Factors Affecting Bilingualism

Factors Aﬀecting
Bilingualism
Individual Characteristics (Aptitude)
“A natural ability to do something”
What is Aptitude?
● Aptitude refers to specific ability a learner has for learning a second
language (Ellis, 1986, p. 293).
● Richards (1985, p. 154) explains that aptitude is natural ability to
learn a language.
● Further he adds that language aptitude is thought to be a
combination of various abilities, such as the ability to identify sound
pattern in a new language, the ability to recognize the different of
grammatical functions of words in sentences
What is Aptitude?
● His initial tests that measured aptitude are Carroll and Sapon’s
Modern Language Aptitude Test (1959) and Pimsleur’s Language
Aptitude Battery (1966). Carroll describes aptitude as a stable factor,
which can not be trained
● He identified four factors in language aptitude: phonemic coding
ability, grammatical sensitivity, inductive language learning ability
and rote learning ability
The Components of Aptitude Bilingualism (Caroll, 1953)
Component Explanation
Phonetic Coding Ability Ability to perceive distinct sounds,

associate the symbols with those sounds
and retain those association
Grammatical Memory Ability to recognise the grammatical

function of a lexical element in a sentence
without explicit training in grammar
Associative Memory Ability to learn association between words

in a foreign language and their meaning
and retain that association
Inductive Learning Ability Ability to infer and induce rules governing

the structure of a language
What is Aptitude?
● Later studies conducted by Skehan (1986) were concentrated on the
underlying complexity of language aptitude and its relation to first
language acquisition and second language learning.
● He has shown two predictors of the language aptitude: ’a general
language processing capability’ and an ‘ability to use language in a
de-contextualized way.’
● Skehan’s findings show that aptitude consists of abilities identified by
earlier researchers and the ability to deal with context-free language,
which is connected with learning academic skills and intelligence
(Ellis, 1994).
Maturity & Intelligence
● Ellis (1985, p. 293) says that intelligence is general ability to
master academic skills. The studies on intelligence show a
strong relationship between intelligence and acquisition of a
foreign language but only as far as academic skills are
concerned. Learners with high IQ achieve better results on
language tests.
● It is concerned to that every person has their own level of
intelligences.
Maturity & Intelligence
● E.g Gardner (1983) introduced a theory of Multiple Intelligences.
● Language: Linguistic (sensitivity to spoken and written language,
the capacity to use the language to accomplish certain goals
● He states that every person possesses the eight intelligences,
which evolve independently at different times and to different
degrees. Learners should be encouraged to develop all types of
intelligences because they are closely bound and the growth of
one area increases the capacity of the whole
Personality
● Personality might be an important factor could affect the success of
the learning process (Lightbown & Spada, 2006)
● E.g Introverted vs Introverted Person
● On the one hand, the social person “extroverted” is more likely to
acquire a new language easily. On the other hand, any person who is
“introverted”, in other words, a person who is shy around people and
afraid of making mistakes while using the new acquired language
might actually face some problems in acquiring the new language, or
it could slow the learning process of a new language.
How does aptitude aﬀect bilingualism
according to research?
● In casual observations in our daily life reveal to us that some people learn a
foreign language easier, faster or better than others do (Grigorenko,
Sternberg & Ehrman, 2000). This commonplace phenomenon is best
encapsulated by the theoretical construct of foreign language aptitude which
presupposes that “there is a specific talent for learning foreign languages
which exhibits considerable variation between individual learners” (Dörnyei &
Skehan, 2003: 590).
● For instance, if a learner already has the ability to learn the language by him
or herself, he or she should be a competent user of the language.
● Besides, according to Sternberg’s model of triarchic intelligence which is used
as a framework for language aptitude, it is also important to take previous
language learning experiences into account (Grigorenko, 2000).
● Based on this model, an individual’s language aptitude increased as previous

language experience increased, even if the language learning experience
was as an adult. This means that being exposed to a language at a young
age in and of itself produced significant results in relation to language
aptitude.

Factors Affecting Bilingualism

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Factors Affecting Bilingualism

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Factors Affecting Bilingualism

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Factors Aﬀecting

Phonetic Coding Ability Ability to perceive distinct sounds,

Grammatical Memory Ability to recognise the grammatical

Associative Memory Ability to learn association between words

Inductive Learning Ability Ability to infer and induce rules governing

● Based on this model, an individual’s language aptitude increased as previous

You might also like