The Psychology of the Language Learner

by Zoltán Dörnyei

Research results over the past decades have consistently demonstrated that a key reason why many second language learners fail--while some learners do better with less effort--lies in various learner attributes such as personality traits, motivation, or language aptitude. In psychology, these attributes have traditionally been called "individual differences." The scope of individual learner differences is broad--ranging from creativity to learner styles and anxiety--yet there is no current, comprehensive, and unified volume that provides an overview of the considerable amount of research conducted on various language learner differences, until now.

Each chapter in this new volume focuses on a different individual difference variable. Besides a review of the relevant second language literature, Zoltán Dörnyei presents a concise overview of the psychological research involving each topic. A key concern for the author has been to define the various learner factors as measurable constructs and therefore the discussion includes a summary of the most famous tests and questionnaires in each domain.

A wide range of readers will benefit from this book--students in linguistics, applied linguistics, modern languages, and psychology programs; second language teachers participating in in-service training courses; and researchers in second language acquisition and psychology.

Genres: Linguistics, Nonfiction, Language

282 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Zoltán Dörnyei worked for 10 years as a language teacher trainer and applied linguist at Eötvös University, Budapest.

He is now Professor of Psycholinguistics at the School of English, University of Nottingham, UK. He has published nearly 100 academic papers and book chapters on various aspects of second language acquisition and language teaching methodology, and he has written over 20 books on motivation, group dynamics, research methodology and the psycholinguistics of second language learning.

Reviews

[Bro]

I always read the intro to books these days. I think he said something about reading the parts that you wanted and that is what I did. I think I started at the end and wound up working my way back to the front =). The book had good parts as usual, but I did not read every single thing. It is a good book for researchers not so much for readers. I am a reader. I want to hear peoples conclusions from the research they did not all the research they did.

[Tony]

A valuable review of the complexities of individual differences in SLA research.