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تسجيل

Diversity in learning and learners

المؤلف:  Muriel Saville-Troike

المصدر:  Introducing Second Language Acquisition

الجزء والصفحة:  C1P5

2025-11-13

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Diversity in learning and learners

As already noted, the circumstances under which SLA takes place sometimes need to be taken into account, although they are perhaps too often taken for granted and ignored. What is learned in acquiring a second language, as well as how it is learned, is often influenced by whether the situation involves informal exposure to speakers of other languages, immersion in a setting where one needs a new language to meet basic needs, or formal instruction in school, and these learning conditions are often profoundly influenced by powerful social, cultural, and economic factors affecting the status of both languages and learners.

The intriguing question of why some L2 learners are more successful than others require us to unpack the broad label “learners” for some dimensions of discussion. Linguists may distinguish categories of learners defined by the identity and relationship of their L1 and L2; psycholinguists may make distinctions based on individual aptitude for L2 learning, personality factors, types and strength of motivation, and different learning strategies; sociolinguists may distinguish among learners with regard to social, economic, and political differences and learner experiences in negotiated interaction; and social psychologists may categorize learners according to aspects of their group identity and attitudes toward target language speakers or toward L2 learning itself. All of these factors and more will be addressed in turn in the following chapters.