This book presents original, empirical data from quantitative and qualitative research studies in the field of language learning aptitude, ability, and individual differences. It does so from the perspectives of Second Language Acquisition, psychology, neuroscience and sociolinguistics. All studies included in the book use a similar and uniform…

"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?

This book defines and reviews five central problems in the study of second language acquisition (SLA): (subconscious) transfer, staged development, cross-learner systematicity, incompleteness, and variability. The central thesis of the text is that linguistic knowledge is an autonomous component of SLA, distinct from the socially determined use of…

This book analyzes the nature of differences among students in terms of grade levels of academic abilities. How these differences have emerged, and what teachers can do to address such varied abilities in their classrooms are discussed. Chapter 1, "The Nature of the Educational Challenge," examines just how extensive these differences…

This consideration of learning style and the minority student analyzes and synthesizes the research that reveals the similarities and differences among the learning styles of culturally diverse populations and describes how to teach and counsel adolescents with different learning styles. Research suggests that students whose instruction is not…

An examination of second language learning focuses on how universal cognitive processes in language learning and individual differences account for differences in language learning patterns. An introductory section gives background information suggesting that psycholinguistic factors in language learning should receive more attention for two…

The papers in this collection fall into three categories. Part 1, "Overview of Research," includes "New Directions in Language Anxiety Research" (Dolly Jesusita Young) and "Native Genderlects and Their Relation to Gender Issues in Second Language Classrooms: The Sex of Our Students as a Sociolinguistic Variable" (Lydie E. Meunier). Part 2,…

Appropriate for teachers of any grade who want to teach their students how to read and learn from text, this book explains how to develop and use strategies that will enable all students to read and learn in the content areas without stigmatizing them. The book is divided into four parts. The first part explains the changing role of the school and…

This book discusses resource-based learning in higher education. One premise of resource-based learning is that as students become able to select their own learning materials from information resources, they become active, independent learners, while professors become learning facilitators in cooperation with librarians and other information…