Big Five personality traits and willingness to communicate among foreign language learners in Turkey

Keywords:
Big Five personality traits, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, willingness to communicate in a second language, English as a second language learners, foreign language learners, individual differences
Abstract

In this study I investigated the relationship between personality traits and willingness to communicate (WTC) in a second language (L2 WTC). Participants were 168 university students majoring in English as a foreign language at a major state university in Ankara, Turkey. Data were collected using the International Personality Item Pool and the Willingness to Communicate Scale. I found that 20% of participants had high L2 WTC, 66% moderate L2 WTC, and 14% low L2 WTC. The Big Five factors of extraversion, agreeableness, and openness to experience were significant in predicting and setting the psychological context for WTC in English. There was also a positive correlation between participants’ academic achievement and L2 WTC. I concluded that the interaction of the Big Five personality traits may greatly contribute to the production and promotion of WTC in learning a second or foreign language.

Author Biography
  1. Huseyin Oz, Hacettepe University
    Department of English Language Teaching
References
Downloads
Published
2014-08-19
Section
Articles
License

Author(s) agree that copyright of an article published in SBP Journal is transferred from the author(s) to the journal publisher (Scientific Journal Publishers Limited) upon publication.

Disclaimer

Social Behavior and Personality maintains an open editorial policy and may or may not endorse the conclusions made in its published articles. Neither the journal nor its publisher, editors or staff assume any responsibility for any material considered to be offensive or defamatory, or for obtaining any copyright permissions necessary for publication of articles.