The Case of Yemeni EFL Undergraduates
Abstract
This study is an attempt to demystify the association between personality type and academic performance of Yemeni EFL learners at the university level. The investigation was carried out by comparing the personality trait scores of 50 senior EFL graduates and their English performance indicated by their accumulative scores obtained in their undergraduate studies. The study showed positive correlations between personality type and English performance; a simultaneous multiple regression analysis indicated that extraversion, and conscientiousness accounted for a statistically significant amount of variance in EFL achievements. The results also showed no significant differences in the performance of the participants on the basis of their gender.
Keywords: personality treats; L2; language ability; EFL learners;
1. Introduction
Learning L2 is a complex process. Arguably, several factors affect foreign language learning in a way or another. In addition to environmental factors, human variables such as intelligence, aptitude, personality type, motivation, attitude, age, among others, possibly affect, to some extent, the performance of learners in learning L2 (Lightbrown & Spad, 2003; Zhang, 2008; Sahin, Tezcan, Türkcan & Savran, 2014). Personality, a case in point, has been investigated by several researchers. A number of theories maintain that personality is a factor that significantly influences the degree of success in learning L2. This is based on an assumption that some features of L2 learner’s personality might encourage or inhibit L2 learning (Cook, 1996) by enhancing certain facets of language learning while impeding others. Many researchers have made a lot of endeavors to study this phenomenon from different angles (e.g. Nejad, Bijami, Ahmadi, 2012; Araghi, Fam & Ziaei, 2012; Qomarudin, 2010; Moqaddas, Haqshenas, Gol, 2013; Soleimani & Daryabari, 2010). Nonetheless, the results of those studies lack inconsistency, and their conclusions were viewed as tendencies, not conclusive results. This study replicates the research problem in another context looking into the effects of personality traits on academic achievements in English language learning in Yemen where English is taught as a foreign language, and the second important language in the country.
2. Rationale
Not all learners are well suited for learning foreign languages. It is important to understand why some students achieve better EFL results than others. In the local context, it common that female students top the list of the English departments graduates every year, and the bulk of the more successful language learners are female. Arguably, successful L2 learners plausibly have a certain type of personality that drives them towards achieving a good command of the target language(s). This study gives hints on the extent of success in English language program at the university level. In other words, it might be predicted through a test of personality that a candidate of EFL program has success or difficulties in achieving better results. It might be useful for policymakers, educators, teachers, and students altogether before introducing any language program, a test of personality should be conducted to get an implication of the degree of success in the language taught. This entails that before decision on introducing learning a language, some supplementary programs are to be introduced so as to enhance personality traits of the applicants.
3. Objectives of the study:
This study builds on prior research that there is a positive correlation between personality type and L2 learning. It is an attempt to explore the relationship between personality traits of learners of English and their overall performance in an EFL program. It intends to achive the following objectives:
(a) Identifying the current status of Yemeni EFL learners’ personality traits.
(b) Exploring the extent to which personality traits are capitalized on the performance of Yemeni learners of English at the undergraduate level.
(c) Elucidating the difference between male and female learners‒ if any‒ in terms of gender differences.
4. Research questions
The study addressed the following questions:
a. Is there a correlational significance between English learning outcome and personality traits of Yemeni EFL learners?
b. Can any of the sub categories of personality traits predict language ability?
c. Are there any statistically significant differences with regards to the personality traits based on gender variables?
5. Significance of the study
The significance of the study lies in the fact that it educates the stakeholders in the departments of English on how the individual personality traits of students can influence their academic performance. It is a contribution to the body of literature in the area of the effect of personality trait on student’s academic performance, thereby constituting the empirical literature for future research in the subject area. Identifying the Yemeni students’ personality characteristics can help put forwards some implications to enhance English learning in Yemen which in turn can help the policymakers and pedagogues to orient the EFL learners at the university level to adopt learning strategies that may be more appropriate to them. By offering more help to these students, the teachers may help improve their learning outcome. It may serve clarifying the effect of personality traits on EFL learners’ performance in the light of the inconsistent results of similar studies and guide educators to deal with individual differences resulting from different personality traits.
