Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
TheoryandPracticeofSecondLanguageAcquisition
vol.2(1)2016,pp.7-23
SimoneE.Pfenninger
UniversityofZurich,Switzerland
DavidSingleton
UniversityofPannonia,Hungary
TheAgeFactorintheForeignLanguageClass:
WhatDoLearnersThink?
Abstract:ThepresentpaperanalyzesbeliefsabouttheagefactoroflearnersofEnglishas
aforeignlanguage(EFL)withdifferentstartingages(earlyvs.latestarters),indifferentgrades,
thatis,atthebeginning(Year7)andattheendofsecondaryschool(Year12)withdifferent
levelsofEFLproficiency(highachieversvs.lowachievers).Thesampleforthestudywas
drawnfromalargersampleof200secondaryschoolstudentswhowerepartofalongitudinal
study,undertakeninSwitzerlandbetween2008and2015.Fromthissampleweselected10
earlystartinghigh-achievers,10earlystartinglow-achievers,10latestartinghigh-achievers,and
10latestartinglow-achievers.Aqualitativeanalysisoflanguageexperienceessayswrittenat
thebeginningandattheendofsecondaryschoolrevealedthatlearnerswithdifferentstarting
ages,indifferentgrades,andwithdifferentlevelsofproficiencydisplayeddifferentbeliefs
abouttheagefactor.TheoveralllackofageeffectonFLachievementfoundinourprevious
studiesmaybeexplicableintermsofanumberofaffectivefactors(e.g.,disengagementofthe
earlystartersduetolanguagepracticesoftheclassroom)andcontextualfactors(e.g.,transition
fromEnglishinprimaryschooltoEnglishinsecondaryschool).
Keywords:startingage,languageexperienceessays,learnerbeliefs,motivation,individual
differences
Introduction
Inapreviouslongitudinalstudyofours(seePfenninger&Singleton,2016),
weaddressedthequestionoftherelationshipandinteractionbetweenlong-term
foreignlanguage(FL)achievementandmotivationinlearnerswithdifferent
startingages.Theresultsrevealedthatthelatestarterswereabletocatchup
veryquickly(i.e.,withinsixmonthsinsecondaryschool)withtheperformance
