Individual Learner Differences in SLA / edited by Janusz Arabski and Adam Wojtaszek. - 1st ed. - Toronto : Multilingual Matters, 2011. - xvii, 320 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. - Second Language Acquisition 1754-2642 .

Volume 56 in the Second Language Acquisition Series.

Includes bibliographical references.

PART 1: Background Assumptions 1. Individual Learner Differences and Instructed Language Learning: An Insoluble Conflict? / Dieter Wolff 2. Research into Language Learning Strategies: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead / Miroslaw Pawlak PART 2: Supporting Learner Autonomy 3. Teachers' Perceptions of Individual Differences in Turkish Primary School EFL Classes / Hasan Bedir 4. Learning Autonomy Support by Foreign Language Teachers / Maria Stec and Anna Studenska 5. Personality and Parenting Styles as Predictors of Self-Regulation in Foreign Language Learning / Anna Studenska PART 3: Learners' Abilities in Strategy Application 6. The Development of Implicit Knowledge through Structured Input Activities: The Importance of Individual Perceptions Concerning Grammar Instruction / Anna Mystkowska-Wiertelak 7. Awareness of Cognate Vocabulary and Vocabulary Learning Strategies of Polish Multilingual and Bilingual Advanced Learners of English / Agnieszka Otwinowska-Kasztelanic PART 4: Experienced Learners 8. A Study of Gender-Related Levels of Processing Anxieties over Three Years of Secondary Grammar School Instruction / Ewa Piechurska-Kuciel 9. Challenge or Threat? A Study of Perceived Self-Efficacy of Polish EFL Teachers / Joanna Bielska 10. Managing Criticism and Praise by Trainee Interpreters : Looking for Gender Differences / Andrzej Lyda, Krystyna Warchal and Alina Jackiewicz 11. Student Needs Assessment in Teaching English at the Tertiary Level: An Individual Learner Differences Perspective / Zbigniew P. Mozejko PART 5: Individual Character of Phonological Attainment 12. Regularity and Individual Variation in Native English and Polish Learners' Wh-Question Suprasegmentals / Andrzej Porzuczek 13. Time-Limited Verbal Fluency Task with Polish-English Unbalanced Bilinguals / Arkadiusz Rojczyk 14. The Acquisition of English Vowel Length Differences before Word-Final Stops by Greek Learners of English / Eleni Tsiartsioni PART 6: Focus on Language Skills: Reading and Writing 15. Individual Differences in Foreign Language Reading Comprehension: Gender and Topic Interest / Sila Ay and Özgür Sen Bartan 16. Individual Differences in L2 Readers' Strategic Behaviour while Performing Reading to Learn Tasks: A Case Study / Halina Chodkiewicz 17. Current Views on Foreign Language Reading Motivation / Liliana Piasecka 18. From Oral Input to Written Output: On Individual Differences in External Storing of Information / Danuta Gabrys-Barker 19. Accounting for One Student's Failure and Another's Success on a Written Academic Assignment / Jan Zalewski 20. Online Revisions in FL Writing. General Rules and Individual Differences / Iwona Kowal Bibliography

"Beginning from the conflict between individual learner differences and the institutionalized, often inflexible character of formal language instruction, Individual Learner Differences in SLA addresses the fact that despite this apparent conflict, ultimate success in learning a language is widespread. Starting with theoretically-based chapters, the book follows the thread of learner differences through sections devoted to learner autonomy; differentiated application of learning strategies; diagnostic studies of experienced learners’ management of the learning process; and reports on phonological attainment and development of language skills. Rather than providing an overview of all individual variables, the book reveals how some of them shape and affect the processes of language acquisition and use in particular settings." (Book Cover)

9781847694348 (hbk)



2011028012


Second language acquisition.
Language and languages--Study and teaching.
Learning, Psychology of.
Individual differences.
Language development.
Modern languages education.