Individual differences in language learning: temperament, cognitive styles and personalization of instruction

Linking neurogenetics and individual differences in language learning: The dopamine hypothesis

Individual differences are attached considerable importance in almost all components of the linguistic system, including the acquisition and processing of properties of speech, complex grammatical structures, and discourse (Kidd, Donnelly & Christiansen, 2018). For this reason, research on individual differences has excellent potential to contribute significantly to the debates in the language sciences. Considering each individual as a unique language learner, exploring individual differences can provide language teachers with lots of opportunities concerning material adaptation, adopting appropriate strategies, adjusting their teaching style, and giving feedback in the language learning and teaching process. More specifically, there is a complex relationship among learner variables such as first language literacy, self-efficacy, gender, attainment, and so on (Courtney, Graham, Tonkyn & Marinis, 2017). Individual Differences in Language Learning: A Complex Systems Theory Perspective attempts to decipher this complex system adopting an evidence-based perspective in each significant individual difference presented in different sections. One of the strengths of the book is that each section has been designed in a reader-friendly manner with eye-opener prompt questions at the very beginning and at the end, follow-up tasks, and a list for further reading which serves as a guide for researchers.

Even though numerous factors are likely to contribute to the outcomes of both naturalistic and instructed second language acquisition, such as the amount of exposure to the target language (TL), the beliefs, dedication, experience, involvement and qualifications of the instructor, or the teaching methods and materials employed, individual learner differences appear to play a significant role in second or foreign language (L2) learning. While specific classifications vary, such individual difference (ID) variables can be sociocultural (e.g., beliefs, attitudes, experience), cognitive (e.g., age, aptitude, working memory, cognitive styles, learning strategies), and affective (e.g., anxiety, personality, motivation, willingness to communicate) in nature, with some IDs cutting across clear-cut categories, themselves being affected by each other and a host of other variables (Dörnyei & Ryan, 2015; Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2014; Pawlak, 2012a). This paper provides a brief overview of selected factors in these areas, with particular emphasis being placed on the influence that they are likely to exert on interactions that take place between learners, and between learners and instructors in the language classroom, as well as the ways in which such interactions can contribute to L2 learning. With this in mind, some key assumptions will first be spelled out, which will be followed by the discussion of the latest research findings in each area, subsequently focusing on research undertaken in the interactionist approach. Finally, future research directions will be outlined, methodological issues will be touched upon, and implications for classroom practice will be considered.

This research paper aims to analyse the role of cognitive processes in language learning from a psycholinguistic perspective. The paper reviews the individual differences in language learning due to cognitive attitude and its role in the cognitive process of individual learning from a psycholinguistic perspective. Quantitative design was selected to review the role of the cognitive process in learning. The analysis approach selected is statistical review which was selected to review the cause-and-effect relationship from the perspective of psycholinguistic learning. 74 students from languages and translation department at Haql College were participated in this paper.The findings of the paper addressed the role of cognitive learning processing to raise the quality of language learning abilities, the cognitive process's role in improving the psycholinguistic learning perspective such as memory, problem-solving solving and attention are related factors that are affecting the cognitive process of psychological learning. The teaching-learning providers will address the implementation of critical factors addressing the cognitive development of the students while language learning strategies. Keywords: Cognitive processes, Language learning, psychological perspective,Cognitive development, Language acquisition, Learning strategies.

Individual Differences in Language Learning: A Complex Systems Theory Perspective. Carol Griffiths and Adem Soruç2020Palgrave MacmillanSwitzerland978-3-030-52899-7220(paperback), ISBN 978-3-030-52900-0 (eBook)

Chapter 2. Attention, awareness, and individual differences in language learning

Academic and institutional discourses on study abroad (SA) have often reinforced the belief that it benefits language and intercultural learning, using the “metaphor of linguistic and cultural immersion”. The social networks that students develop during SA have been deemed one of the most relevant factors affecting individual differences in language learning. Although not explicit in the excerpts analysed, the researcher drew on the shadowing observations when asking questions or raising different topics in relevant interviews and focus groups. All participants linked their tendency to interact with other Spanish students to the fact that these largely outnumbered any other national group within the international cohort in Italy. From the beginning of SA, the participants, who had not been required to undertake a linguistic preparation pre-sojourn, realised that expressing themselves in Italian or in English was very demanding. At university, some participants had the opportunity to choose between English-medium courses and Italian-medium courses.

