Extroversion - Introversion in the Context of Foreign Language Learning

Year 2017, Volume: 8 Issue: 3, 1 - 21, 17.12.2017

Ali Şükrü Özbay , Tuncer Aydemir , Yasemin Atasoy

Abstract

An understanding of personality type can help teachers explain why students approach tasks differently: Some are successful, while some fail to participate in class activities (Oxford & Ehrman, 1990); Wilz, 2000, (as cited in Marefat, 2006, p.116). Many research studies, accordingly, have been done so far in an attempt to measure the level of success in language learning between outgoing students and their reserved counterparts. The results of these studies often turned out to be inconsistent, some showing a clear correlation between extroversion and success in learning a language, and others failing to demonstrate that there is a positive correlation between being extrovert and foreign language proficiency. The current study aimed at discovering the relationship, if any, between learner personality types and their successes in foreign language learning. The researchers administered the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) as a reliable instrument to determine the personality type for each subject. Thirty-two male and sixty-eight female intermediate level prep students studying in a middle size university in the north of Turkey participated in this study with, selected on a purposive sampling methodology. The average of each learner’s scores on reading, writing, speaking and listening courses served as an index of their success in language learning. The participants were also asked to fill out the MBTI questionnaire with two options for each item. Individuals were classified on the basis of their self-reported preferences. Analysis of data indicated that there is not a statistically significant relationship between learner personality type and success in language learning.

Keywords

Foreign language learning, extroversion, introversion, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

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