Individual Learner Differences in SLA

Individual Learner Differences in SLA addresses the apparently insoluble conflict between the unquestionably individual character of the process of second language acquisition / foreign language learning and the institutionalised, often inflexible character of formal instruction in which it takes place. How, then, is success in SLA so prevalent? Contents Contributors Introduction Part 1: Background Assumptions Chapter 1. Individual Learner Differences and Instructed Language Learning: An Insoluble Conflict? Chapter 2. Research into Language Learning Strategies: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead Part 2: Supporting Learner Autonomy Chapter 3. Teachers’ Perceptions of Individual Differences in Turkish Primary School EFL Classes Chapter 4. Learning Autonomy Support by Foreign Language Teachers Chapter 5. Personality and Parenting Styles as Predictors of Self-Regulation in Foreign Language Learning Part 3: Learners’ Abilities in Strategy Application Chapter 6. The Development of Implicit Knowledge through Structured Input Activities: The Importance of Individual Perceptions Concerning Grammar Instruction Chapter 7. Awareness of Cognate Vocabulary and Vocabulary Learning Strategies of Polish Multilingual and Bilingual Advanced Learners of English Part 4: Experienced Learners Chapter 8. A Study of Gender-Related Levels of Processing Anxieties over Three Years of Secondary Grammar School Instruction Chapter 9. Challenge or Threat? A Study of Perceived Self-Effi cacy of Polish EFL Teachers Chapter 10. Managing Criticism and Praise by Trainee Interpreters: Looking for Gender Differences Chapter 11. Student Needs Assessment in Teaching English at the Tertiary Level: An Individual Learner Differences Perspective Part 5: Individual Character of Phonological Attainment Chapter 12. Regularity and Individual Variation in Native English and Polish Learners’ Wh-Question Suprasegmentals Chapter 13. Time-Limited Verbal Fluency Task with Polish−English Unbalanced Bilinguals Chapter 14. The Acquisition of English Vowel Length Differences before Word-Final Stops by Greek Learners of English Part 6: Focus on Language Skills: Reading and Writing Chapter 15. Individual Differences in Foreign Language Reading Comprehension: Gender and Topic Interest Chapter 16. Individual Differences in L2 Readers’ Strategic Behaviour while Performing Reading to Learn Tasks: A Case Study Chapter 17. Current Views on Foreign Language Reading Motivation Chapter 18. From Oral Input to Written Output: On Individual Differences in External Storing of Information Chapter 19. Accounting for One Student’s Failure and Another’s Success on a Written Academic Assignment Chapter 20. Online Revisions in FL Writing. General Rules and Individual Differences

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.