Adapting web-based (WB) instruction to learners' individual differences may enhance learning. Objectives This study aimed to investigate aptitude-treatment interactions between learning and cognitive styles and WB instructional methods. We carried out a factorial, randomised, controlled, crossover, post-test-only trial involving 89 internal medicine residents, family practice residents and medical students at 2 US medical schools. Parallel versions of a WB course in complementary medicine used either active or reflective questions and different end-of-module review activities ('create and study a summary table' or 'study an instructor-created table'). Participants were matched or mismatched to question type based on active or reflective learning style. Participants used each review activity for 1 course module (crossover design). Outcome measurements included the Index of Learning Styles, the Cognitive Styles Analysis test, knowledge post-test, course rating and preference. Post-test scores were similar for matched (mean +/- standard error of the mean 77.4 +/- 1.7) and mismatched (76.9 +/- 1.7) learners (95% confidence interval [CI] for difference - 4.3 to 5.2l, P = 0.84), as were course ratings (P = 0.16). Post-test scores did not differ between active-type questions (77.1 +/- 2.1) and reflective-type questions (77.2 +/- 1.4; P = 0.97). Post-test scores correlated with course ratings (r = 0.45). There was no difference in post-test subscores for modules completed using the 'construct table' format (78.1 +/- 1.4) or the 'table provided' format (76.1 +/- 1.4; CI - 1.1 to 5.0, P = 0.21), and wholist and analytic styles had no interaction (P = 0.75) or main effect (P = 0.18). There was no association between activity preference and wholist or analytic scores (P = 0.37). Cognitive and learning styles had no apparent influence on learning outcomes. There were no differences in outcome between these instructional methods.

This study aimed to investigate the impact of learners' cognitive style (impulsive/reflexive) in a gamified e-learning environment on enhancing the educational well-being of middle school students. The study followed a quasi-experimental approach, where quantitative data were collected and analyzed. The sample consisted of 60 students from Imam Al-Nawawi School in Al-Laith Governorate during the academic year 1446 AH. These students were randomly selected from the third intermediate grade to form the experimental groups under investigation. The results revealed a statistically significant difference between the two experimental groups in the post-measurement of educational well-being. The findings indicated that students with a reflexive cognitive style outperformed their impulsive counterparts, with an average score of (121.27) compared to (114.23) for impulsive students. Additionally, the calculated t-value (9.379) was greater than the tabulated t-value (1.98) at a significance level of (0.05) and a degree of freedom of (58). This led to the rejection of the null hypothesis and the acceptance of an alternative hypothesis confirming the presence of statistically significant differences in favor of the reflexive cognitive style. The study recommended designing gamified e-learning environments that consider individual differences in learners' cognitive styles.

In recent years, the relationship between working memory and second language acquisition has been a hot topic in the field of second language acquisition. The impact of second language learners’ working memory capacity on their second language acquisition is inconclusive. Researchers have called for further investigation into the role of working memory in second language development when reviewing literature on working memory in second language acquisition. called for further investigation into the role of working memory in second language development when reviewing literature on working memory in second language contexts and language contexts. Therefore, this study aims to explore whether and how working memory capacity affects overall English proficiency. The research question is: what is the correlation between high school students' working memory capacity and their English grades? This study used empirical research methods and randomly selected 37 high school students from a school in Dujiangyan, Chengdu as participants. empirical research methods and randomly selected 37 high school students from a school in Dujiangyan, Chengdu as participants. Data sources included Data sources included working memory capacity tests and English proficiency tests, both of which were conducted in the students’ classrooms. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis were performed using SPSS 26.0 statistical analysis software. The study shows that there is a significant correlation between working memory capacity and English proficiency test scores. The correlation between The correlation between working memory and English proficiency test scores suggests that individual differences in working memory capacity can affect important cognitive activities such as listening, reading comprehension, reasoning, writing, and problem-solving. The correlation between working memory and English proficiency test scores suggests that individual differences in working memory capacity can affect important cognitive activities such as listening, reading comprehension, reasoning, writing, and problem-solving.

