Aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) research is of both theoretical and practical interest to second language (L2) learning, since it provides insights into the processes linking learner-internal individual difference factors and learner-external contextual variables including instructional approach--variables that jointly determine L2 outcomes.…

In terms of second-language learning, examines: (1) What is the significance, educational and statistical, of the performance difference between field-dependent and field-independent students? and (2) Does the learner's cognitive style interact with other factors in the learning situation, such as the teacher's cognitive style, to affect…

An exploratory study of the effects of sex differences, career choice, cognitive style, and personality characteristics on the effectiveness of language learning strategies for adult learners indicated that these variables affect learners' levels of strategy use and had implications for language teaching and student counseling. (CB)

Presents preliminary results of a study on the association of field dependence/independence to success in language tasks and in language-learning programs of varying orientations and discusses implications of these results for second-language instruction. (CB)

Discusses variables affecting the choice of learning strategies used by university foreign-language students (n=1,200). Research questions address the kind of strategies university foreign-language students report using and what variables influence the use of these strategies. (64 references) (Author/OD)

Related the four scales of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a measure of personality, to learning preferences. The personality types of 491 first- and second-year language students were compared with a sample of 18,592 general college students. Statistically, more thinking and intuitive types were found in the language students. (Author/LMO)

Reviews research on language-learning styles and strategies, and explains regularities in the preferred learning strategies associated with each of the 8 psychological type preferences. Also described are how all of these characteristics of psychological type, in various combinations, were expressed by 20 real learners at the Foreign Service…

Describes a study that attempts to validate the Edmonds Learning Style Identification Exercise (ELSIE), purported to be a quick and easy means to identify and analyze a postulated relationship between preference for sensory modality in learning style and the potential for success in second language learning. (SL)

The hypothesis that good guessers are good second-language learners is investigated. Focus is on one characteristic, cognitive style, of successful and unsuccessful learners. Overall, the study provides continuing evidence for the positive relationship between field independence and English-as-a-Second-Language proficiency. (45 references) (LB)

Describes a small-scale study into learners' attributions for success and failure in learning French. The study investigated the way in which learners conceptualize the notion of doing well, together with perceived reasons for successes and failures. Interviews were conducted with students (10-15 years of age) who were learning French in the…

Analyzes self-directed language learning behaviors of adult third-language learners based on qualitative data. Data were gathered from learners of Georgian and Kazakh at the University of Maryland, College Park. All learners were found to assess their progress, learning styles, strategy preferences, and conflicts with teaching styles, and with the…

Examines the effects of aptitude, field independence, attitude, and strategy use upon four areas of language achievement: formal/oral, formal/written, functional/oral, and functional/written. Test results indicated that aptitude and field independence are related, as are strategy use and attitude; only aptitude and strategy use, however, affect…

Considers current research on reading in a second language from five points of view: (1) the reader's role in light of new models of language and textual meaning; (2) revised definitions of textual meaning and reader processing; (3) reader processing of schemata; (4) relationship between second-language competency and reader strategies; and (5)…

A discussion of the Linguistic Coding Deficit Hypothesis presents an overview of the theory; describes five prototypes of second-language learners, each illustrated by a distinct language processing profile; and examines how the ability to identify prototypes can help teachers interpret student difficulties and design instruction to address them.…

Advocates that language anxiety can play a significant causal role in creating individual differences in both language learning and communication. This paper studies the role of anxiety in the language learning process and concludes that the linguistic coding deficit hypothesis errs in assigning epiphenomenal status to language anxiety. (57…