# name
Comparing individual differences in successful and less successful language learners: A case study of four Asian students in Catalonia

# metadata.dc.description[].value
Màster de Lingüística Aplicada i Adquisició de Llengües en Contextos Multilingües, Departament de Filologia Anglesa i Alemanya, Universitat de Barcelona, Any: 2011, Supervisor: Dr. E. Tragant

# metadata.dc.description.abstract[].value
Immigrant adolescents in Catalonia are faced not only with two linguistic challenges but
also difficulties adjusting to an unfamiliar mainstream community. This is a case study
of four Asian students aged 15-16 who entered a Catalan multilingual secondary school
in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat midway the school year 9-12 months before the study was
conducted. The goal of the research was to explore the most obvious individual
differences influencing the four Asian newcomers’ learning of Catalan. This study
focuses on an up to date topic since it deals with multicultural classrooms and SLA but
it is also a unique contribution to the field for two reasons. (1) It focuses on two
successful and two unsuccessful Catalan learners in a Spanish dominant area. (2) The
case study approach was not based on a set of battery tests but rather on in-depth
participants, relatives and teachers interviewing, both classroom and playground
observations, an oral proficiency task, first impressions upon arriving in Catalonia,
students’ grades and school’s demographic information and fieldnotes. This
methodology allowed for a narrative analysis which provided rich data to describe each
learner profile and conclude that even though the difficult access to Catalan, the
motivational concept of “ideal-self” (Dörnyei, 2005) plays the most significant role
from all the factors analysed.

# metadata.dc.source[].value
Màster Oficial - Lingüística Aplicada i Adquisició de Llengües en Contextos Multilingües

# metadata.dc.title[].value
Comparing individual differences in successful and less successful language learners: A case study of four Asian students in Catalonia