Prior research has shown that individual differences in users' cognitive style and gender can have a significant effect on their usage and perceived usefulness of management information systems. We argue that these differences may also extend to computer-mediated knowledge management systems (KMS), although previous research has not tested this empirically. Where employees are expected to use KMS for acquiring and sharing knowledge, we posit that some will gain more benefit than others, due to their innate personal characteristics, specifically gender and cognitive style. Based on a sample of 212 software developers in one large IS organization, we re-open these dormant debates about the effects of cognitive style and gender on technology usage. The paper contains four main findings. First, we present support for the proposition that cognitive style has an impact on KMS usage, although not for all components of the system. Second, that gender significantly affects KMS usage, with males being more likely to use such systems than females. Third, we find a small interaction effect between cognitive style and gender, but only for the use of data mining. Finally, the data suggest that there is a strong association between KMS usage levels and perceived usefulness. We conclude that if organizations do not recognize the inherent diversity of the workforce, and accommodate gender and cognitive style differences into their knowledge management strategies, they may be likely to propagate an intrinsic disadvantage, to the detriment of females and intuitive thinkers.

Individual differences that have an impact on the processes and outcomes of second language (L2) learning have been thoroughly investigated; but, until recently, the study of language learners with additional needs was at the periphery of both second language acquisition (SLA) and language teaching pedagogy (e.g. Nijakowska, 2010; Kormos & Smith, 2012; Kormos, 2017). Specific learning difficulties (SLDs), which affect between 5 and 15% of the population (Drabble, 2013), often have an impact on how additional languages are acquired. Therefore, in order to create an inclusive language learning context and set up effective instructional programmes, it is essential to understand how children with SLDs develop their competence in additional languages.

The present paper draws on cognitive lexicography, a relatively new amalgamation of lexicography and cognitive linguistics, to approach the curation of manner of motion verb entries in online bilingual Turkish-English dictionaries. Following Dalpanagioti’s methodology and analysis (651), the study adopts the following steps in creating an online dictionary entry, as used by Dalpanagioti (651): (a) compile a pre-lexicographic database (Atkins and Rundell 100-101), (b) employ Corpus Pattern Analysis (Hanks 404), and (c) utilize Frame Semantics (Fillmore 373-400), the Conceptual Metaphor and Metonymy Theory (Lakoff and Johnson 12) and the Principled Polysemy approach (Evans and Green 342-352) to interpret the data for glide, a manner of motion verb. To this end, this paper is an attempt to improve bilingual dictionary entries for manner of motion verbs using cognitive lexicography and suggesting the use of GIFs to accommodate individual differences in language learning, to contribute to the Turkish lexicography literature by addressing the research gap, and lastly to contribute to the field of cognitive lexicography.

The goal of language learning programs is to utilize language for effective communication. Due to the needs, interests, and motivations of language learners, they may show individual differences in language learning. Vocational students need English for Specific Purposes related to their fields. While based on the 2013 Indonesian English Curriculum, both senior high school and vocational learners receive the same English learning materials. Meanwhile, the English learning materials for vocational learners are supposed to be more specific in bordering certain areas. This study aimed at developing English learning materials for the caregiver program at Vocational School (SMK) Darmawan Bogor. The data was gained qualitatively by analyzing students’ needs by applying questionnaires and interviews. Learning material is then developed based on the results of the needs analysis. Furthermore, the teachers of the caregiver program reviewed the materials and they were interviewed to find out their responses. The result showed that the materials has met the learners’ needs, demands, and interests. Therefore, it can be concluded that the developed English material has met its target needs.

Understanding learning theories and individual learning differences is an important aspect in designing and implementing effective learning strategies. This article explores the relationship between learning theories and individual differences in learning contexts. Through an in-depth theoretical review, this article reviews several major learning theories, including behaviorism, constructivism, social cognitive theory, and cognitive load theory. Next, this article discusses various factors that influence individual differences in learning, such as cognitive abilities, learning styles, motivation, interests, and cultural background. The method used is typeliterature study with the aim of exploring research related to the theme of Differentiation-Based Learning and individual differences in developing learning strategies. The study was carried out starting with the stages of collecting and analyzing various previous studies that were relevant to understanding how differentiation-based learning strategies work, and also identifying and collecting articles, journals, books, and academic publications discussing relevant theories. Data sources were taken from academic databases such as Google Scholar (journals), JSTOR, and ProQuest, as well as other references. Next, a literature analysis was carried out, the selected literature was analyzed using the content analysis method to identify main themes, significant findings, and the methodology used in previous research. The research results found that the exploration of effective learning strategies was also a focus with an emphasis on developing a differentiation approach to meet the needs of the diverse learning styles of each student. By integrating learning theories and understanding individual differences, a teacher can create an inclusive learning climate that supports all students, increases their learning potential, and achieves higher academic goals.