This research project is concerned with the prediction of foreign language learning success. Previous research into the importance of language aptitude for foreign language learning is surveyed, and the two areas of memory and motivation are proposed as worth further study. A number of memory tests and motivation measures, devised for the present study, are described. These measures are used with Armed Forces personnel, university students, and schoolchildren, in order to examine the relationships between these "predictor" tests, and the achievement (criterion) tests used to evaluate learning in the different settings. The results are analysed using correlational, factor, regression, and cluster analysis. The results indicate that the ability to integrate and learn material of unfamiliar structure, and the ability to extract and remember the propositional meaning of sentences both have significant and marked correlations with foreign language learning success. Associative memory is found to have significant but lower correlations with achievement scores, while primary memory measures appear to have little importance. Intelligence and grammatical sensitivity are also found to have marked relationships with achievement scores. The motivational measures only had weak correlations with the criterion test scores. Several aspects of foreign language learning prediction are discussed. There is consideration of the general role of aptitude in foreign language learning, and recent attempts proposing that such an aptitude is only of limited significance are rejected. There is also discussion of the Importance of aptitude for language teaching methodology. Finally, the componens of aptitude are described as they are currently understood, and suggestions for further research are provided.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:481444 |
| Date | January 1982 |
| Creators | Skehan, Peter |
| Publisher | Birkbeck (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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