Individual Differences in Early Language Learning: A Study of English Learners of French

From Early Starters to Late Finishers? A Longitudinal Study of Early Foreign Language Learning in School

“…The DESI ( Deutsch‐Englisch‐Schülerleistungen‐International [Assessment of Student Achievements in German and English as a Foreign Language]) study ( N = 10,543) comprehensively evaluated Year 9 students’ English skills across secondary school types in Germany, with boys performing almost as well as girls in listening comprehension and girls performing significantly better than boys in reading and particularly in writing (Hartig & Jude, ). These findings of girls’ superior language skills, especially concerning literacy‐based tests, are corroborated by other large‐scale studies (Courtney, Graham, Tonkyn, & Marinis, ; Hartig & Jude, ; Jaekel, ; Nikolova & Ivanov, ; Rumlich, ). For speaking skills, however, slight advantages have been reported for boys regarding pronunciation, fluency, and sentence structure (Nold & Rossa, ).…”

“…The present study supported prior findings by showing that girls outscored boys in both English listening and reading comprehension in Years 5 and 7. The present analyses did not provide further insights, but explanations for better performance by girls have been demonstrated based on, for example, advantages in literacy (Courtney et al., ), higher interest in language learning (Helmke, Schrader, Wagner, Nold, & Schröder, ; Rumlich, ), higher levels of self‐efficacy (Jaekel, ; Mills, Pajares, & Herron, ), or higher motivation (Ruyffelaert & Hadermann, ). Ultimately, societal stereotypes of girls being better at language learning may weigh on boys’ self‐perceptions as L2 learners (Kissau, ).…”

“…This is particularly important as EFL teaching across secondary schools in Germany relies heavily on textbooks (MSW–NRW, ). While no specific data regarding EFL methodology or textbooks were available as part of this project, we noted a mismatch in both Years 5 and 6 between the EFL methodology employed by teachers and the expectations of students, particularly those in the ES cohort, which may have discouraged learners, leading to a lack of motivation (Courtney et al., ). On the contrary, the LS cohort in this study exhibited what is now considered to be predicted patterns of advantages for older classroom language learners in school contexts, in line with the findings reported by Muñoz () in Spain.…”

“…An abrupt shift from student‐centered, playful methodology to more teacher‐directed, academically oriented, and faster‐paced lesson rhythms may have impacted the ES cohort more as they experienced it for longer in elementary school. In addition, a potential mismatch of student–teacher expectations regarding methodology used in class may have caused a decrease in motivation (Courtney et al., ; Graham et al., ), particularly if students did not receive input that addressed their L2 proficiency level (e.g., challenging advanced students, helping others catch up), which may easily cause frustration. Just as students vary, so does the competence of elementary school language teachers (see Nikolov & Djigunović, ).…”

“…This might have given them a boost and possibly even added to their motivation, as this would have led to their faster progression through learning, feeding into their sense of self‐efficacy. The question that remains unanswered is whether teachers were ready to support and develop students’ actual language proficiency or if teachers’ business‐as‐usual approach to teaching clashed with their students’ expectations and hurt their motivation (e.g., see Courtney et al., ).…”