https://owlcation.com/humanities/Ten-Characteristics-of-The-Good-Language-Learner
I.M.Y.G.K. Ilangasinghe
ANU/EN/2018/P/0033
Ten Characteristics of the Good Language Learner
1. Motivation to Communicate
My experience of living in Taiwan for one year during the late 1960s motivated me greatly to continue my study of Chinese Mandarin after I left the Navy. At that time my intentions were to return to Taiwan and renew acquaintances with Chinese and Taiwanese friends. I also wanted to learn more about China and Taiwan. Learning Mandarin well was very important to me so that I could communicate better with my Chinese and Taiwanese friends.
While I was teaching EFL in Taiwan in the 1970s, almost all of my students engaged in import and export trade were extremely motivated to learn. Improving their English meant that my students could interact better with their customers and hence improve their businesses.
2. Constant Practice
If you are going to be good at any skill, you need constant practice. Why can many professional basketball and baseball players perform at a high level? It's because the basketball player is continuously practicing his shooting and ball-handling skills. The baseball player is taking extra batting and fielding practice to become better. Practice makes perfect, and it's the same for learning languages. The more you practice, the more fluent you will become in a second language.
3. Uninhibited
The good language learner is uninhibited. He or she is not afraid to speak and initiate a conversation with a teacher or a stranger. Consequently, the learner will have more opportunities to practice, because most people naturally will not start a conversation with a stranger. Even if a person is apprehensive about starting a conversation, it is to their advantage to practice speaking with other people as much as possible.
4. Willing to Make and Learn From Mistakes
If a language learner is uninhibited, he or she will be willing to make mistakes and learn from mistakes. Just as in learning your native language, you learn a second language by trial and error. When I was living in Taiwan and learning Taiwanese in the 1970s, I once went to an outdoor market to look for papaya. I remember clearly asking one of the fruit vendors whether he had any "bakgui." Upon hearing this, he was somewhat startled and surprised that I was asking for a ghost. It turns out that "gui" in Taiwanese means ghost. I should have said "bakgoe" which is the correct word. This was a learning experience and I never made a mistake again when asking for papaya in Taiwanese.
5. Looks for Patterns in Language
The good language learner picks up a second language inductively and not deductively. I know of very few students who can use the present perfect tense correctly in their speech by just memorizing the rule for its construction. The students who can use it fluently are those who observed many examples of its usage in speech and writing. They then attempted through trial and error to make original sentences using the present perfect pattern which they picked up inductively.
6. Is a Good Guesser
If a student can't understand every important word in a spoken or written sentence, he or she will attempt to guess the word from context. When doing this, he will ask his speaking partner to repeat the sentence or rephrase it, so that another educated guess can be made.
7. Will Do Anything to Get the Message Across
When a language learner is attempting to express his ideas, he will spare nothing to get his message across. This can be done by rephrasing the question or answer. Another technique is to use a lot of gestures or body language while speaking.
8. Attend to Meaning, Not Just Grammar
The good language learner realizes that a second language cannot be learned by only memorizing grammar rules from a book. Language is primarily intended to communicate meaning and not only be grammatically correct. For this reason. a good learner pays more attention to the meaning he or she is trying to get across rather than producing a sentence which is completely grammatically correct.
9. Monitors His/Her Own Speech and That Of Others
When speaking, a good language learner will monitor the pronunciation, conversation management strategies, and fluency of both his own speech and partner's speech. Besides ensuring that both speakers can understand each other's pronunciation, the good language learner will pay attention to conversation management strategies which include fillers, hesitation techniques, and rephrasing or repetition techniques. Finally, the good language learner will attempt to match the speech and smoothness of his fluency with that of his speaking partner.
10. Has Self-Confidence
All good language learners are self-confident when using all four language skills. This self-confidence has been obtained from the encouragement of others, taking risks, and from scaffolding or the support given by teachers or target language friends.
