ERIC Number: EJ1134861
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2083-5205
EISSN: N/A
Starting Age and Other Influential Factors: Insights from Learner Interviews
Muñoz, Carmen
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, v4 n3 p465-484 2014
The present study uses oral interviews with foreign language learners in search of influential factors in their language learning histories. The sample for the study was drawn from a larger sample of intermediate/advanced learners of English as a foreign language with a minimum of 10 years of exposure/instruction. The sample includes 6 early learners (range of starting age: 3.2-6.5) and 6 late learners (starting age: 11+). Half of them in each group were among those with the highest scores on two English language tests in the larger sample and half among those with the lowest scores on those same tests. A qualitative analysis of the interviews of these learners yields insights into their experience of foreign language learning and the role played in it by starting age and other significant factors, such as motivation and intensive contact with the language.
Descriptors: Interviews, Second Language Learning, Performance Factors, English (Second Language), Qualitative Research, Age Differences, Individual Differences, Undergraduate Students, Language Tests, Low Achievement, High Achievement, Questionnaires, Online Surveys, Participant Characteristics, Profiles, Early Experience, Language Acquisition, Foreign Countries
Adam Mickiewicz University Department of English Studies. Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Ul. Nowy Swiat 28-30, 62-800 Kailsz, Poland. e-mail: ssllt@amu.edu.pll; Web site: http://ssllt.amu.edu.pl/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Spain
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A