ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how individual differences (IDs) play a role in the moments leading up to, during, and immediately following learners’ production of speech in a second/additional language (L2). Sociocultural and demographic IDs, such as age, may impact learners’ opportunities with the L2 as well as their physical space dedicated to language learning; these IDs also have an effect on pronunciation in particular. Cognitive IDs such as working memory (WM) mediate attentional resources and the processing of input. Conative IDs such as willingness to communicate (WTC) determine learners’ likelihood of engaging in verbal production. Affective IDs such as anxiety can dominate a learner’s focus rendering them less able (or willing) to speak in the L2. In this chapter, each of the aforementioned IDs are examined, and the theoretically motivated and empirically grounded reasons why and how each ID impacts learners’ L2 speaking are discussed, along with how methodological choices have facilitated and, at times, limited our understanding of these relationships. Finally, areas ripe for future research on each ID are enumerated which the author, like many, consider to be on the spectrum of dynamicity.
