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lowedbyanoverviewofenvironmentalists’argumentsconcerningcognitiveability
developmentinhumans.
1.1.Cognitiveability
Thereisnoagreementasregardsthedefinitionofcognitiveability.Inthepsychological
literaturethetermisusedwithatleastthreedifferentmeanings:capacity,abilityand
performance.Capacityisapotentialhumanability.Itdescribeswhatahumanbeing
wouldbeabletodoifenvironmentalconditionsforhis/herdevelopmentwereoptimal.
Abilityreflectstheactualpotentialwhatapersonisabletodoprovidedenvironmental
conditionsandthepsychophysicalstateofhis/herbodyareoptimalandthestresslevel
isminimal.Finally,performancestandsfortheactuallevelofataskperformance,thatis
thebehaviourthatcanbeobservedandmeasuredinagivensituation.Everybodydevel-
opsonlypartofhis/hercapacities;whatismore,onlypartofthemisavailableforob-
servationandmeasurement(Nęcka,2003).
Carroll(1993),anAmericanhumancognitiveabilitiesspecialist,differentiatedthe
termsability,aptitudeandachievement.Heidentifiedabilitywithperformanceorpoten-
tialforperformance:"Asusedtodescribeanattributeofindividuals,abilityreferstothe
possiblevariationsoverindividualsintheliminallevelsoftaskdifficulty[…]atwhich,
onanygivenoccasioninwhichallconditionsappearfavourable,individualsperform
successfullyonadefinedclassoftasks”(1993,p.8).Carrollemphasisedstabilityof
abilities:"Anabilitycanberegardedasatraittotheextentthatitexhibitssomedegree
ofstabilityorpermanenceevenoverrelativelylongperiodsoftime”(1993,p.7).By
addinganadjective‘cognitive’,Carrolllimitedabilitiestothosewhichareperformedon
cognitivetasks,thatisrequiretheprocessingofmentalinformation.
Aptitudeisanotioncloseinmeaningtoability.TousethewordsofDörnyei:"Al-
thoughsomescholarsdistinguishbetweenabilityandaptitude,intypicalpracticethetwo
areusedsynonymously”(2005,p.32).Thedifferencebetweenthetermsisthattheyare
usedinadifferentcontextratherthanwithadifferentmeaning.Carrolldefinedaptitude
as"Acognitiveabilitythatispossiblypredictiveofcertainkindsoffuturelearningsuc-
cess”(1993,p.16).Heregardedaptitudeasasortofability,namelyalatenttraitthatis
relativelystableandrelativelyresistanttotraining,andwhichreferstothepotentialfor
achievementprovidedinstructionisoptimal.Therefore,anabilityisanaptitudeifit
predictsthedegreeandrateoflearning.AlthoughCarrolldistinguishedachievements
fromaptitudes,headmittedthatinsomecasesmeasuresofachievementcanbeviewed
asmeasuresofaptitudetotheextentthattheymaypredictfuturelearningprogress.
AnupdateddefinitionofL2learningaptitudeproposedbyRobinsongoesbeyond
purelycognitivefactorsandextendsthetermtootherindividualdifferences:"Aptitude
forlearningfromopportunitiesforpracticedrawsonmorethancognitiveabilitiesand
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