Rethinking the Insights from Good Language Learner Studies: Moroccan Learners of EFL as a Case Study

Abstract

Over the recent decades, there has been a growing research interest in placing learners at the heart of any enterprise pertaining to foreign language learning and teaching. Alongside the growth of new perspectives and theories in cognitive psychology and foreign language learning and teaching, research has shifted its focus from the teacher and learning outcomes to the learners and the learning processes. Correspondingly, researchers emphasize the significance of making the learning and teaching paradigms more supportive and responsive to learners’ needs and interests to fully play more active and participatory roles. Drawing on researchers’ contributions in the area of good language learner studies, this paper sets out to examine the relationship between the characteristics of GLLs and language achievement. For this purpose, a sample of (N = 98) senior Moroccan high school students took an EFL achievement test and responded to the GLL questionnaire as designed and developed by Constantinides (2013). Using a Spearman correlational coefficient test and regression analysis, results show that GLLs’ scores significantly correlate (r = .81) and reliably predict the respondents’ achievement test scores. The paper ends with a conclusion and some pedagogical implications to promote EFL learning and teaching.