1 WHY ARE SOME LEARNERS MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN OTHERS

Abbas Shirgholami
A_SHIRGHOLAMI@LANG.IUST.AC.IR

Before elaborating on why some learners of English are more successful than others, its better to
define the successful learning. Rigby et al (1992) broadly construed that learning refers to a lifelong process in which organisms make contact with and assimilate their environment. So as a
teacher we should clearly aware that our duty is not only teach students language knowledge, but
teaching them to be a self-educator. Success in this literature defined as explanations of how some
learners benefit from one type of solution or learning environment that others do not. Clearly, some
learners have strong beliefs about learning and like to work hard, set high standards, achieve lofty
goals, take risks, and use their initiative to discover and apply new information. In contrast, many
learners remain satisfied with less effort, comfortable standards, highly structured environments,
and easily attained goals. In recent years, scholars focus on another aspect of successful learners
concerning with intelligence to determine if there is a relation between intelligence and being more
successful in acquiring a language or not. By the way if we consider intelligence as a main factor
to determine the success of learners, then a simple test should accurately predict the educational
outcomes of every learners, so this is clearly not the case.
There is a fact that individuals do not learn alike. Even we acknowledge this fact, still we continue
to treat learners as a homogenous audience and we wonder why some learners learn really well
and in the contrary some fail to achieve their goal. Success in learning a second or a foreign
language, unlike the success in first language acquisition, is very variable. According to Cook
(2001), language learners vary in terms of factors such as: aptitudes, demographic variables,
affective variables, learning styles, and learning strategies when they start learning the second
language. These variable factors have profound effects on how the learners approach language
learning tasks and how successful they are. Learner strategies, as conscious actions in learning and
using a second or a foreign language, are one of the factors having profound effects on how
individual learners approach language learning and how successful they are. Thus, the best way to
acknowledge why some learners do better in learning language is addressing learners strategies.

2 WHY ARE SOME LEARNERS MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN OTHERS

Learner Strategies and Successful Learners

The term learner strategies refers to techniques, behaviors, actions, thought process, problem
solving, or study skills taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more self-directed,
more effective, and more transferable to a new situation (Oxford and Crookall 1989; Oxford 1990),
and enable more independent, autonomous, lifelong learning (Allwright 1990 cited Ehrman et al.
2003). At all it implies learners conscious movement toward a language goal (Ehrmanet al. 2003).
Macaro (2003) added that strategies must contain not only an action but also a goal and a learning
situation (p.327).
According to Chamot and OMalley (1994), language learning strategies can be described within
the cognitive model of learning. The cognitive model of learning indicates that learning is an
active, dynamic process in which learners select information from their environment, organize the
information, relate it to what they already know, retain what they consider to be important, use the
information in appropriate contexts, and reflect on the success of their learning efforts. Macaro
(2003) indicated that learner strategies are located in working memory as resources to aid the
system of information processing. He mentioned that In order to manage these resources, the
central executive [working memory] has to exert control over their deployment (p.327). However,
there are some strategies like behaviors performed to help learning or using of a second language,
include compensation strategies, affective strategies, and social strategies , which can be describe
as the theory of communicative competence (Canale and Swain 1980, McDonough 1999), the
humanistic perspective (Stevick 1976 , Williams and Burden 1997), and social interactionism

3 WHY ARE SOME LEARNERS MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN OTHERS

(Vygostky 1960,1962, 1978 , Williams and Burden 1997). Following table shows the classification
and examples of learners strategies.

Table1. Learner strategies

Usually less effective learners use strategies in a random and uncontrolled manner just the contrary
of successful learners.

However, there are quite a few other statements and theories dealing with profiling successful
language learners that I like to briefly mention few of prominent ones, for example Attention
Theories that list the attribute of successful learners as follow:
1. They paid closer attention and had a chance to talk about the language in detail before practicing
the language.

4 WHY ARE SOME LEARNERS MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN OTHERS

2. They've participated in and took advantage of meaningful practice until TL became automatic.
3. They have a lot of background knowledge and experience to relate to the new material and
they've activated it while learning.
4. They had fewer demands on their attention.
After Attention Theory Krashen came up with Input Theory and proposed that successful learners
received more comprehensible input while they had a lower Affective Filter. Then, based on
Conversation Theory, they categorized effective language learner as someone who participated in
"good" conversations with a partner who scaffold and was willing to participate to the best of his
ability to keep the conversation going. More specifically, Skinner and Chomsky believed that some
learners act better in learning language because:
1. Their NL is closer to the TL.
2. They have successfully reset parameters.
3. They received individualized/personalized practice.
4. They practiced new language patterns enough to overcome interference (new habits were
formed).
5. They received positive reinforcement for grammatically correct responses and for native-like
pronunciation.
6. They learned the L2 during the critical period.
Conclusion
In this study, after defining the successful learner few strategies which commonly used by learners
have been proposed to determines the schemes of successful learner. Then, we came up with a few
common characteristics of successful learners of second/foreign language, However, I dont think
all successful learners need to have these characteristics but according to literatures these
characteristics can be developed for improving less successful learners. As most of previous
studies tried to determined the characteristics of successful learner; the question which is raised
here is whether these personal attributes can be teach to other learners or not.

5 WHY ARE SOME LEARNERS MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN OTHERS

REFRENCES
Rigby, C.S., Deci, E.L., Patrick, B.C., & Ryan, R.M. (1992). Beyond the intrinsic-extrinsic dichotomy, 16, (3),
165-185.

Cook, V., 2001. Second language learning and language teaching, 3rd edition. New
York: Oxford University Press.
Oxford, R. and Crookal, D., 1989. Research on language learning strategies: methods,
findings, and instructional issues. The modern language journal, 73 (4), 404-419.
Ehrman, M. Leaver, B., and Oxford, R., 2003. A brief overview of individual differences in
second language learning. System, 31(3), 313-330.
Macaro, E., 2003. Strategies for language learning and for language use: revising the theoretical
framework. The modern language journal, 90 (3), 320-337.
Chamot, A.U. and Omalley, J.M., 1994. The CALLA handbook: implementing the cognitive
academic language learning approach. Reading: MA Addison-Wesley.
Mcdonough, S.H., 1990. Learner strategies. Language teaching, 32 (1), 1-18.
Williams, M. and Burden, R.M., 1997. Psychology for language teachers: a social constructivist
approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press