Second language learners differ in how successfully they adapt to, and profit from instruction. This title aims to show that adaptation to L2 instruction is a result of the interaction between learner characteristics and learning contexts.

1. Preface; 2. 1. Introduction: Researching individual differences and instructed learning (by Robinson, Peter); 3. Section I: Theoretical Issues; 4. 2. The theory of successful intelligence and its implications for language-aptitude testing (by Sternberg, Robert J.); 5. 3. Motivation, anxiety and emotion in second language acquisition (by MacIntyre, Peter D.); 6. 4. Theorising and updating aptitude (by Skehan, Peter); 7. 5. Foreign language acquisition and language-based learning disabilities (by Grigorenko, Elena L.); 8. 6. Learning conditions, aptitude complexes, and SLA: A framework for research and pedagogy (by Robinson, Peter); 9. Section II: Empirical Studies; 10. 7. The motivational basis of language learning tasks (by Dornyei, Zoltan); 11. 8. The role of learners' language analytic ability in the communicative classroom (by Ranta, Leila); 12. 9. Individual differences in working memory, noticing of interactional feedback and L2 development (by Mackey, Alison); 13. 10. Effects of individual differences in intelligence, aptitude and working memory on adult incidental SLA: A replication and extension of Reber, Walkenfield and Hernstadt (1991) (by Robinson, Peter); 14. 11. Aptitude-exposure interaction effects on Wh-movement violation detection by pre-and-post-critical period Japanese bilinguals (by Ross, Steven); 15. 12. Age, aptitude and second language learning on a bilingual exchange (by Harley, Birgit); 16. References; 17. Index

This book provides a broad approach to individual differences in second language learning, from the theoretical to the empirical, from the cognitive to the affective, from broad frameworks to fine-grained studies by first-rate researchers. It also dwells more than any other book so far on the interaction between aptitudes and treatments or contexts in second language learning.A generation after Lee Cronbach and Richard Snow widely publicized the need for and potential of aptitude-treatment interaction research, we finally have a volume that does justice to this topic in the field of second language learning. It provides numerous ideas for future research, from broad hypotheses to test, to areas of language to focus on, to statistical techniques for data analysis.For anybody interested in how individual differences interact with L2 learning conditions, this book is not just interesting, it is exciting and inspiring.