SELF-INSTRUCTION AND SUCCESS - A LEARNER-PROFILE STUDY

Interviews of 70 British adult learners with experience of self-instru ction in a range of foreign languages generated profiles of language e xperience at learner and at self-instructed language-token level. Mult ivariate analysis showed: clear separation between languages with and without self-instruction the most effective learning route appears to be starting with classwork, but adding or going over to self-instructi on at a later stage; ab initio self-instruction results in low command and high dropout, but may meet modest, short-term learner needs. Sens e of success, however, seemed to be based more on self-image than on e xternal achievement; and L1-L2 cognacy appeared to have little effect on achievement.