"The democratization of schooling and greater access to higher education, together with the implementation of language requirements in colleges and universities across the United States, have led to a higher degree of diversity in language classrooms. We usually think of gender, ethnic, racial, or social diversity, but individual differences, including learning disabilities and special needs, also contribute to diversity and have an impact on assessment, placement, and curriculum. In their role as administrators and teacher educators, Language Program Directors (LPDs) seek to integrate current practices and research in applied linguistics into program design and administration, including assessment. This volume provides LPDs with the means to transmit information to their instructors in effective ways so that the instructors develop a sophisticated understanding of individual differences, including learning disabilities, special needs, and strategies for dealing with diverse student populations"--Book jacket.

"AAUSC 2013"--Cover.

Individual differences in language development : teaching diverse populations /Cristina Sanz and Beatriz Lado -- Aptitude as grammatical sensitivity : recent research on processing instruction / Bill VanPatten -- The differential roles of two aptitude components in mediating the effects of two types of feedback on the acquisition of an opaque linguistic structure / Shaofeng Li -- Computer-delivered feedback and L2 development : the role of explicitness and working memory / Nuria Sagarra and Rebekha Abbuhl -- Hispanic heritage language learners in the Spanish classroom : a semester-long investigation of their attitudes and motivation / Iñigo Yanguas -- Older adult learners and SLA : age in a new light / Jessica Cox -- Finding the right combination for Spanish oral proficiency development : individual learner characteristics and study abroad program features / Jeff Connor-Linton -- The place of individual differences in language graduate instructors' education programs / Nina Moreno -- Exploring individual differences among Spanish heritage learners : implications for TA training and program development / María Luisa Parra -- Second language learning as perceived by students with disabilities / Sally S. Scott, Susan A. Hildebrandt, and Wade A. Edwards -- Deaf students in conventional foreign language classrooms / Pilar Piñar, Roberto Herrera, and Amanda Holzrichter.