Individual Differences in Second-Language Ability: a Factor-Analytic Study

The second-language abilities of 51 English speakers learning Dutch naturalistically were tested at three points during their first year in the second-language environment. The tests used reflected abilities in pronunciation, auditory discrimination, morphology, syntax, vocabulary, comprehension of running speech, fluency, and metalinguistic judgments. Factor analyses of the results revealed the emergence during the year of two major second language factors: grammar plus vocabulary and phonological ability. The vocabulary tests correlated highly with tests of syntax and morphology at all test sessions. These results are related to hypotheses concerning individual differences in strategies of first-and second-language acquisition.