Factors affecting foreign language learning. Learner's autonomy.

There is a number of internal and external factors that affect the process of foreign language
learning. The external factors are presented by the sociocultural characteristics of the two
languages brought into contact.
The internal factors are Cognitive and affective. The cognitive factors are related to one's
ability of perceiving, processing and memorizing information. And the affective factors represent
the feelings and emotions arising in the process of foreign language acquisition.
The main affective factors and their relevance to foreign language learning are:
1. Self-esteem - this is a person's own judgment of their own ability, value and feeling of
efficacy. In other words this is a person's own assessment of their degree of success in the
process of interacting with the environment. Directly involved in foreign language learning are
situational and task-related self-esteem. They represent one's self-evaluation in specific situations
and tasks.
2. Risk - taking - This Factor is closely related to the above mentioned. If one's self esteem
above the average, this person feels comfortable in uncertain situations, beyond their comfort
zone. Producing a foreign language is a risky undertaking. People who have a higher degree of
self-esteem are willing to experiment and are less worried about making mistakes. However the
high degree of risk taking is not a guarantee for success in foreign language acquisition.
Moderate risk takers are in general more successful because their guesses are based on
background knowledge and careful consideration.
3. Inhibition - this is another factor closely related to self-esteem. It represents the Desire or the
lack of desire of a person to build protective walls in order to defend their fragile ego. They have
weaker self-esteem and are afraid of making mistakes and losing face in front of the other
members of the group. This Factor is more typical of adult and teenage learners than children.
4. Language anxiety - this Factor is somehow connected to an inhibition and self-esteem. It
represents the feelings and more specifically the fear associated with foreign language learning
and use. There are observed different levels and conditions of anxiety. It could be considered a
positive Factor if its degree helps for one's concentration. On the other hand, however, it could
lead to excessive nervousness and a mental block, which lead to poor performance.
5. empathy is the ability to imagine and share other people's thoughts, emotions and point of
view. It is believed that it helps in foreign language acquisition when humanistic methods are
used, like Community Language teaching. It contributes to the attitude we have towards the
foreign language culture.
6. Extroversion and introversion - these terms represent the type of student's personality. The
extroverts feel the need to express themselves and to receive approval in order to feel wholeness.
The introverts on the contrary don't have such a need. Their inner judgment is quite sufficient to
feel approved. So it is easy to see that the type of personality has almost nothing to do with
foreign language acquisition but for the teacher it is important to observe and be aware of
students attending class, their cultural norms and expectations.
7. Motivation - in general, motivation is a complex concept which is defined as a driving Force
that leads to an action. In this specific case - foreign language learning, it represents the learner's
attitude, desire and willingness to learn. Learner's motivation could be provoked by their need to
be valued or to find a better job, parental pressure, academic requirements. In order to be
successful motivators, teachers should be able to identify the type and the source of their
students' motivation.
Cognitive factors
These factors are the result of all brain activities related to perceiving, processing and storing
information. Cognitive processes refer to a number of tasks the brain does continuously. They
are procedures in church after processing load information we receive from the environment.
These processes are known as transfer, generalization, interference and overgeneralization.
1. Transfer presents the benefits that prior knowledge brings in acquisition new one. This is the
reason why we considered this transfer positive. There is a negative transfer, however. A good
example of it is the common mistake Bulgarian students make: I am agree. This mistake is
provoked and by the construction of the Bulgarian language and the usage of the verb “agree".
This negative transfer is known as interference, because the old knowledge is incorrectly
associated with the new material. However, these mistakes shouldn't lead to underestimation of
the role of the mother tongue, without which the foreign language learning would be impossible.
2. Generalization - this is a very important process in foreign language learning. When we
encounter any new knowledge, we need to Anchor it in our conceptual system - the place where
we order our concerts under specific categories. The process underlies two types of reasoning in
language learning - deductive and inductive. Deductive processing works from a generalized
rule to specific examples that support generalization. Inductive thinking starts with separate
examples and leads to a general rule.
Overgeneralization occurs when a particular rule is used beyond its legitimate bounds. It leads to
mistakes. A typical example is the rule of using "-ed" to form past simple tense. In case of
overgeneralization students form *goed, *writed in the manner of liked, shocked, helped.
Cognitive Styles affect foreign language acquisition since they refer to the way a single person
tries to learn something new. The styles vary depending on the dimension considered: analytic
versus global; visual vs. auditory versus hands-on; random versus sequential.
Some of them are closely related to students’ performance in foreign language:
Field dependence vs. field independence. Both Styles refer to the ability of students to ignore
the factors of the surrounding environment and focus on the detail. Field dependent users are
influenced by these factors and it is harder for them to focus on details. However, this is not
necessarily a bad thing. Field dependent students are better communicators and are able to see
"the whole picture".
Field independent students perform better on tests or tasks focused on details. But the same
student could be considered field dependent or independent in different contexts and conditions.
Left vs. right brain functioning. Depending on the dominant hemisphere each student
expresses their preference to inductive or deductive language presenting, abstraction or
generalization.
Cognitive strategies - repetition, resourcing, translation, grouping, note taking, deduction,
recombination, transfer and etc. These all are strategies that a student uses in order to remember
new pieces of information. Advanced learners use wider range of strategies. Teachers should be
well aware of the variety of strategies for effective learning and exam preparation.
Learner autonomy
Since the beginning of the Post method error in foreign language teaching the concept of
learners' autonomy has been discussed by researchers and practitioners. Some claim that the
concept refers to classroom activities, others consider it as continuing process of foreign
language learning beyond the walls of the classroom. This is a concept related to learner's own
awareness of their strengths, weaknesses and needs.
The role of the teacher in this case is to draw students' attention to their own reasons for foreign
language learning and the ways of self-analysis. Once a student is well aware of the key factors
affecting the learning process, they are able to decide how much time and effort to invest in the
task.