The MA dissertation discusses the topic of the language aptitude – a complex of basic abilities that facilitate foreign language learning – of Year 5 students in Slovenia and in the Slovenian minority in the Gorizia’s province in Italy. The theoretical part defines the concept of language aptitude, its important role in the school context and some different examples of tests that measure learners’ language aptitude. Furthermore, the differences between the second and the third language acquisition are described. The phenomenon of multilingualism is defined and its important advantages of the third language learning process. The empirical part investigates the language aptitude of Year 5 students. In the research study, 234 Slovenian and Slovene minority students from the Gorizia’s province in Italy were tested using the Slovenian elementary version of the Modern Language Aptitude Test (SloMLAT-E). They also filled in the attitude and motivational scale for learning English as a foreign language and took an English language proficiency test. The results show that the average level of language aptitude of year 5 students varies, but is generally quite high. The correlation between the level of the measured language aptitude and the results on the English proficiency test is statistically significant and moderate positive. On the other hand, the results show a statistically significant but weak positive relation between the level of the measured language aptitude and the learners’ motivation to learn English. This may prove that the language aptitude is an individual difference – which influences the process of language learning but is not strongly connected with the foreign language learning motivation. The results also show statistically significant differences between learners with a different mother tongue in different subcomponents of language aptitude (in the vocabulary knowledge and in the sound-symbol association, in the grammatical sensitivity and in the ability to hear and make distinction between speech sounds) and in the relationship between the language aptitude and English language proficiency. Finally, it may be assumed that the formal learning of a foreign language is positively correlated to formal learning of other foreign languages.
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