Implications of Learning Styles in Second Language Acquisition

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 19 out of 20, Islamic Azad University, language: English, abstract: There is little doubt that language learning is a multifaceted process affected by many factors whether internal or external. In terms of internal factors, Brown (2007), for instance, divide them into cognitive factors like learning styles, and learning strategies as well as affective factors including motivation, attitude, anxiety, self-esteem, types of personality, etc. In his taxonomy of individual differences affecting SLA, Ellis (2008) categorizes them into four areas: Abilities which includes intelligence, working memory, and language aptitude, Propensities including learning styles, motivation, anxiety, personality, and willingness to communicate, Learner cognitions such as learner belief, and finally learner actions like learning strategies. However, due to the time restriction, it is impossible to cover all of these factors once at a time. Therefore, this paper tries to focus on the learning styles as an internal cognitive variable affecting language learning.