Foreign and Second Language Learning

一、Motivation for learning 学习动机

In second language learning as in every other field of human learning, motivation is the crucial force which determines whether a learner embarks on a task at all, how much energy he devotes to it, and how long he perseveres.

学习动机

1.Communicative need for a second language

The primary motive for learning a language is that it provides a means of comunication. A person is therfore most likely to be drawn towards learning a second language if he perceives a clear communicative need for it.

把学英语当做交际工具的人，更容易学好英语。他们有学习英语的强烈需求，这种强烈的交际需求会驱使着他们学得更多，也学得更快。

2.Attitudes towards the second language community

When a learner is favourably disposed towards the speakers of the language he is learning, there are two reasons why hie motivation is likely to benefit.

First,the learner with more favourable attitudes will wish for more intensive contact with second language community. 

The first reason concerned mainly the purpose of learning a second language , the second concerns its nature.

There is a close link between the way we speak and the way we perceive our identity and our world. When we try to adopt new speech patterns,we are to some extent giving up markers of our identity in order to adopt those of another cultural group.

One of the factors influencing how we experience the process is our attitude towardes the foreign culture itself. 

If this attitude is negative, there may be strong internal barriers against learning, and if learning has to take place because of external compulsion, it may proceed only to the minimum level required by these external demands.

对于英语的态度，会影响英语学习的效果。如果对英语学习的态度是负面的，这种态度就会影响，你的英语学习。相反，如果对英语学习的态度是正面的健康的，这将会促进英语学习。

3.Integrative and instrumental motivation

A learner with integrative motivation has a genuine interest in the second language community. He wants to learn their language in order to communicate with them more satisfactorily and to gain closer contact with them and their culture.

A learner with instrumental motivation is more interested in how the second language can be a useful instrument towards furthering other goals, such as gaining a necessary qualification or improving employment prospects.

融入性动机和工具性东西。融入性动机的学生，学习的目的是希望融入西方社会，与外国人多交流，多了解其文化。而工具性的动机是，把学好外语当做一种手段，通过学习它，来实现各种目的，如升学，就业等。相应的拥有融入性动机的学生学得也更好。

二、Opportunities for learning 学习机会

learning-opportunities

1、Emotional climate of learning situations

In an environment where learners feel anxious or insecure, there are likely to be psychological barriers to communication. Also, if anxiety rises above a certain level, it is an obstacle to the learning process. 

Unfortunately, the two kinds of situation where second language learning tasks place most often—the classroom and the second language community—can easily generate situations where learners feel overanxious.

情感因素影响一个人的学习。研究表明，在学习一门语言的时候，焦虑更少的同学比焦虑多的同学，有更多的学习机会。因为焦虑少的同学，无论在课上还是课下，都会积极的进行交流表达，遇见错误也会更加及时迅速的改正。

2、The nature of the linguistic input

Now,it is often proposed that the ideal input for acquiring a second language is similar to the received by the children: comprehensible, relevant to their immediate interests, not too complex but not strictly graded, either. 

Exposed to this kind of input, the learner’s natural acqusition mechanisms can operate, picking out the structures for which they are ready at any given time.

暴露在可理解性输入中的同学会学得更快更好。不是说你学得东西越高深，越好就会学得更好，因为一旦材料高过于你的水平，你所进行的语言输入，就不是语言输入，而是噪音的输入。

三、Ability to learn  学习能力

Ability to learn

1、Cognitive factors 认知因素

There is a link between general intelligence(IQ) and second language lerning ability.

智商和语言学习能力是有关系的。智商高的同学一般会比智商低的同学学得好。就像你们班第一名的学生，她的英文水平，也不会差。

Language aptitude

The ability to identity and remember sounds

The ability to memorise words

The ability to recognise how words function grammatically in sentence

The ability to induce grammatical rules from language examples

2、Personality 性格

It is often suggested that an extrovert person is especially well suited to second language learning.

For exanple, they may become involved in more social interaction, attract more attention from their teachers,and be less inhabited when asked to display their proficiency. They may perform more confidently in communication situations,whchever language they are using.

外向的人比内向的人学的更好。因为他们更愿意参与社交互动，更易吸引教师注意，对于展示自己的英语不会觉得不好意识。

3、Age 年龄

For many peopel, it is almost axiomatic that children can learn a second language better than adults. The most commmon explanation for these observations is that there is a“critical period”,during which the brain is flexible and language learning can occur naturally and easily。

小孩比成人学习语言会更快，所以错过关键期，会很影响一个人的英语学习的。

四、Active learning strategies 积极的学习策略

Active learning

Successful language learner employ a wide variety of strategies which demonstrate their active involement in learning. For example, when the teacher puts a question to another student, they often think out their own answer and compare it with the answer accepted by the teacher. When learning or producing dialogues,they make efforts to identify with their foreign language roles and to pay close sttention to the meaning of the language they are using.

成功的英语学习者会使用多种学习策略来帮助自己学习。而一般的学习者可能只使用一两种方法。如，比人听到老师提问，别人会在心里认真比较一下，自己的答案和老师所要的答案有哪些差距，有哪些值得改进的地方，而你想到的只是“幸亏老师提问的不是我”。

动机的差异影响学习效果。学习的机会会影响学习效果。学习的能力会影响学习效果。甚至学习策略也会影响学习效果。所以，影响学习的因素有很多，单一的评价标准并不科学。