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THE
IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ PERSONALITIES IN ACHIEVING LANGUAGE
LEARNING SUCCESS
Ariffah Nourma Juwita (14202241045)
Introduction to Psycholinguistics
In language teaching and
learning in the classroom, students’ individual personalities are important to
be understood and respected, both by the teacher and the students themselves,
to attain the goals of the process. This is because how language acquired and
learned by students are mainly affected by cognitive and affective aspects, and
personality becomes one of the contributing factors derived from the affective
domain. Therefore, students treat language learning based on their own
personalities, more or less, and this results in strategies they mostly prefer
to use in the learning process. The contributions of students’ individual
personalities become more evident in their learning especially in second
language context.
To start with, there are
various types of personalities proposed by different experts in attempt to come
to a clearer understanding of human traits. One of the most popular frame is
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Myers, 1962; Brown, 2007a), often abbreviated as
MBTI. This model of personality is adapted from Carl Jung’s (1923; Brown, 2007a)
four dichotomous styles: (i) (I) introversion x (E) extroversion, (ii) (N)
intuition x (S) sensing, (iii) (F) feeling x (T) thinking, and (iv) (J) judging
x (P) perceiving. These styles are combined, resulting in 16 types of
personalities, such as INFP, INFJ, ESTP, ENTP, and so on, in which each type
has its own characteristics and uniqueness that differ from one personality to
the others. This includes someone’s behaviours, ways of thinking, communication
styles, etc.
Due to the attempts of
MBTI types in trying to explain individuals’ traits as clear as possible by
proposing the combinations of the basic styles as various personality types,
some researchers have tried to indicate that those types correspond to language
learning styles in which students can benefit from (Brown, 2007b). In their
study, Ehrman and Oxford (1990), for example, found that their subjects tend to
use different learning strategies depending on their MBTI types. As an example,
in introversion (I) and extroversion (E) dichotomy, it was stated in their
study that extroverted students tended to use social strategies, such as taking
initiatives in the interaction and cooperating with others easily, while
introverted ones preferred to study alone and avoiding social contacts. Enriched
by the combinations of the other dichotomies, students that seemed to have
similar performances in language learning might use different strategies in a
particular aspect depending on their dominating styles (feeling over sensing,
thinking over judging, and so on), and vice versa. Even the same types might
appear to learn differently from each other.
These show how complex a
class might be, and such complexities often cannot be predicted precisely due
to numerous factors, both internal and external ones. Therefore, some doubt the
credibility of the correlation that might occur between students’ MBTI
personalities and their language learning, in terms of strengths and weaknesses
as well as preferred strategies they use. The tests students take to know their
personalities are often too generalised, or culturally biased, and prone to
lack of validity and reliability. Even Ehrman and Oxford (1990) had anticipated
this in their study for not depending too much on psychological types to
predict the success of language learning.
Even though it is still
not credible enough, it cannot be disregarded that personality still affects
students’ language learning, even in a slight form of influence. Furthermost,
MBTI types have provided a proper framework in mapping personality types as
accurate as possible, in which contributes to the prediction of students’
success in learning language. Therefore, an understanding to students’
personality types based on this frame is essential for them and the teacher,
more importantly. This way, there are several benefits that both parties can
obtain.
The first benefit
everyone can get by basing teaching methods and learning strategies on MBTI
personality types is that what so called as ‘assets’ and ‘liabilities’ seen in
each type of personality can be predicted. Ehrman (1989) in Brown (2007a) listed
several ‘major assets associated with each preference’ as the list of strengths
of each dichotomy and ‘major liabilities associated with each preference’ as
the weaknesses. This is especially important for teachers to understand, so
that they can select and adjust the teaching methods used in the class to cover
students’ needs as wide as possible. Having students to take the MBTI test may
be the first step to do. Teachers can also observe and pay a lot of attention
to their students and try to treat them based on their personalities without
judging and setting learning situations in high, overly idealised expectations
which may disregard their feelings, leaving them exhausted and unmotivated,
even rebellious.
Once the teachers have
tried their best to do the steps, there will be another positive impact that follows.
When students are aware of their own personalities, and then are treated as
fairly as possible by the teacher, they can advance their language learning.
This will result in students’ awareness in choosing and setting the most
suitable strategies to be successful in their learning. This way, they will
feel respected, and thus it may boost their confidence in learning the
language. It is also helpful in building a healthy, supportive, and insightful
learning environment in the class.
In the end, once again,
there might be some mismatches that occur in teachers’ attempts to
understanding students’ preferences in language learning depending on their
personality type. However, regardless of any shortcoming on depending
personality type such as MBTI in measuring students’ traits in language
learning, their individual personalities are prioritised to be understood and
valued for the better teaching and learning processes.
References:
Brown, H. D. (2007a). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. New York: Pearson
Education.
Brown, H. D. (2007a). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy.
New York: Pearson Education.
Ehrman, M., & Oxford, R. (1990). Adult Language
Learning Styles and Strategies in an Intensive Training Setting. The Modern Language Journal. 74(3):
311-327.
(Image source: https://www.moneypenny.com/uk/news/5-influential-personality-types-every workplace-needs/)
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