6. Literature review
Personality traits include a long list of characteristics: assertiveness, extroversion, risk-taking, adventurousness, self-esteem, empathy, dominance, talkativeness, responsiveness, and the list goes on. Such personality traits were discussed in previous studies under two main categories: extroversion vs. introversion. The effects of personality type on L2 learning has been documented in several studies in the literature. However, the results of such studies are inconsistent. The crux of the problem in studying the phenomenon is how to identify and measure the variables of the phenomenon. Although applied linguists dutifully refer to the – relatively limited – research on the effects of personality traits on second language acquisition and production (Dörnyei 2009), they are typically cast in a supporting role. Moreover, applied linguists rarely include more than one personality trait in their research design, and when they do, they often tend to have relatively unsophisticated and unrealistic expectations of its effects on informants’ language learning outcomes (Dewaele, 2009).
6.1 Effects of Personality traits on L2
The reviewed studies can be categorized into two extremes: First, studies which discussed personality characteristics as having positive, negative, or neutral effect on L2 learning. Some studies supported the idea that personality variables such as assertion, extroversion, adventurousness, and responsiveness, among others, positively correlate with L2 performance. However, the results of some other studies came up with contradictory results. The second extreme of studies includes those studies which approached the issue from a different linguistic angle emphasizing on the idea that the personality traits might be applicable (have positive effect) to measure communicative abilities but not grammatical accuracy or metalinguistic knowledge (Littlewood, 1984). In other words, personality traits such as extroversion may be useful in learning communication but not necessarily in learning grammar. On the contrary, learners who are touted as introverted might be of low communicative abilities but good at grammatical accuracy.
In both cases, personality is generally viewed to be a responsible factor for learners’ success in learning an L2 (Cook, 1996, as cited in Zang, 2008; Spolsky, 1989; Rod Ellis in Celder, 2004). There is a widely-held belief that extroverted learners are better language learners for they learn more rapidly and are more successful than introverted learners (Sahin, Tezcan, Türkcan and Savran, 2014). Littlewood (1984) termed it “an extrovert person is well-suited to L2 learning.” (p. 64). These studies have shown that extroverts (unreserved and outgoing people) acquire a second language better than introverts (shy people). These studies argue that the former have more opportunities to practice L2 inside and outside the classroom. For instance, learners of this type tend to join groups, engage themselves in conversations inside and outside the classroom (Swain, 1985). Such studies have suggested that extroverted learners find it easier to contact with other users of the L2 and therefore obtain more language input. The learner may also benefit from being extroverted by getting more practice in using L2. In addition, extroverts are believed to be prone to risk-taking and are likely to try out a larger amount and variety of different word types and grammatical structures at a higher speech rate.
In recent years, a more nuanced perspective on the relationship between extraversion and second language acquisition (SLA) has emerged. In reviewing the literature on effects of extraversion on SLA, two major positions were identified. The first advocates that “extroverted learners will do better in acquiring basic interpersonal communication skills; the second maintains that introverted learners do better at developing cognitive academic language ability (Sahin, Tezcan, Türkcan & Savran, 2014). Krashen (1981) argued that an outgoing personality may contribute to SLA. Likewise, Rossier (1976, as quoted in Ellis, 1985) found out that the subjects’ oral fluency correlated significantly with extroversion/introversion. Naiman et al. (1978, quoted in Ellis, 1985) found no significant relationship between extroversion/introversion and proficiency. Similarly, Swain and Burnaby (1976, according to the same source) did not find the expected relationship between the measures of sociability and talkativeness on the one hand and proficiency on the other in the early stages of acquisition of French as an L2. Likewise, social skills and inhibition are considered segments of one’s personality possibly influencing FL learning. However, research findings of their actual effect are rather controversial.
Figure1. Elements of Introvert vs. extrovert personality
6.2 Research Findings
It would be useful to document the results of some previous studies that investigated the phenomenon in different contexts and from different angles. In the literature, ample emphasis was on the dimension of extroversion among the other major personality treats which is probably because of the common sense that learning L2 requires a person who is open, talkative, and bold and these qualities are embedded under the label extroversion. In this section the correlations between personalities trains and performance in English language as a foreign language is review with relevance to the variables of anxiety, gender, and social networking.
