The Role of Individual Differences in the Development of Listening Comprehension in the Early Stages of Language Learning

Abstract

This chapter discusses the results of a longitudinal project examining the development of listening comprehension and the role of individual differences in this process in an early language learning context. We aimed at exploring how language learning aptitude, motivation, attitudes, the use of listening strategies, beliefs about language learning and listening anxiety as decisive variables of individual differences (Dörnyei, AILA Rev 19:42–68, 2006; Lang Learn 59(1):230–248, 2009; Mihaljević Djigunović, Role of affective factors in the development of productive skills. In: Nikolov M, Horváth J (eds) UPRT 2006: empirical studies in English applied linguistics. Lingua Franca Csoport, Pécs, pp 9–23, 2006; Individual differences in early language programmes. In: Nikolov M (ed) The age factor and early language learning. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, pp 198–223, 2009) relate to each other and to the learners’ performances on listening measures. The main objective of the present study is to explore and identify the internal structure, roles and relationships of individual variables in the development of early language learners’ listening comprehension based on a multi-factor dynamic model of language learning (Gardner & MacIntyre, Lang Teach 26:1–11, 1993) and its reinterpretation (Dörnyei, The relationship between language aptitude and language learning motivation: Individual differences from a dynamic systems perspective. In: Macaro E (ed) Continuum companion to second language acquisition. Continuum, London, pp 247–267, 2010). A total of 150 fifth and sixth graders (11–12-year-olds; 79 boys and 71 girls) of ten school classes in Hungary participated in the research. The findings are in line with the predictions of the theoretical framework: the variables of individual differences are themselves multifactor constructs, the components are in constant interaction with each other and with their environment, thus, changing and creating a complex developmental pattern. The results of the two phase assessment project clearly indicate that language aptitude defined as one of the main cognitive factors and parents’ education are strong predictors of listening performance. The affective factors (e.g., listening anxiety) also contribute to the performance on the listening tests, but their rates change over time and they are sensitive to the context of language learning. Beliefs and emotions are interrelated and they also play a decisive role in the development of listening skills in the early years of language learning. Consequently, what the learners think or believe about language learning and how they feel about it influence the learners’ achievement in listening comprehension. In our model, these beliefs are rooted in the students’ social background (parents’ education) and language aptitude, and this relationship is exactly in contrast with the direction displayed in Gardner and MacIntyre’s (Lang Teach 26:1–11, 1993) model.