Learning a foreign language is a long-term process requiring persistence and a willingness to engage in activities that will help develop communicative competence. An important role on the way to achieving linguistic proficiency is played by L2 grit. However, foreign language learners differ in the intensity of this trait. We identify the most…

This study investigated what psychological and social factors predict 'perceived nativelikeness' in late second language (L2) learners of French (L1 Swedish) (N = 62) with a minimum length of residence (LOR) of 5 years in France. The included factors were: language aptitude (LLAMA), acculturation (VIA), personality (MPQ), target language…

Theorizing classrooms as contexts of reception shaped by ideological, relational, and pedagogical dimensions, and drawing on ethnographic data from a yearlong study of recent-arrival immigrant youths' educational experiences in an urban U.S. high school, this paper describes how a group of recent-arrival youth acted upon the discourses,…

Swearing uses language forms that are taboo and potentially offensive. These are often used for emotional expression. Multilingual research shows that because the first language retains most emotional force (Dewaele [2004]. "The Emotional Force of Swearwords and Taboo Words in the Speech of Multilinguals." "Journal of Multilingual…

Recently, situated willingness to communicate (WTC) has received increasing research attention in addition to traditional quantitative studies of trait-like WTC. This article is an addition to the former but unique in two ways. First, it investigates both trait and state WTC in a classroom context and explores ways to combine the two to reach a…

The present study focuses on the link between psychological, sociobiographical and linguistic variables and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety of 348 Arabic learners of English (250 females, 98 males). Data were collected using the Arabic Foreign Language Anxiety Questionnaire (AFLAQ; Al-Saraj, 2011, 2014) and an Arabic version of the…

Language learning is a complex process that is controlled or influenced by a host of linguistic and non-linguistic factors. Some of these factors are the main concerns of psychologists rather than linguists. Ever since psychology began to develop in the 20th century, more and more individual characteristics were identified and defined. Eysenck's…

This study explores: (1) on the theoretical level, the relationship of certain personality characteristics to second language learning among young children; and (2) on the practical level, if the bases parents use for deciding whether to enroll their child in a second language program are well-founded. In their kindergarten year, 63 French…

Presents a study of Irish primary and secondary schoolchildren learning Irish as a second language. Discusses intelligence abilities, attainment in Irish, personality traits, and attitude toward learning foreign languages. Concludes personality measures were not strongly related to cognitive measures, but attitude may play a role. Reports no…