To begin with, the effects of introversion-extroversion characteristics of personality received due attention in the Iranian context in relevance to performance of English learners. For instance, Soleimani and Daryabari (2010) investigated the impact of language learners’ personality on the successful academically-oriented language tasks, whether the personality type, i.e., introversion vs. extroversion, had an impact on the learners’ success at accomplishing writing tasks of 92 Iranian EFL students who took a TOEFL test of English language proficiency. Based on the TOEFL scores, 63 students were selected to take the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and to write a composition in English. The results revealed that extroverted language learners outperformed introverts on doing academically-oriented language tasks. This finding contradicted Griffiths’s (1991) claim that introverted learners perform better than extroverts at developing cognitive academic language abilities.
In the Iranian context, too, Araghi, Fam, and Ziaei (2012) studied the relationship between extroversion/introversion personality of 140 EFL Iranian learners and their English performance in terms of listening strategies. The study used Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and compared the results of this questionnaire to IELTS Listening comprehension test as the final exam of for their course. The sample was divided into introverted and extroverted. The results of the study showed that extroverts outperformed the introverts. In a similar study, Nejad, Bijami, and Ahmadi (2012) studied the relationship of extraversion and introversion of 30 EFL Iranian students and their academic writing. Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) was used to test personality traits. The results revealed that there was no significant relation between personality and writing ability. Likewise, Hanafiyeh and Afghari (2017) studied whether personality traits have any relationship with EFL learners’ speaking ability in the Iranian context (250 learners (125 male vs. 125 female). It examined the personality traits acting as a predictor of Iranian EFL learners’ speaking ability. The findings (a) showed a positive and significant relationship between HEXACO personality traits (a six-dimensional model of human personality by Ashton and Lee, 2004) and speaking performance of the learners, (b) revealed that extraversion, conscientiousness and altruism could predict 90.3 percent of variance of speaking ability.
In another context, Chen, Jiang, and Mu (2015) analyzed the correlation between introversion/extroversion type of personality and spoken English performance of 117 Chinese students of English. The results of the study show the two are not correlated. The study also indicates that the personality type of not a decisive factor for the success of oral English learning. However, the study suggested that students with different personality type may employ different kinds of strategies for learning, a quite similar conclusion to Moody, 1988) that “…personality traits make a difference in how people learn and what they learn” (p. 389).
The phenomenon was explored with regard the difference in gender and its effect on performance. Moqaddas, Haqshenas, and Gol (2013) investigated‒using a qualitative and quantitative research methods‒ the relationship between personality traits and speaking ability of 50 males and females in Shokouh language institute in Iran. The results of the t-test showed that students’ gender has a relationship with their personality traits. In terms of neuroticism and extroversion males outperform females. This is probably due to the fact that females were more introverted which is, according to the author, a normal expectation in a traditional community wherein mixing of sexes, being outgoing, outspoken, and talkative) might be one of the causes of the findings.
In the Chinese context, Liu (2012) explored the effects of personality traits on Chines University EFL Learners’ performance. The study included self¬-esteem, Risk¬taking and sociability. The correlational analyses indicated that personality traits, self-esteem, language class risk-taking and sociability were generally significantly correlated with one another. such individual differences as personality traits interacted with one another to yield certain impact on the students’ performance in English.
Some other studies investigated the relationship between personality-anxiety and performance. For example, in the Turkish context, Asmali (2017) investigated− using a quantitative approach‒ the correlation between Personality Traits and test anxiety of 180 Turkish EFL learners, by using a questionnaire of the five big personality treats (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, imagination). Results of this study showed the participants mostly had a confidence problem that triggered the test anxiety to be high. They did not trust their language ability. The results concerning the relationship between big five personality traits and the test anxiety showed similarities and differences with previous studies.
In the same vein of research, using technology in learning English and its relation to personality was also the theme of some other studies. To illustrate, Kao and Craigie (2014) correlated English usage on Facebook and the big five personality traits of 164 Taiwanese students at the university level. Using Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, the study found that there was a positive association between the EFL on Facebook and extraversion and conscientiousness and a negative correlation with neuroticism. That is to say, when exploring the effects of personality treats in general may be misleading, i.e. even within the personality treats there might be some treats having bigger effects than others.
To conclude, regarding the relationship between personality treats and language abilities, the results of the previous studies in totality can be divided into (a) studies showing NO relation of two variables, (b) studies proving positive relation of the variables, and (c) miscellaneous (the mix of those two). The study at hands is hopeful to reinforce one of these results.
