ABSTRACT
The variables that contribute to individual differences are usually divided into three broad categories. Some are called cognitive, meaning that they relate to the mental make-up of the person. Intelligence is one such factor; another is language aptitude, the phrase used to refer to an ability specific to language learning and different from general intelligence. Other variables are called affective. The most commonly studied affective variables are motivation and attitudes. The third set of factors is the personality variables. Early in the twentieth century, intelligence was considered an important factor for FL learning. Canadian scholars like Lambert and Gardner have for a long time been major contributors to the field of applied linguistics, one important reason being that Canada is a bilingual country, with French- and English-speaking provinces. In the popular imagination, language learning ability is associated with being good at certain other skill areas.
