A preliminary study on individual differences in learning Japanese/English as a second language

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The present research is an investigation into the factors that cause individual differences in language learning/teaching, specifically Japanese and English. Presently it is commonly recognized that in teaching Japanese or English, it is urgently imperative to cope with the diversity of individual factors that the learners bring in. Each language learner greatly differs in terms of age, aptitude, motivation, attitude toward the target language and culture, learning strategies, cognitive styles, personality, affective domains, and social contexts in which they learn a second language. Such factors have been found to affect the rate and process of second language acquisition/learning ; in turn, the outcome of acquisition/learning is considered to influence the individual factors, and vice versa. The significant role such individual factors play is easily perceivable in not only learning/teaching Japanese or English but any languages.In 1996, the major effort in the investigation was given to firming the foundation of resource data that contain essential publications and works in research on individual differences in language learning/teaching. The database made mainly contains research results on learning/teaching English, which has been morethoroughly studied, and is expected to contribute to individual differences research in any language learning/teaching.The year 1997 was mainly spent on constructing and presenting a model which explains the role individual differences play in language acquisition/learning on the basis of the database. The model takes into consideration the relationship between individual learners and their social contexts. The database will be made available to public in the form of hard copy and computer file. The final report of the investigation includes 1) the model, 2) discussion on individual factors, and 3) case studies that illustrate a variety of individual differences in language learning/teaching.