Affective Factors Involved in Learning a Foreign Language

Acquisition of a foreign language represents an intensively studied issue, its psychological foundation being based on the individual differences of various learners. The learning process depends on a series of factors: cognitive factors (language apttitude, learning strategies), affective factors (attitudes, motivation, anxiety), metacognitive factors, and demographic factors. We have chosen to analize how affective factors contribute to first year Psychology and Educational Sciences students’ English proficiency. They were tested with AMTB and an English language test. There were identified significant differences in how affective factors influence learning a foreign language between this category of students and those coming from a faculty of letters.