Psychological factors of successful foreign language acquisition

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the study of the internal determination of the effectiveness of teaching non-native languages and to the identification of psychological factors in a person’s success in the process of foreign language learning. As psychological determinants of foreign language acquisition, the following are pointed out: language ability, cognitive and emotional factors, motivation, and the subject’s personal qualities in a learning activity. The results of an empirical investigation broadening the concept of the structure of language ability are provided. Foreign-language abilities are seen as a complex structure, including the quality of mental processes (auditory comprehension, aural and eye memory, verbal and cognitive activity, imitating abilities) and students’ personal qualities (communicative and emotional). Abilities as specific qualities of cognitive processes that directly contribute to the acquisition of materials considerably determine the activity success. Psychological difficulties in the process of foreign language teaching, which are determined by motivational, emotional, cognitive, and personal factors, are defined in the article.

A Polyglot’s Strategies in Learning Foreign Languages: a Case Study

“…plurilingualism, was coined to emphasize the focus of the study (Calafato & Simmonds, 2023;Cenoz, 2013;Jeoffrion, Marcouyeux, Starkey-Perret, et al, 2014). Most studies focusing on individual multilingualism addressed the characteristics of multilingual individuals, such as motivation (Calafato, 2021;Macatuno-Nocom, 2022;Thompson & Erdil-Moody, 2016), learning strategies (Alshaghel & Pappuswany, 2021;Brosh, 2018;Chattaraj, 2017;Dolgunsöz, 2013;Macatuno-Nocom, 2022;Qomariyah et al, 2022;Raftari & Vosoughi, 2013), learners' performance and the factors affecting the performance (Bin-Tahir et al, 2018;Bensalem, 2018;Brosh, 2018;Shishova, 2020), the cognitive and neural characteristics of multilingual individuals (Bright, Ouzia & Filippi, 2015;Hayakawa & Marian, 2019;Wattendorf, Festman, Westermann et al, 2014), as well as the impacts and benefits of multilingualism (Botes et al, 2020;Calafato, 2021;Calafato & Simmonds, 2023;Dolgunsöz, 2013;Lewis, 2023;O'Brien, Curtin & Naqvi, 2014;Pitkänen-Huhta, 2019).…”

“…The belief stemmed from Leonard Bloomfield's idea of what he called 'true multilingual.' However, the belief has been criticized as the imposing of a nativelike proficiency on foreign language learners would mean shoving a monolingual bias towards them, and that foreign language learning is much more complex than learning a first language (Anastassiou et al, 2017;Calafato & Simmonds, 2023;Jeoffrion et al, 2014;Macatuno-Nocom, 2022;O'Brien et al, 2014;Pinto & Alexandre, 2004;Pitkänen-Huhta, 2019;Shishova, 2020;Souza, 2018), especially if the learners are learning the new language not as a second language but as a third language or fourth language and so on (Hayakawa & Marian, 2019;Jeoffrion et al, 2014). On the other hand, Cenoz (2013) states that accepting minimum competence and/or proficiency for one to be considered multilingual is also rather problematic.…”

“…As language learning continuously requires the learners to exercise their problemsolving ability, language learning strategy constitutes an integral part of solving the encountered problems, by which the learners receive, process, and integrate information (Brosh, 2018). Throughout the process of learning a language, learning strategy holds a significant role as it helps make the learning process more effective and enjoyable (Chattaraj, 2017;Macatuno-Nocom, 2022), and in the long run will affect the success of the learning (Alshaghel & Pappuswamy, 2021;Anastassiou et al, 2017;Brosh, 2018;Calafato & Simmonds, 2023;Chattaraj, 2017;Dolgunsöz, 2013;Macatuno-Nocom, 2022;Oxford et al, 2014;Shishova, 2020;Raftari & Vosoughi, 2013;Qomariyah et al, 2022;Zarei & Baharestani, 2014).…”

“…While multilingualism is a common phenomenon, the study of multilingualism is relatively a new branch in the extensive scope of language and linguistic studies. Anisimova (2019) pointed out that multilingualism is multifaceted, and can be examined from a range of different perspectives, such as linguistics and psychology (Bin-Tahir, Atmowardoyo, Dollah, Rinantanti, & Suriaman, 2018;Botes, Dewaele, & Greiff, 2020;Shishova, 2020), sociolinguistics (Kidwell & Triyoko, 2021;Qomariyah, Anam, & Setiawan, 2022) or socio-economics (Chattaraj, 2017), education (Bensalem, 2018;Brosh, 2018;Castillo, 2013;Cenoz, 2013;Macatuno-Nocom, 2022), and even neuroscience (Wattendorf, Festman, Westermann et al, 2014). More specific studies have also been conducted to tap into the different areas of multilingualism, including the characteristics of multilingual individuals and/or communities (Cenoz, 2013), the emotions and emotional dynamics of multilingual individuals from the perspective of positive psychology (Botes et al, 2020), and the learning strategies that they employ when learning foreign languages (Alshaghel & Pappuswamy, 2021;Chattaraj, 2017;Dolgunsöz, 2013;Zarei & Baharestani, 2014).…”

“…Among the various aspects being studied up to the present time, learning strategy stands out as one of the most interesting and beneficial aspects. This is because it correlates with various variables, such as motivation and anxiety, and it plays a significant role in facilitating effective learning, predicting outcomes, and even determining the success of learning (Castillo, 2013;Calafato & Simmonds, 2023;Hemaidia, 2013;Shishova, 2020). The significance of learning strategies about multilingualism and foreign language learning also lies in the general acknowledgment that multilingual individuals indeed possess unique characteristics that both provide and result in advantages and superiority against monolingual individuals (Anastassiou et al, 2017;Dolgunsöz, 2013;Wattendorf et al, 2014).…”