Individual Differences in Second Language Learning [Paperback]

Every teacher knows that learners are notoriously variable in how successful they are at acquiring a new language. This interdisciplinary volume questions what it is that makes each of us good or bad at learning a second language.

• Offers a broad overview of current theories, key findings, and methodological approaches in the field
• Brings together research from language teaching and assessment, psycholinguistics, and the neurobiology of language
• Provides a sound empirical basis for the development of assessment tools and teaching strategies, and sheds new light on the language learning process
• Investigates how people differ from each other in how they approach language learning, and in doing so goes beyond other studies which focus primarily on the behavior of groups of learners

Individual Differences in Second Language Learning: Introduction
Leah Roberts and Antje Meyer

Individual Differences in L2 Learning and Long-Term L1–L2 Relationships
Richard L. Sparks

Nature and Nurture in School-Based Second Language Achievement
Philip S. Dale, Nicole Harlaar, and Robert Plomin

Determinants of Success in Native and Non-Native Listening Comprehension: An Individual Differences Approach
Sible Andringa, Nomi Olsthoorn, Catherine van Beuningen, Rob Schoonen, and Jan Hulstijn

Individual Differences in the Acquisition of a Complex L2 Phonology: A Training Study
Adriana Hanulíkov´a, Dan Dediu, Zhou Fang, Jana Ba¢snakov´a, and Falk Huettig

The Structural Connectivity Underpinning Language Aptitude, Working Memory, and IQ in the Perisylvian Language Network
Huadong Xiang, Dan Dediu, Leah Roberts, Erik van Oort, David G.l³„