With self-confidence, motivation, and constant practice, most people can be successful in learning a second language. Acquisition of a foreign language will then be of extreme benefit because it will open doors to new ideas and acquaintances with new people in new countries and cultures.
My experience of living in Taiwan for one year during the late 1960s motivated me greatly to continue my study of Chinese Mandarin after I left the Navy. At that time my intentions were to return to Taiwan and renew acquaintances with Chinese and Taiwanese friends. I also wanted to learn more about China and Taiwan. Learning Mandarin well was very important to me so that I could communicate better with my Chinese and Taiwanese friends.
While I was teaching EFL in Taiwan in the 1970s, almost all of my students engaged in import and export trade were extremely motivated to learn. Improving their English meant that my students could interact better with their customers and hence improve their businesses.
2. Constant Practice
If you are going to be good at any skill, you need constant practice. Why can many professional basketball and baseball players perform at a high level? It's because the basketball player is continuously practicing his shooting and ball-handling skills. The baseball player is taking extra batting and fielding practice to become better. Practice makes perfect, and it's the same for learning languages. The more you practice, the more fluent you will become in a second language.
3. Uninhibited
The good language learner is uninhibited. He or she is not afraid to speak and initiate a conversation with a teacher or a stranger. Consequently, the learner will have more opportunities to practice, because most people naturally will not start a conversation with a stranger. Even if a person is apprehensive about starting a conversation, it is to their advantage to practice speaking with other people as much as possible.
4. Willing to Make and Learn From Mistakes
If a language learner is uninhibited, he or she will be willing to make mistakes and learn from mistakes. Just as in learning your native language, you learn a second language by trial and error. When I was living in Taiwan and learning Taiwanese in the 1970s, I once went to an outdoor market to look for papaya. I remember clearly asking one of the fruit vendors whether he had any "bakgui." Upon hearing this, he was somewhat startled and surprised that I was asking for a ghost. It turns out that "gui" in Taiwanese means ghost. I should have said "bakgoe" which is the correct word. This was a learning experience and I never made a mistake again when asking for papaya in Taiwanese.
5. Looks for Patterns in Language
The good language learner picks up a second language inductively and not deductively. I know of very few students who can use the present perfect tense correctly in their speech by just memorizing the rule for its construction. The students who can use it fluently are those who observed many examples of its usage in speech and writing. They then attempted through trial and error to make original sentences using the present perfect pattern which they picked up inductively.
6. Is a Good Guesser
If a student can't understand every important word in a spoken or written sentence, he or she will attempt to guess the word from context. When doing this, he will ask his speaking partner to repeat the sentence or rephrase it, so that another educated guess can be made.
7. Will Do Anything to Get the Message Across
When a language learner is attempting to express his ideas, he will spare nothing to get his message across. This can be done by rephrasing the question or answer. Another technique is to use a lot of gestures or body language while speaking.
8. Attend to Meaning, Not Just Grammar
The good language learner realizes that a second language cannot be learned by only memorizing grammar rules from a book. Language is primarily intended to communicate meaning and not only be grammatically correct. For this reason. a good learner pays more attention to the meaning he or she is trying to get across rather than producing a sentence which is completely grammatically correct.
9. Monitors His/Her Own Speech and That Of Others
When speaking, a good language learner will monitor the pronunciation, conversation management strategies, and fluency of both his own speech and partner's speech. Besides ensuring that both speakers can understand each other's pronunciation, the good language learner will pay attention to conversation management strategies which include fillers, hesitation techniques, and rephrasing or repetition techniques. Finally, the good language learner will attempt to match the speech and smoothness of his fluency with that of his speaking partner.
10. Has Self-Confidence
All good language learners are self-confident when using all four language skills. This self-confidence has been obtained from the encouragement of others, taking risks, and from scaffolding or the support given by teachers or target language friends.
With self-confidence, motivation, and constant practice, most people can be successful in learning a second language. Acquisition of a foreign language will then be of extreme benefit because it will open doors to new ideas and acquaintances with new people in new countries and cultures.
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