Factors Affecting Learning

• when people fail to learn something which

they have been taught, the failure is
attributed to one or more of three factors:
• lack of motivation
• lack of ability or aptitude
• poor teaching.
 It is commonly believed, that in order to be
successful, the language learner should be:

• 1. young (beginning L2 before the end of the

Critical Age Period)
• 2. self-confident
• 3. highly motivated
• 4. very sociable and someone who likes to
mix with speakers of other languages
• 5. an extrovert
• 6. willing to take risks when speaking the L2
(i.e. not to be afraid of making mistakes)
• 7. intelligent with a good memory
 Problems to consider when measuring learning
factors:

• - Many complex elements are involved in trying

to measure e.g. a learner’s degree of motivation
or level of intelligence, or extraversion;
• - nature of the text;
• - interpreting the correlation between a learner
characteristic and performance.
INTELLIGENCE
 APTITUDE

• Different qualities for different subjects.

• Learning quickly is the distinguishable feature of
language aptitude. Aptitude tests are based on the view
that aptitude is composed of 4 different types of abilities:
• (1) the ability to identify and memorize new sounds;
• (2) the ability to understand the functional of words in
sentences;
• (3) the ability to figure out grammatical rules from
samples;
• (4) the ability to memorise new vocabulary.
• Notice that some learners may be strong
in one area of aptitude (e.g. memory) but
only average in others (e.g. grammar
analysis).
• Question: What should we do about our
teaching activities if don’t have this
information?
 PERSONALITY

• Are extravert learners more successful

than introvert learners?

• Does self-esteem, talkativeness,

dominance affect performance?
 MOTIVATION

• Are learners more highly motivated

because they are successful or are they
successful because they are highly
motivated?
 Types of motivation:

At least 4 types of motivation have been

identified:
• Extrinsic motivation:
• - instrumental
• - integrative
• -resultative
• Intrinsic
• LEARNER PREFERENCES (LEARNING
STYLES)
• e.g. learning style assessment package (
Shelly Loewen)
 Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic
Sometimes Kinaesthetic is said to include “Tactile” learning and sometimes this is added
as a separate learning style. Some analysts subdivide the Visual and Auditory
categories into verbal- and non-verbal.

• Any individual will operate in all three “modalities”, but with a preference for one or
two.

• Visual learners are likely to prefer mind-maps, diagrams, picturesque language, flow
charts, use of colour, white space on the page etc.

• Auditory learners are likely to prefer discussion, explaining things to others, using a
tape recorder, teaching linked to anecdotes/jokes etc.

• Kinaesthetic learners are likely to prefer group work, using models/objects in

describing things, walking around while learning, hands-on activities, books with
strong plot etc.

• Teachers should be aware of their own VAK preferences.

• Pupils should be made aware of their individual preferences:
 Kolb’s theory (1981)
• The work of Kolb and others produced the classification of learners into four groups: ACTIVISTS,
REFLECTORS, THEORISTS and PRAGMATISTS

• Activists like practical work such as labs, field work, observation exercises and using visual
source material for information etc

• Reflectors like to learn by watching others, by taking time to consider observations of their own
experience etc

• Theorists like lectures, reading papers on topics, considering analogies etc

• Pragmatists like simulations, case studies, homework etc

• Thus the four types might approach the learning of a software programme in different ways:
• Activists might just start using it and feel their way into it
• Reflectors might have a go at using it and then take time to think about what they have just done
• Theorists might begin by reading the manual
• Pragmatists might start using the programme, but make frequent references to the Help files.
• Learning styles © BBC | British Council 2006 www.teachingenglish.org.uk

• Worksheet F – Learner styles

• Answer the following questions by thinking about the way you learn.
• Do you like learning:
• 1. by memory?
• 2. by problem solving?
• 3. by getting information for yourself?
• 4. by listening?
• 5. by reading?
• 6. by copying off the board?
• 7. by listening and taking notes?
• 8. by reading and making notes?
• 9. by repeating what you hear?
• 10. by using tables and charts?

• (Tick your four favourite ways of learning)

• 1. Go around the room and try and find people who have ticked the at least
• three of the same sentences as you.
• 2. In your new groups discuss what sort of learners you think you are.
• 3. Write a list of your own strengths and define a list of learning strategies
• which you can use to help you learn better in the future.
• 4. Ask your teacher for guidance at this stage.
Learner Beliefs
 Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning
• There is more than one type of learning. A
committee of colleges, led by Benjamin Bloom
(1956), identified three domains of educational
activities:
• Cognitive: mental skills (Knowledge)
• Affective: growth in feelings or emotional
areas (Attitude)
• Psychomotor: manual or physical skills
(Skills)
 Cognitive:

• the most-used of the domains, refers to

knowledge structures (although sheer “knowing
the facts” is its bottom level). It can be viewed as
a sequence of progressive contextualisation of
the material. (Based on Bloom, 1956
Revised taxonomy of the cognitive domain
following Anderson and Krathwohl (2001)
 Food for Thought

• Boy’s academic performance has dropped

in the last 20 years in American schools.
• According to US Dept. of Education the
average 11th grade boy writes at the same
level a the average 8th grade girl.
• US Dept. of Education projects that by
2011 there will be 140 female colledge
graduates for every 100 male graduates
 Differences start early
(with reference to Dr. Susan Grant)
males females

2x as many conceptions as births 25% lower mortality rate

99% of speech comprehensible by 4th year 99% of speech comprehensible by 3th year

Play rough, competitive and aggressive Play quieter, more cooperative

Slower to acquire reading and writing skills Read better and sooner

More likely to ignore voices, even parents’ Hears equally well with both ears

Best at detecting colour and texture Location, direction and speed

 Genetic Explanations:

• Genetic explanations of gender differences in attainment were

influential in psychology during the 1970’s, though the biological
determinist approach has a long history.
• The crucial belief of biological theorists is that gender differences
are natural and therefore unalterable. Educationally, then, it
would be right and proper to treat boys and girls differently in
schools, because their natural inclination are towards different
adult roles. Any socially constructed differences between men and
women were built upon and constrained by these natural
differences.
• For example, theories were advanced that females excelled at
language based subjects because of their greater verbal and
reasoning abilities, yet under-performed in Maths and science
based subjects because of lower levels of innate spatial ability,
which restricted their understanding of shape and form.
But What About the Fact that Girls Out-Perform
Boys?

• These biological theories of innate intelligence

have been strongly criticized.
• Kelly suggests (1982) that gender differences in
spatial ability may be attributed to the types of
toys children play with rather than their genetic
make up. Furthermore, genetic explanations
cannot adequately account for the narrowing of
gender differences in Maths and Science based
subjects since the 1980’s - if the differences
were biologically determined we would expect
them to remain constant over time.