239918 Language Learning Motivation and Individual Learner Differences (S) (SoSe 2012)

This course will focus on mainly on individual differences among learners in motivation to learn a foreign language. We will distinguish between intensity (strength) of motivation and quality (type) of motivation. We will adopt a dynamic approachto motivation and distinguish between initial motivation to learn a foreign language and the ways in which motivation may change in intensity and quality over months and years of learning a language. We will examine the influences on both quality and intensity of motivation and in particular how the teacher and the classroom can affect motivation. In this respect we devote some attention to the phenomenon of language learning anxiety. Emphasis will be placed on the links between learner autonomy, self-regulation of learning and self-motivation.

Some attention will also be given to other individual differences among learners, including personality, language learning aptitude, learning style, self-esteem and beliefs.

Literaturangaben

Course book: Zoltán Dörnyei. The Psychology of the Language Learner. Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 2005.

Available as copyright material online under Google Books.