
 Motivation is needed to
 Start learning
 Continue learning

10. Anxiety
 Learners must be comfortable in their
learning environment
 Anxiety about the environment can
affect learning both negatively and
positively

11. Attitudes 1
 What you think about something
 Positive
 Negative
 Favorable attitudes usually result in
more interaction with a second
language community

12. Attitudes 2
 Language is part of our cultural identity
 Using another language means giving
up part of that identity and adopting
another identity
 Accepting another culture will help
when learning that culture’s language

13. Intelligence and Aptitude
 Higher intelligence usually means
higher language ability
 Intelligence and language ability are
often tested by similar tests
 No surprise that there is a close relation

14. Personality factors 1
 Extroversion / Introversion
 Extroverted learners thought to be better
because they enter into more
conversations
 Self-esteem
 Learners with high self-esteem may be
more ready to risk making mistakes

15. Personality factors 2
 Tolerance for ambiguity
 Learners cannot always understand
everything 100%
 Learners who can handle not always
understanding may be less overwhelmed
 Empathy
 Understanding thoughts and feelings of
others may enable learners to take on a
new identity more easily

16. Conclusions
 Motivation is the only factor that has
shown a clear effect
 Other factors play some role
 Which are most important is difficult to say
 Some factors have a direct role; other an
indirect one