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1.Introduction Manyscholars have already studied about ESL and individual learner’s factors (i.e.Gardner, R. and Lambert, W. 1972, Attitudes and Motivation in SecondLanguage Learning; Cohen, A. 1998, Strategies in Learning and Using aSecond Language; He Zhaoxiong ＆ Mei Deming, Modern Linguistics,1999). Although the studies are developing more wide-ranging and profoundtheories day by day, those are not enough for the learners who want to usesecond language fluently. This paper answers some questions about learners’confusion when they study language through the organization and summarizationof micro factors, especially the motivation, beliefs, and strategies. (Ellis,2004)The essential parts involve these following problems: What is ESL? What is individuallearner’s factor? Why the individual learner’s factor is very important to ESL?What is the connection among these factors and how to control these factors,and college students’ individual factors and ESL. paper51.com 2. ESL andindividual learner’s factors paper51.com
2.1 Definition copyright paper51.com The title of this article is ESL and individual learner’s factors. So,what is ESL? ESL is the short form of English as second language. Motherlanguage acquisition is the first language acquisition. In effect, we willneglect about it here. As we know, language is a system of arbitrary vocalsymbols used for human communication, and language acquisition is concernedwith language development in human. Human is the ruler of language, which isthe one character, which human separated to the animals. (Ellis, 2004) No onecan use language at birth. It is a step-by-step procedure for children toacquire their language. Children’s language acquisition stages mainly containthe pre-linguistic (it was also called babbling), one-word, two-word and multiwordstages. Moving through these stages, they can gradually acquire phonology,morphology, syntax, vocabulary, semantics, and discourse skills of the adultlanguage system as they grow. But the ESL is mainly concerned with the adult.When we grow up, and move to a new place or go to school, we need to use a newlanguage to communicate with other people or for study. So we need to learn thesecond language, which is second language acquisition. There are many factorsconnected with ESL, but the strongest affected factor is the individual learner’sfactors because the individual is the dominator of language study. The learnersthat have the same age, place, textbook, teacher and teaching condition, willhave different outcome, which is mainly determined by individual aptitude,motivation, personality, and cognitive style. That is why young people canstudy language easier than the old one. The learner motivation containsinstrumental motivation and integrative motivation; both of them can stimulatelearners’ interests for language acquisition. If learners are interested in theway of life of native speakers of the language they are learning, they tend tobe more interactive with the language input and so more successful. On the contrary,when learners have a strong instrumental need to learn a second language, theywill spend extra time to make progress, and they may even stop learning whenthey have just obtained sufficient second language knowledge to meet theirfunction need. It is like playing basketball, if we just want to get more scores in thebasketball match, and justtrain the players time and time again, but notto stimulate their enthusiasm and interests for this sport game. Theywill be tired todo it, then lose their spirits and have not any hope for success. No one likesthat, so let’s choose a motivation that isgood for our personality. Generally speaking, there are two kinds ofpersonality for learners who are outgoing and reserved. The linguistics suggests that outgoing learners are easier to makecontact with other users of the second language, they can learn better to interacting with the target language. (Wang, 2005) paper51.com 2.2 The connection between ESL andindividual learner’s factors paper51.com Now,let mainly talk about the cognitive style ofthe individual learners’ factors. It’s theemotional aptitude for the learners and the product of learners’ view. First,the learners should be responsible for theirlanguage studying. Many people want to study second language, some of them madesuccess, but others failed. And then, what is the reason for their failure?Maybe it is the belief of them. The person who believes the most important keyof success is himself would be victory, on the other hand, who always complainsabout the outer factors or considers they have no gift for language studying,he would never successful. The learners should make a confirmed decision forESL. They should tell themselves “I must learn it! I must learn it! I must learnit well! ” every moment. As a proverb says, “If you looked at a tree longenough, it will move. ”(Wang, 2004) The famous actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger wasnot that famous in 1976 when he met with a newspaper reporter. The reporterasked Schwarzeneger: “Now that you’ve retired from bodybuilding, what do youplan to do next?” Schwarzenegger answered very calmly and confidently: “I’mgoing to be the first movie star in Hollywood.”The reporter was shocked and amused at Scharzenegger’s plan. At that time, itwas very hard to imagine how this muscle-bound body builder, who was not aprofessional actor and who spoke poor English with a strong Austrian accent,could ever hope to be Hollywood’sfirst movie star! So the reporter asked Scharzenegger how he planed to make hisdream come true,Schwarzenegger said: “I’ll do it the same way I become the first bodybuilder inthe world. What I do is to create a vision of whom I want to be, then I startliving like that person in my mind as if it were already true.” Sounds almostchildishly simple, doesn’t it? But it worked! Scharzenegger did become thefirst highest paid movie star in Hollywood!Remember: “If you can see it, you can be it.” the same as language learners.Having this choice, they won’t change their target and won’t be afraid of thetough circumstance. Otherwise, learners should know how to manage their SLA. The administration involvesformulating the target, choicing the method, organizing the time and estimatingand adjustingthe target. This is the self-evaluation. For example, the learners mustfind out their lacks and correct them immediately. Second, the learners mustcultivate interests and self-confidence for ESL. ESL needs learners hardworking with physiology, intelligence and emotion. It also needs the learners’harmoniousness of the muscle, the control of psychology,and uses learners’ heart and soul. The psychology of language learner isthe basic of the success. The learners will meet some unpredictable problemsduring the ESL. Such as difficulties, interferences and discourage. Althoughtheir spirit tells them all difficulties are temporary, but this mood mustaffect the ESL. All vexation consists of both disadvantage and advantage. Thedisadvantage can make the learners unhappy and lose their heart because ittells them that they takecare of these issues but they fell unsatisfied about their learning. As anEnglish major student, I have already studied English for 11 years. During this longtime, I failed, I lost my heart sometimes, but I was unremitting every time.When I studied in high school, my English was very poor. I just got 35 scoresin the first term’s final examination. Of course, I was very sad when I got mytext paper. That fail was a transitional point for my English acquisition. Iworked harder more than before. Finally, I separated the bad emotions and got abetter score. My desk mate laughed at me when I failed, but I didn’t mind it. Ijust used my actions to confirm that I could study English well, and I did it. Therefore,self-confidence is the most important hinge of ESL. It is a skill and knowledge.If the learners can use it very well, they can make a well achievement. Duringthe ESL, the learners must pay attention to their every progress, for it canincrease their interest of language studying and keep them in a cheerfullearning condition. When their emotion is surging, they must control theirlearning. If they have a healthy psychology as the base of ESL, they would improve.If not, a good method of learning is not enough to get the target language.Self-confidence is the measurement of success. The more who has self-confidence,the better he close to the goal, and he will befulfilling of hopes in his heart. There are many reasons for one who has noself-confidence in ESL. He maybe studies not very well at the beginning or just recognizes thestudy as a tusk and it is not worth mentioning. For this condition, thelearners should find out their shortages and focus their energy to deal withtheir shortages one by one, and then they can change passive condition intoopposite condition. Another reason is that the learners may design anunorganized study plan. Generally, the study plan classifies in long-term goalplan and short-term goal plan. The latter is more important than before. If thelearners have no the feeling of achievement in every short-term goal plan, letalong to touch the final success, and they will doubt of themselves. So thelearners must have a realistic plan for their learning, it should not toohigher or not too lower, especially when their study is in a bad situation. Thefollowing graph is a successful plan, which is made by an English learner: 内容来自论文无忧网 www.paper51.com
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