Learners' Stories
Difference and Diversity in Language Learning

This volume is a collection of nine original papers exploring dimensions of individual difference in language learning from narrative and biographical perspectives.

Phil Benson (Edited by), David Nunan (Edited by)

9780521614146, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 7 April 2005

184 pages
22.8 x 15.3 x 1.6 cm, 0.292 kg

This volume is a collection of nine original papers exploring dimensions of individual difference in language learning from narrative and biographical perspectives. This book focusses on language learners as people, not as abstract individuals. By listening to the voices of the learners themselves and setting them in the context of their personal and social lives it advances our understanding of the enormous tasks faced by second and foreign language learners. It contains new and previously unpublished research which fills a gap in the existing literature. It also demonstrates how first-person accounts of langauge learning can be used practically both inside and outside the classroom.

Introduction, (Auto)biography and learner diversity, Affect in lifelong learning: Exploring L2 motivation as a dynamic process, Emotion processes in second language acquisition, Is there language acquisition after 40? Older learners speak up, An Arabic-speaking English learner's path to autonomy through reading, Learners' constructions of identities and imagined communities, 'It's just rules ... that's all it is at this stage...', Accommodation zone: Two learners' struggles to cope with a distance learning English course, Learning a second language with broadcast materials at home: Japanese students' long-term experiences, Conclusion

Subject Areas: Applied linguistics for ELT [EBAL]