A great deal of research into second-language (L2) development focuses on the role of cognitive factors and other individual differences. Studies of children and prime-of-life adult L2 learners suggest that differences exist in the learning processes of these groups. However, to date, little empirical work has been conducted with older adult…

Variability in achievement across learners is a hallmark of second language (L2) learning, especially in academic-based learning. The Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), based on a large, population-representative sample in the United Kingdom, provides the first opportunity to examine individual differences in second language achievement in a…

In this article, I describe studies conducted over 25 years with secondary and post-secondary L2 learners in the United States. The evidence from these studies shows that there are important connections between students' early L1 skills and their L2 aptitude and L2 proficiency and that individual differences in students' L1 skills in elementary…

Using data from a multisited ethnography of Ecuadorian transnational musicians, I applied Lave and Wenger's (1991) concept of legitimate peripheral participation and Jacoby and Ochs's (1995) notion of co-construction to examine two musicians' attempts to learn Quichua, an Ecuadorian indigenous language. Through an analysis aided by constructivist…

Learning context has increasingly been postulated to exert an influence on the dynamics of individual differences in language learning. In a longitudinal design that tested the proficiency gains of 1,682 learners over a 2-year foreign language program, a multilevel modeling approach was deployed in this study to account for variation in second…

The study examined whether individual differences in high school first language (L1) reading achievement and print exposure would account for unique variance in second language (L2) written (word decoding, spelling, writing, reading comprehension) and oral (listening/speaking) proficiency after adjusting for the effects of early L1 literacy and…

This study considered the effects of trait emotional intelligence (trait EI; Petrides & Mavroveli, 2007) and sociobiographical variables (age, gender, education level, number of languages known, age of onset of acquisition, context of acquisition, frequency of use, socialization, network of interlocutors, self-perceived proficiency) on…

Understanding the neural representation and control of language in normal bilingual speakers provides insights into the factors that constrain the acquisition of another language, insights into the nature of language expertise, and an understanding of the brain as an adaptive system. We illustrate both functional and structural brain changes…

This study examined the effects of three stimulus variables and background music on paired-associate learning of foreign language (FL) vocabulary. The stimulus variables were the frequency and concreteness of the native language (L1) words and the (phonotactical) typicality of the FL words. Sixty-four L1-FL pairs were presented for learning six…

This paper gives an account of a project exploring 12- and 13-year-old children's uses of strategies while solving reading and writing test tasks in English as a foreign language EFL. The study was conducted to provide insights into how learners go about solving tasks and what they think and rely on while doing them. The first part provides an…

Our research reflects the current trend to relate individual differences in second language learning to underlying cognitive processes e.g., Robinson, 2002. We believe that such investigations, apart from being of practical importance, can also shed light on the cognitive mechanisms underlying the language learning process. Here we focus on the…

This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that reading comprehension items, which elicit specific bottom-up and top-down strategies, favor certain linguistic/cultural groups. Verbal report data were collected from Arabic- and Mandarin-speaking English as a second language (ESL) learners to identify the reading strategies involved in…

Earlier version of this paper was read at the Kansas Regional Linguistics Conference in Lawrence, Kansas, October 1968. (DS)

Offers a model for research in second language acquisition. The model is based on implicational analysis and attempts to account for individuals and groups, systematicity and variability. An analysis of the use of grammatical morphemes by Spanish-speaking students of English illustrates the model. (Author/AM)

Earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual TESOL convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, in March 1971. (DS)