What do we know about individuals who reach near-native levels in a foreign language?
Achieving Native-Like Second Language Proficiency (Speaking) by Betty Lou Leaver is a research-based catalogue of factors that would seem to predict ability to reach the highest level of foreign language proficiency and is based on common characteristics shared by more than 200 near-native speakers, identified by self-report, survey, and interviews by master testers. T he sources of success reported by these students could have been anticipated in some cases and were quite unexpected in other cases. The three most commonly reported sources for success were time on task, perseverance, and instrumental motivation. Time on Task The time on task factor could easily have been anticipated. The more time one spends on anything, the better one knows it or the better one can do it. That is an axiom that few will question. It is also a factor that has been found by many researchers to be an important element in learning success at any level of foreign language proficiency....