Language learning beliefs are considered to be an important factor influencing student learning outcomes. This mixed-methods research investigated English language learning beliefs of Iranian English language learners. Data were collected from 226 junior and senior male and female high school students using the Beliefs about Language Learning…

This study examined the simultaneous effects of L2 individual difference (ID) variables (aptitude, motivation, strategy use, language processing experience, and gender) on English as a foreign language (EFL) breadth and depth of L2 vocabulary knowledge of 492 Korean university-level learners. Independent variable measures included the: (1) Korean…

Defined as a combination of perseverance and passion for long-term goals, grit has been hypothesized to be as important as talent in determining the success of students, adding incremental predictive validity for achievement criteria above and beyond natural or inherent ability. In this study, we tested this hypothesis by comparing the effects of…

Learning a second/foreign language (L2) is a long process and L2 learners certainly will encounter setbacks and discouragements during this process. However, their reactions to these failures might be different based on their perceptions of L2 learning ability and their subsequent effort put into L2 learning. Based on this, the present study aimed…

Language education has long been considered a female domain across many countries, with girls outnumbering and outperforming boys. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine the nature and structure of gender stereotypes favouring girls among EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers. In the quantitative strand, 60 teachers from six…

Language abilities in preschool years, including those measured with letter knowledge, are predictors of reading development in later school years. The aim of this study was to investigate variation in children's language abilities before they started school in relation to gender and neighborhood level socioeconomic status (SES). Schools from…

We aimed to investigate stress response regulation, temperament, cognitive and language abilities and family SES in children who entered kindergarten before two years of age. Whilst childrens stress regulatory systems are vulnerable to environmental influences little is known about how temperament and family characteristics impact on stress…

Language is normally associated with linguistic capabilities of individuals. In the theory of multiple intelligences, language is considered to be related primarily to linguistic intelligence. Using the theory of Multiple Intelligences as its starting point, this descriptive survey study investigated to what extent prospective English teachers'…

In Scandinavia and some other countries, a bilingual-bicultural approach to deaf education was celebrated in national programs from the mid-1980s until the broad popularity of cochlear implantation in middle 2000s created a shift back to an emphasis on spoken language for many deaf children. At the same time, only a few studies evaluated the…

Relationships between foreign language learning and four characteristics--anxiety, aptitude, attitudes and attributions for success--were investigated for 95 students enrolled in introductory level Spanish classes at a large, southeastern university in the United States. Examination grades resulted in significantly positive correlation with an…

Research Findings: The present cross-sectional study investigated the question of whether 6 different temperament dimensions (inhibition to novelty, social orientation, motor activity, positive emotionality, negative emotionality, and attention) influenced cognitive and affective theory of mind (ToM) in 168 children (86 three/four-year-olds and 82…

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…

Relationships exist between language ability, emotion regulation, and social competence in preschool children. This study examines how these relationships function in elementary school children, and explores whether language ability partially mediates the relationship between emotion regulation and social competence. Second-grade students (N = 67)…

Background: Recent decades have been marked by an extensive movement to analyze bias in people's thinking, especially in gender-related issues. Studies have addressed the question of gender bias in classrooms on different levels--the use of gender in books, learning opportunities determined by students' gender, or teachers' gender preferences.…

This paper reports a quantitative study on gender differences in attitudes when learning oral skills via technology. The study was conducted at Tafila Technical University, Jordan, with 70 female and 30 male students, to find out if female students are better and faster in learning a language than male. Specifically, it seeks to investigate…