A case study of a successful and an unsuccessful foreign language learner

This paper focuses on the investigation of the differences in multiple intelligences, learning styles, motivation and language learning strategies used by a successful and an unsuccessful foreign language learner. The study finds that the successful language learner has verbal/linguistic, intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences while the unsuccessful one owns naturalistic intelligence. The study indicates that the successful learner was intrinsically motivated and the unsuccessful one studied English as foreign language to pass examination.
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A case study of a successful and an unsuccessful foreign language learner A CASE STUDY OF A SUCCESSFUL AND AN UNSUCCESSFUL FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNER DIỄN CỨU NGƯỜI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ THÀNH CÔNG VÀ KHÔNG THÀNH CÔNG MA Nguyen Van Thang1, MA, ThS. Phạm Hương Lan2, MA. 1 Thanh Dong University 2 Vietnam National University of AgricultureAbstract This paper focuses on the investigation of the differences in multiple intelligences,learning styles, motivation and language learning strategies used by a successful and anunsuccessful foreign language learner. The study finds that the successful languagelearner has verbal/linguistic, intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences while theunsuccessful one owns naturalistic intelligence. The study indicates that the successfullearner was intrinsically motivated and the unsuccessful one studied English as foreignlanguage to pass examination. It was also found that the successful leaner used a widerrange of language learning strategies for significantly learning English as a foreignlanguage more frequently than the unsuccessful one. The former mostly usedmetacognitive strategies, compensation strategies, cognitive strategies, memorystrategies and social strategies while the latter rarely used the language learningstrategies. Key words: successful learner, unsuccessful learner, multiple intelligences, learningstyles, motivation, language learning strategies 1. Introduction Ever since the seminal works of Rubin (1975) and Stern (1975), the passion forresearching the good language learner has shown no sign of waning. Starting from theassumption that “if we knew more about what the successful learners did, we might be ableto teach these strategies to poorer learners to enhance their success record” (Rubin, 1975,p.42), earlier studies focused mainly on language learning strategies. Up to date, researchin the field has covered both learner variables (for example: multiple intelligences, learningstyles, motivation, attitude, aptitude, personality, gender, culture, context, beliefs,metacognition and autonomy), learning variables (for example: vocabulary, grammar,pronunciation, function, listening, speaking, reading and writing) as well as training 101language learning expertise, teaching expertise, teacher cognition and teacher education(Brown, 2006; Rubin & Thompson, 2009). In Asia, the case studies of successful language learners have been conducted by a largenumber of researchers on different cases in EFL environment from many countries such asChina, Taiwan, Japan, Iranian, and so forth. Although English as a foreign language hastaught for few decades in Vietnam and more and more Vietnamese people try to learnEnglish for working or studying and not everyone is successful in their languageacquisition, Vietnamese successful and unsuccessful language learners have not receivedmany deep looks from linguists as well as researchers. Therefore, it would appear to bedesirable to investigate the characteristics and strategies found in successful andunsuccessful English learners in Vietnam. This study is hoped to be an attempt to bridgethis gap in the literature. Hopefully, the findings would be specific and relevant to thelearners and language learning environment in Vietnam. More specifically, the study works to gain the explanation for the following questions: 1. How do multiple intelligences, learning styles and motivation affect the successfuland unsuccessful English learner? 2. What learning strategies do the learners employ in their English learning? Ho Thi Van considered as a successful English learner and Pham Thi Thanh Huyenconsidered as an unsuccessful one were selected to do research. They allow me to usetheir real name in my paper. Van got 6.5 IELTS when she was at grade 11. After gainingbachelor of Business Administration at Thanh Dong University, she took part in IELTSexamination organized by IDP Education again and got 7.5. She was a lecturer of ThanhDong University in 2 years and then she obtained scholarship in Australia. At present, sheis studying MA course in Australia. Pham Thi Thanh Huyen was a classmate of Van. at Thanh Dong University, studentsmust get 450-score TOEIC to graduate. Although she tried her best, she failed 3 times ingetting this score. Thus, she tried her best to gain 450-score TOEIC in fourth time tograduate. 2. Theoretical framework 2.1. Good Language Learners A number of recent studies on language learning styles and strategies haveattem ...