Successful and unsuccessful distance language learners: an ‘affective’ perspective

Abstract

Research on the good language learner in the conventional learning context has been high on the agenda of practitioners in the field of English as a second language/English as a foreign language since the mid-1970s. This study, however, focuses on the distance learning context with the aim of constructing an ‘affective’ profile of the successful distance language learner. According to this study, the successful distance language learner is highly motivated with specific reasons for his/her study, perceived progress, and appropriate tactics to maintain motivation; he/she has strong self-efficacy, which may lead to increased motivation and an internal locus of learning; he/she is metacognitively mature, and uses his/her initiative in dealing with anxiety arising from the distance language learning process. Implications from the research results are also discussed.

Keywords:

• English as a foreign language
• distance language learning expertise
• motivation
• learner belief
• anxiety