This chapter addresses not just the “good” language learner, but those who may be considered among the best. They are distinguished by performance at “Level Four” (on a five-point scale) on an oral interview test that uses the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) level definitions (Federal Interagency Language Roundtable, 1999). Level Four proficiency, also referred to at one time by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages as “Distinguished” proficiency, implies almost no limitations on the ability of the individual to use the language, including control of multiple registers, fine lexical distinctions, and pragmatic skill close to native. Some refer to this level as “near-native” (Leaver and Shekhtman, 2002).

Those who achieve Level Four are among the true elite of good language learners. Achievement of Level Four in any skill is both very difficult and rare. It is almost never done in a classroom alone, though in the case of gifted learners, it may require only a short exposure to a foreign environment together with very advanced classroom work. For most, however, extended sojourns are the norm. But of course very few, even of those who spend a long time in a country, reach Level Four.

What characterizes Level Four achievers has been an open question for some time. Some of my own research has looked at this question, with intriguing results for motivation, aptitude, cognitive style, native language background, and personality.