7. Method
A descriptive correlation design was employed to find out the relationship between big five personality traits academic performance of university EFL learners. Personality traits in this study are defined as the internal traits, characteristics, qualities and features of five dimensions outlined in Table 1. Two research tools were recruited to collect the data: a personality test and academic achievement analysis.
7.1 Participants
The sample of the study consisted of 50 EFL graduates majoring in English Studies, those who recently finished an EFL program in English studies at Taiz University). They are assumingly socio-linguistically homogeneous, aged between 19 and 23. They were chosen by using confinement sampling during the academic year 2016-2017.
7.2 Research Instruments
7.2.1 The personality test
Personality traits were measured by using an online survey retrieved from http://www.utpsyc.org/Big5/ (James W. Pennebaker at the University of Texas at Austin). It is a standard measure of personality traits, in which personality is assessed along each of five dimensions as outlined in Table 1 below*. It has been chosen because of its suitability to the local Yemeni context with some modifications. These five personality dimensions are generally unrelated to one another. A person can be high in one and low in another (see Appendix A).
The psychometric properties of the tools were examined and determined to be sound. Internal consistency (alpha) was .89, and the test-retest reliability coefficient was .85. This was validated by expert in the field of measurement and evaluation; the reliability was established using the test re-test method and the reliability coefficient was calculated using Pearson moment correlation coefficient(r) and the reliability indices obtained were, 0.68, and 0.62 respectively for conscientiousness and agreeableness. Similarly, validity evidence was provided by verifying the items according to clarity in wording, relevance of the items, clarity of the instructions, and absence of biased words and phrases.
Table 1
Trait Facets Associated with the Five Domain Model of Personality
*Adopted from ‘Personality traits’ by Mathews and Deary, 1998, CUP)
7.2.2 Academic performance
On the other hand, the results of the achievement tests were used to calculate the overall performance of the learners. The program includes relatively 54 courses, divided into 22 linguistics courses, English literature courses and 12 language-based courses. The academic transcripts encompass students’ achievement scores in all subjects. The scores are awarded on the basis of written tests, research projects, classroom discussion, group work and role-play, seminars, etc.
7.3 Procedures
First, a link to the webpage of the personality test was emailed to all the students enrolled at the fourth level with a short SMS requesting them to answer this online personality survey, assuring confidentiality that the results will be used solely for a research project. They were also requested to send a link to the webpage which shows their results by the end of the questionnaire. Out of the initial cohort, only 65 responded to the survey and again out of this body of respondents only 50 were complete and valid for analysis. As for the achievement tests results, the accumulative scores of the sample were obtained from the concerned department where the researcher works as a teacher of English. The results of the personality test were compared with their overall academic achievement marks that they obtained in their 4-year English program during the years 2014-2017. The results were outlined and interpreted in the following chapter.
8. Data Analysis, Results, and discussions
Data obtained though the questionaries’ and academic achievements test scores were analyzed quantitatively by using suitable statistical procedures with the help of a statistician. The statistical package of social sciences (SPSS) software was used to analyses the quantitative responses of the research tools. The results of the personality test and accumulative scores of the participants were scheduled in the tables below. Three important statistical tests were used: Pearson Correlation test, Linear Regression, and Mann-Whitney Test. Each of these statistical procedures is justified and given due explanation.
8.1 Analysis of Responses to Question #1:
Is there a correlational significance between English learning and personality traits of Yemeni EFL learners? To correspond to this question, the test results were obtained and examined. First, the results of the personality test were obtained. The participants’ responses to the personality test varied. In general, all the participants have high level of personality traits except for one participant; all got higher than 100 points in the personality test distributed among the five dimensions of the personality traits outlined in Table 1 above. Second, the results of the achievement tests were tabulated. The respondent who successfully completed the personality survey and their results were obtained were further considered with regards to their English performance. Their academic records were analyzed and the accumulative scores were obtained. Their scores ranged between 53% and 88%. Each participant’s result was tabulated against their personality test scores. Generally, no extreme cases of personality traits were observed in the data. The majority were moderately extroverted, moderately risk-taking and sociable in class.
