Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in case studies and surveys by researchers of second language acquisition (SLA) and cognitive (neuro-)science to probe into the group of exceptionally talented multilingual learners or polyglots who can understand and speak an impressive number of multiple foreign languages other than their own mother…

After discussing key issues in the aptitude literature and presenting an updated, multicomponential model of cognitive language aptitude, we consider two analyses from a longitudinal investigation using aptitude to predict success in language learning. Aptitude is conceptualized as a special talent for learning languages and a ceiling on success.…

We investigated age-related decline in adult learning of Dutch as an additional language (Ln) in speaking, writing, listening, and reading proficiency test scores for 56,024 adult immigrants with 50 L1s who came to the Netherlands for study or work. Performance for all four language skills turned out to decline monotonically after an age of…

A meta-analysis was conducted to examine the construct validity of language aptitude by synthesizing the existing research that has been accumulated over the past five decades. The study aimed to provide a thorough understanding of the construct by aggregating the data reported in the primary research on its correlations with other individual…

Thirty years of research has uncovered the broad principles that characterize spoken word processing across listeners. However, there have been few systematic investigations of individual differences. Such an investigation could help refine models of word recognition by indicating which processing parameters are likely to vary, and could also have…

A factor analysis of a test battery that included early first-language (L1) achievement, L1 cognitive ability, second-language (L2) aptitude, and L2 affective measures to predict oral and written L2 proficiency was conducted. The analysis yielded 4 factors that were labeled Language Analysis, composed of L1 and L2 language comprehension, grammar,…

In a supplement to Sasaki's 1993 study, six of the same participants took different types of second-language proficiency (SLP) tests, a foreign language aptitude battery, and an intelligence test. Results revealed differences in information processing between the high and low SLP groups. (Contains 35 references.) (Author/LB)

Language impairments are often associated with problems in educational attainments and in acquiring literacy, but speech therapy services to school-aged children are not universally available. If teachers are able to reliably identify those children whose language skills place them at risk, then the specialist services offered by speech and…

The major purpose of this study was to explore, in a phenomenological tradition, factors that lead some students to persist in foreign language study past the usual 2 years in high school. Factors that have been prevalent in the literature include language aptitude, motivation, grades, intellectual and cultural curiosity, language learning…

This book provides a practical introduction to questions about bilingualism. It is for parents and teachers who are themselves bilingual, for monolinguals who want to know more, for those with some intuitive understanding of bilingual situations and for those who are starting from the very beginning. The book poses questions that people often ask…