Foreign Language Acquisition

Learning is the process through which people change their behavior by doing, practicing and experiencing. That means that learning implies the modification of actions, otherwise learning is not attained.

The proper acquisition of a language should be seen in the development of the students’ speaking skill. It has been confirmed that there are a variety of factors that influence the acquisition of a foreign language. In 1965, Bloom published the Bloom’s Taxonomy where he proposed a classification of the factors that intervene in the learning process into three facets: the affective domain, the cognitive domain, and the psychomotor domain.

In his book (Brown, 2000) describes the affective domain as the emotional side of the human behavior.

Need for knowledge or the need to process and internalize exploration and experience results that could assist in problems solving.

3. Need for ego improvement or the search for self-knowledge driven by the desire to be accepted and approved by others.

When analyzing the development of a foreign language in the learning process, the different learning style of the students need to be taken into account. It’s also important to remember that intrinsic motivation aids students’ learning and that the quality of classroom interaction matters a great deal. According to Deci and Ryan (1985), intrinsic motivation is linked to elementary human needs for proficiency, independence, and understanding. Innately motivated deeds are those that the apprentice engages in for their own welfare due to their significance, awareness, and challenge. Such activities present the greatest promising chances for knowledge.

Learning is the result of motivation which at the same time is the product of one of these needs or a combination of them. “Motivation is related to performance” (Gonzalez, Carmen) which means that students with high motivation level will achieve greater performance. Subsequently, these types of learners are the ones who tend to achieve their

Nevertheless, the results of his research did not support his hypothesis. In fact, introverts did better in phonetics or pronunciation skills than extroverts. In his book Brown also describes another research conducted by (Dewaele and Furnham, 1988) in which they proved that extroversion is a valuable contributor in the development of communication skills, but not in reading, writing, and listening activities. Therefore, it can be concluded that both, introverts and extroverts, may succeed in a foreign language learning process, though in different ways. In other words, introversion is beneficial in some tasks and learning strategies, whereas extroversion is in others.

As motivation, self-esteem plays a powerful role in the learning process of a foreign language. It is believed that succeeding in any task implies certain degree of self-esteem, self-confidence, self-knowledge, believe in oneselves and one’s own capacity. Self-esteem is defined as the self-appraisal that humans being have of themselves, what they are, what they become, as a consequence of the mixture of physical and emotional factors that they face throughout their lives and which were shaping their