What are your individual differences?
I was completing a book review the other day and I came across the term ‘individual difference’ for language learners. Then last week I was finishing an article with a colleague and we got stuck on the draft. The problem? We were working through defining and including ‘individual differences’.
What are individual differences?
Individual differences have historically been defined as the learning style and strategy preferences, as well as aptitude differences among language learners (this goes back several decades). These are probably the most common elements of individual differences researchers, teachers, and learners have in mind when they hear the term.
Now, however, the term individual difference also encompasses motivation, self-regulation (i.e., learning strategies), learning goals, previous language learning experience (to include study abroad and heritage learners), disability, age, and gender – anything that represents a distinction from one learner to the other and which could impact acquisition.
Why the shift?
This is an interesting question. My gut feeling on this is that we now have the ability to follow (track) learners at an individual level and recognize that one umbrella theory or methodology will never meet all learners’ needs. As a teacher, one of the first questions that I ask myself of a new class is: Do learners who enroll in a course have the same: (1) background, (2) motivation, (3) self-regulation skills, and (4) learning goals? (Okay – this is really a four-part question)
What can you do to help all learners learn equally well?
The challenge is to make the language accessible to all, despite any/all individual differences. Taking a hard look at the methodology and materials is the starting point. An inclusive methodology is one that uses a multi-modal approach, presenting the language in several different ways for learners to absorb. As a learner, you can do this at an individual level by finding different ways to study, to include: watching videos that explain a topic (instead of just reading about it), working with a partner on a topic, drawing the topic, acting it out, recording and listening to yourself, etc. The more differed and varied approaches you have, the greater the likelihood that you will master the content.
I think it’s worth mentioning that individual differences are what make us unique! Getting frustrated over another learner’s apparent ease in the language will not make your learning any easier. So experiment with different approaches and find a way that works for you.
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