Two important statistical procedures were used to calculate the correlational significance between English learning and personality traits of the participants and the prediction of language abilities of the same sample: Pearson correlation and Regression analysis. Respondents rated their level of agreement with each item using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). The correlation between personality type and English performance of the participants was determined by using Pearson product-moment correlation for it measures the relationship between two variables when both variables are measured on continuous scales (Gravetter & Wallnau, 2013). The size of the value of Pearson correlation generally ranges from -1.00 to +1.00. This value indicates the strength of the relationship between the two variables. A value of 0 indicates NO relationship at all, a value of +1.00 indicates a perfect positive correlation (as one variable increases, so does the other variable), and a value of -1.00 indicates a perfect negative correlation (as one variable increases, the other variable decreases) (Pallant, 2013). Cohen (1988) suggests a set of guidelines to interpret the values between 0 and 1 according to these guidelines:
r² = 0.01= Small Correlation; r² = 0.09= Medium Correlation; r² = 0.25= Large Correlation
In this respect, the correlation coefficient was assessed using SPSS software (version 21). To gauge the correlational significance, the squared correlation (r²), called the coefficient of determination, was used to measure the correlation between personality type and English performance of the participants. Two null hypotheses were enstilled:
• H0: There is no significant relationship between EFL learners’ personality trait and their
English academic performance, i.e. ƿ=0.
• H1: There is a significant relationship between EFL learners’ personality trait and their performance, i.e. H1: ƿ≠0.
Table 2
Pearson Correlation between personality treats and performance
Q1 Q6a
Personality Pearson Correlation 1 .205
Sig. (2-tailed) .523
N 12 12
Performance Pearson Correlation .205 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .523
N 12 12
As Table 2 shows, P value .523 is greater than .05. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected. The table displays the results of the correlation between personality type and English performance. The correlation coefficient measured through Pearson product-moment correlation was .523 which according to the guidelines set by Cohen (1988) indicates a large correlation between two variables (greater than .05), suggesting a strong positive relationship i.e., higher personality scores were positively correlated with a high English performance. As illustrated in Table 2, the results of personality test positively correlate with the majority of the subjects’ English performance. This concurs with the results of some previous studies (e.g. Chen, Jiang, & Mu, 2015; Araghi, Fam & Ziaei, 2012; Soleimani and Daryabari, 2010; Qomarudin, 2010; Nejad, Bijami, Ahmadi, 2012; Zhang, 2009). The result also confirms the results that Hanafiyeh and Afghari’s (2017) came up with in the sense that those personality traits have positive relationship with EFL learners’ language abilities.
8.2 Analysis of Responses to Question #2
The second research question ‹‹ can any of the personality traits’ sub-categories predict language abilities of the participants? ›› is an inquiry of personality impacts on the performance of the participants. To answer this question, the statistical procedure, regression analysis was applied. The sub-categories of the personality treats included in the investigation (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, imagination) were identified and correlated with the performance of the sample. By running the Linear Regressions to measure English language proficiency and its relationship to performance, the output is outlined in Table 3. Multilevel regression models were used to account for the interdependence of personality treat scores among L2 learners who participated in this study.
Table 3. Result of ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 8.268 5 1.654 1.548 .234b
Residual 16.018 15 1.068
Total 24.286 20
a. Dependent Variable: Q31
b. Predictors: (Constant), VAR.13, VAR.9, VAR.10, VAR.12, VAR.11
As the table shows, the association between a dependent variable (academic performance) and the independent variables (personality) while holding all other covariates (student, ambiance, test, characteristics) in the model constant. The freedom value is 1.548 and the significance of the ANOVA is 234 which is less than 0.05. Therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected, i.e. the regression is generally significant.
Again, by examining the Coefficients of the variables in question (agreeableness, conscientiousness, and imagination) within the overall regression analysis, the Sig. values in Table 4 are agreeableness (.147), imagination (.106), and neuroticism (.097) while the other variables extraversion & conscientiousness scored .895 and .918 respectively. This means that among all the five sub-characteristics of personality, only the characteristic of extroversion vs. introversion and conscientiousness can predictably indicate the success or failure of a learner in a given language according to the regression analysis of the sample at hand. As Table 4 shows, the coefficient value is .340 which is greater the 0.05. That is, the output of the regression analysis in Tables 3 and 4 indicates that the personality treats predict more success in learning English as a foreign language particularly with reference to the variables of conscientiousness and extroversion which account for a statistically significant amount of variance in EFL achievement.
Table 4
Multiple Regression Coefficientsa
Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients
t
Sig.
