A close look at l2 learning: from individual differences to multiple intelligences and brain based studies

Abstract

Since the second half of the twentieth century a significant paradigm shift has taken place in second language education, namely, the shift from positivism to post-positivism, and from behaviourism to cognitivism. In science, in general, when a paradigm shift, like this one occurs, we look at things from a different perspective since we focus on different aspects of the phenomena in our lives. In the case of language pedagogy, specifically, we found a move away from the tenets of behaviourist psychology and structural linguistics towards a cognitive, and later, towards a sociocognitive psychology. We also witness a more contextualised meaning-based view of language.