Personality traits

Personality is one of those concepts for which one cannot find a single definition. On the one hand, there is the view that every individual’s personality is characterised by unique and unchanging patterns of traits (Messick, 1994). On the other hand, there is the view that every person’s personality consists of a multitude of traits, and one’s behaviour may display behaviours across several dimensions. Therefore, it seems impossible to offer an accurate personality profile. Multi-trait personality models such as Eysenck’s three component construct (e.g. Eysenck & Eysenck, 1985), and the Five Factor Model (e.g. Costa & McCrae, 1992) include extroversion and introversion. Together with these personality traits, other dispositions that have been considered influential in SLA include self-esteem, inhibition, risk taking, and anxiety (Brown, 2007).

With respect to extroversion and introversion, Dörnyei (2005) claims that they have attracted the most attention in the L2 field. Extroverted people are considered to be

sociable and talkative, whereas introverted people are more quiet, and passive. Thus, in class, extroverts tend to like discussions, receiving explanations from teachers or classmates, as well as studying with a group. In contrast, introverts seem to prefer writing rather than speaking, as well as studying alone rather than in a group (Laney, 2002; Richard & Schmidt, 2002; Dörnyei, 2005).

Depending on the learning situation, characteristics of both extroversion and introversion could favour a student. Some learning situations might benefit an outgoing person, whereas some others could favour a person’s quieter counterpart (Dörnyei, 2005). Therefore, distinguishing oral and written criteria appears to be important when studying the relationship between such personality traits and learning. For example, Naiman, Fröhlich, Stern, & Todesco, (1996) reported no relationship between extroversion and written criteria language measurements. However, Dewale and Furham (1999) found that extroverts were more fluent than introverts, especially in formal situations, or in environments characterised by interpersonal stress. Similarly, Dewale (2004) provided additional findings concerning the superior fluency of extroverts compared to introverts. Such outcomes suggested that introverts might benefit less from learning opportunities that require participation in communicative tasks (Dörnyei, 2005).

Within the construct of self, another personality trait that is associated with risk-taking is self-esteem. Self-esteem embodies the evaluations of one’s general self-worth or esteem (Bong & Skaalvik, 2003). It seems that during L2 oral production tasks, there is a greater potential for damaging one’s self-esteem. Thus, a learner with a strong self-esteem is less likely to suffer any psychological damage when producing an error, or when receiving CF. In contrast, a relatively insecure learner might fear to experiment with newly learned knowledge at the expense of producing an error, and consequently receiving CF (Brown, 2007; Weiten, 2017). It also appears that academic achievement has an important role in the development of self-concept, as one’s views and evaluations of oneself are to a large extent based on school performance (Pajares & Schunk, 2005). Moreover, it has been suggested that inhibition discourages risk-taking, affecting especially older learners, because for example, adolescents appear to be more self-conscious compared to younger students (Guiora, Brannon, & Dull, 1972).

To continue, anxiety is considered to be one of the most important affective factors that can influence learning processes and performances (Kormos, 2017). Anxiety can be defined as “the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system” (Spielberger, 1983, p. 1). The role of anxiety in language learning appears to be significant, because when interacting in a non-native language it is common to experience feelings of uncertainty and perceptions of a threat to one’s self-esteem and self-concept (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986). Learners’ willingness to interact during L2 oral tasks could be attributed to the extent that “their prior language learning has led to development of self-confidence, which is based on a lack of anxiety combined with a sufficient level of communicative competence, arising from a series of reasonably pleasant [second language] experiences” (MacIntyre, Dörnyei, Clément, & Noels, 1998, p. 548).

It has been indicated that anxiety can interfere with L2 learning, as high-anxiety learners were found to score lower than low-anxiety learners in language courses. Moreover, within a classroom context, high-anxiety learners were found to speak less, or not to speak at all due to nervousness, and to avoid risks in learning (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994). As far as the relationship between anxiety and error correction is concerned, although only a few studies have looked at it, anxiety has been a main argument against CF provision. In particular, the claim against CF refers to the potential negative effects that overt correction might have on students’ affective filter by raising it, and it is argued that these negative effects of CF might prevail over the positive effects (Krashen, 1983).

DeKeyser (1993) was the first who studied the effects of oral CF in relation to students’ individual difference characteristics, and he indicated that learners of low-anxiety, and low extrinsic motivation benefited from regular error correction. However, in Havranek and Cesnik’s (2001) study of German learners of English, it was indicated that high inhibiting anxiety and high promotive anxiety appeared more conductive to CF learning than any other type of low anxiety. More recently, in Sheen’s (2008, 2011) research, recasts were found to be more effective for low-anxiety learners who produced high levels of modified output or uptake with repair, suggesting that anxiety can influence whether recasts lead to modified output.

Together with other learner factors, personality traits of learners appear to affect not only their learning style preferences, but they may also have strong effects on their L2 learning process and progress (Deawale, 2002; Cohen, 2010). It appears that individual difference factors such as personality traits, and motivation variables, and their role in affecting CF success have not received adequate attention from researchers. Ellis and Sheen (2006) invited research concerning the impact of these concepts on the perception of recasts. Likewise, Sheen (2011) has called for more studies to investigate the relationship between anxiety and micro-processes of language learning.

In addition to the learner factors described above, another socio-psychological factor that received attention in relation to CF is the concept of attitude. In the following section, I review relevant literature on attitudes and CF, and I identify the gaps that I wish to address in this thesis.