B Std. Error Beta
1 (Constant) 1.896 1.925 .985 .340
Agreeableness .274 .179 .342 1.529 .147
Conscientiousness -.049 .365 -.036 -.134 .895
Imagination .583 .339 .462 1.718 .106
Neuroticism .098 .182 .126 .539 .097
Extroversion .024 .227 .026 .104 .918
a. Dependent Variable: Q31
This result confirms the results of prior research that introverted students tend to prefer working on their own and perform better in written tests while – on the other hand, extraverted students favor interaction and perform better in oral tests. For example, Sahin, Tezcan, Türkcan and Savran (2014) and Littlewood (1984) who argued that “an extrovert person is well-suited to L2 learning.” (p. 64). Interpreting the results of liner regression in Table 4, it would be useful to recall results of some previous studies that supported the ideas that extroverts have more opportunities to practice L2 inside and outside the classroom more than their counterparts for learners of this type tend to join groups, engage themselves in conversations inside and outside the classroom (Swain, 1985). Such studies have suggested that extroverted learners find it easier to contact with other users of the L2 and therefore obtain more language input. Additionally, while in the classroom, extrovert learners may get more practice in using L2 for extroverts are believed to be prone to risk-taking and are likely to try out a larger amount and variety of different word types and grammatical structures at a higher speech rate (Spolsky, 1989; Sahin, Tezcan, Türkcan & Savran, 2014; Littlewood, 1984).
8.3 Analysis of Responses to Question #3:
Are there any statistically significant differences with regards to the personality traits based on gender variables? To correspond to this inquiry, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests was used and the results are outlined in Tables 5 below. As shown in the table, there are no statistically significant differences regards to the personality traits based on gender variables where Sig. is .066 and .122 respectively. This is an obvious indication that gender variable is not an influential factor of English performance in the context of the study, i.e. the personality of the participants (male and female) show no striking difference according to gender.
Table 5. Results of Mann-Whitney Test Based on Gender
Dimension test Sig. Decision
1 Personality Mann-Whitney U Test .066 Retain null hypothesis
2 Performance Mann-Whitney U Test .122 Retain null hypothesis
This result is at odds with the results of Moqaddas, Haqshenas, and Gol (2013) who investigated the same phenomenon in the Iranian context where males outperform females in terms of neuroticism and extroversion.
9. Pedagogical Implications
The results of the Pearson Correlation and multiple regressions reported in this section study imply the need for a means that measure the learners’ personality treats before join the university to predict their success in a given program and suggesting the intended university disciplines that fits in with their personalities. Besides, some course on personality development at the undergraduate level may be introduced to enhance the EFL learners’ personalities. Again, by using Web-based tools and applications (e.g. blogs and wikis, Facebook or twitter), the language learners may get informal channels of language learning, where they can access freely and spontaneously.
10. Limitations and further research
This study, like any other human work, has some drawbacks, first, since the participants of the present study came from one university and the sample is small unrepresentative of varying ranks of institutions in Yemen, it is difficult to generalize the results to other population, the EFL contexts in the country. Other researcher might fill in this gap by including a bigger sample from other universities and/or using some other instruments or a triangulation of methods of investigation.
Likewise, the personality of a language learner is considered an important factor that influences second or foreign language learning. It is a complicated aspect affected by some other factors, such as ethnic background, culture, environment, and so on. Although personality is believed to have an important influence on success in second/foreign language learning, there might be some other factors combined with the personality that contribute to L2 learning. The study is constrained by the results of the correlational findings which failed to identify a cause-effect relationship between personality and performance. Some other variables are expected to have a causal relationship between these two variables, which are inter-correlated. An association between the two might be caused by a relationship with a third (confounding) variable (e.g. motivation, age, etc.).
Notwithstanding the fact that this study adopted a standard personality test and official results of English performance through academic records, the results of the study are limited to the respondents’ self-reporting answers to the personality questionnaire which by itself may not be a watertight test of personality. Taken these limitations into consideration, there is room for further research. Other research studies might study the influence of personality on different aspects of English adopting English standardized English test such as TOEFL or ELTS. Additionally, in an era of new aids to second and foreign language acquisition and learning, there might be some other personality traits‒ other than the five ones included in this study‒ that may play an important role in students’ experience of L2 learning.
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