Among the five main factors as individuals in English learning, except for the language aptitude and the age of acquisition, the other three are related to each other and can be adjusted by the learner. In the three factors, personality has an important effect on the other two. It is studied that a learner’s personality can affect his learning strategies. For example, “extroverted English learners and introverted English learners would adopt different learning strategies” [3].
Therefore, it has much significance in improving the foreign language learning efficiency by studying the personality types and second language learning.
1. 1 Introduction of extroverted and introverted personality
In 1913, Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung first introduced the concept of extroversion and introversion. He further stated in his book Psychological Types (1921) that when people were related to the surrounding world, they had two psychological tendencies or attitudes. One was related to the inside world, called introvert. The other was related to the outside world, called extrovert. Jung thought although every person could more or less be both extroverted and introverted, he or she often tended to one more than the other. “As typical personality types, extroversion and introversion mean a basic tendency that restricts the person’s whole mental process and establishes his or her habitual reaction.” [4]
After a lot of researches and measurements, Eysenck finally proved existence of extroversion and introversion. Although extroversion/introversion represents a continuum, it is still possible to be defined:
“Extroverts are sociable, like parties, have many friends and need excitement: they are sensation-seekers and risk-takers, like practical jokes and are lively and active. Conversely introverts are quite, prefer reading to meeting people, have few but close friends and usually avoid excitement.” [5]
1. 2 Studies on the extroverted/introverted personality and foreign/second language learning in foreign countries
Since 1970s, some western researchers started to consider personality difference as a factor in language learning. When it was specified to extroverted and introverted personality, linguists came up with two main hypotheses. “One was that extroverted learners were better to use target language in basic interpersonal communication. The reason was that they like to communicate with others, so they had more chance on practice and input target language. The other was that learners of introversion had more advantages in developing cognitive and academic language proficiency because they had high concentration on doing things and they did a lot of reading and writing.”[6] Strong. M reviewed 12 characteristics of the extroversion/ introversion and found “when basic interpersonal communication skill was related, extroversion was an advantage.”[7] Krashen argued that an outgoing personality might have advantage in “acquisition”. “Extroverted learners in classroom may benefit from their personality by getting more practice in using the second language.”[8] However, Naiman found no relationship between extrovert/introvert character and language learning.
There is less support for the second hypothesis Strong’s survey of studies on extroversion/introversion revealed there was no significant effects of introversion on “linguistic task language”. Busch again failed to support the second assumption that introversion helps the development of academic language skills.
1. 3 Studies on extroverted/introverted personality and English learning in China
As the importance of the English study has been emphasized in China, many researchers apply themselves to study the factors affecting Chinese students’ English learning so as to seek some effective ways to help Chinese students learn English well. More and more Chinese researchers pay their attention to the personality difference on English learning. Wang Yiping gave an article which was about the personality and medical students’ English learning. She argued that extroverted students were more active in class so they could catch more attention from teachers. So, usually they had more opportunity to output the language, and extroverted medical students had more advantages in learning English than introverted ones. She reached a conclusion that personality difference could affect the quality of the English medical students had learned. Chen Wuyan and Wang Wei studied the same subject by investigating network students. They got the result that “personality difference was weak related to the level of English learning.”[9] Xiong Hua made a study on extrovert and introvert character and English learning. He researched on English majors and got results that “students of extrovert character were better in speaking and listening than introverted students, while introverted students performed better in writing and reading.”[10]
2 Research design and methods
This research includes questionnaires and interviews. The data of the investigation are analyzed by compare and contrast.转贴于 酷文网-论文下载中心 http://www.coolwen.net
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