Second Language Learning and Language Teaching

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Box 8.3 Age in L2 learning
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To be older leads to better learning in the short term, other things being equal.
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Some research still favours child superiority at pronunciation, but not reliably.
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Children get to a higher level of proficiency in the long term than those
who start L2 learning while older, perhaps because adults slow down.
8.5 Are other personality traits important to 
L2 learning?
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Do you tend to straighten pictures if they are crooked?
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What type of personality do you think is the mark of a successful student?
Focusing questions
cognitive style: a person’s typical ways of thinking, seen as a continuum
between field-dependent (FD) cognitive style, in which thinking relates to
context, and field-independent (FI) style, in which it is independent of 
context
extrovert and introvert: people’s personalities vary between those who relate
to objects outside themselves (extroverts) and those who relate to the 
contents of their own minds (introverts)
Keywords

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Though there has been research into how other variations between L2 learners
contribute to their final success, it has produced a mass of conflicting answers.
Mostly, isolated areas have been looked at rather than the learner as a whole.
Much of the research is based on the non-uniqueness view of language, and so
assumes that L2 learning varies in the same way as other types of learning, say
learning to drive or to type. One piece of research shows that something is bene-
ficial; a second piece of research following up the same issue shows it is harmful.
Presumably this conflict demonstrates the complexity of the learning process and
the varieties of situation in which L2 learning occurs. But this is slender consola-
tion to teachers, who want a straight answer.