ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts of the key concepts that are discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book argues that there are several areas where ID research is urgently needed. ID research is close to an inductive view of science, which searches for generalizations and range of applicability. Justification derives from the theoretical discussions of aptitude which attempt to relate aptitude to the processing skills involved in language learning. There is a striking resemblance between the sorts of capacities which underlie metacognitive strategies, on the one hand, and aspects of what are measured by language aptitude tests on the other. The evidence for cognitive style suggests that there is a weak relationship, on the borderline of significance, between field independence and language learning success. The major area for aptitude research is to make better connections with psycholinguistic and acquisitional traditions in applied linguistics.
