Introduction
In the past, second language (L2) aptitude research was conducted largely to better the placement and selection processes utilized by governmental language programs. Today, L2 aptitude is also assessed to diagnose and treat L2 learning problems (Ganschow, Sparks, and Javorsky, 1998; Sparks and Ganschow, 2001), to inform curricular design (Robinson, 2007; Sawyer and Ranta, 2001), and to see how other cognitive factors, such as working memory, which were not identified or assessed by earlier aptitude tests, are related to L2 learning (Erlam, 2005; Miyake and Friedman, 1998). Underlying this expanded research agenda is the understanding of the differences and similarities between general aptitude (intelligence) and specific components (or factors) of aptitude for language learning (Gardner and Lambert, 1965; Wesche, Edwards, and Wells, 1982; see also Dörnyei, 2005, pp. 45–47 for a recent discussion on L2 aptitude and intelligence). Although the exact nature of these factors...
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Stansfield, C.W., Winke, P.M. (2008). Testing Aptitude for Second Language Learning. In: Hornberger, N.H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30424-3_169
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