THE IMPACT OF EXTROVERSION AND INTROVERSION ON LANGUAGE LEARNING IN AN INPUT-BASED EFL SETTING

Abstract

It has been questioned that even in similar learning environments, students from the same or similar background knowledge and experience differ greatly in how quickly they pick up and reach a proficiency in a language. This complexity comes from cognitive, affective, motivational, personality or other external factors’ simultaneous effects on language learning. The impact of extroversion and introversion on language learning has been investigated in various theoretical and empirical studies; however, few conclusive results are generated from previous studies in terms of extroversion and introversion in language learning process. This study aims to provide more conclusive results in the area of the relationship between extroversion and introversion and language performance in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) environment by incorporating an ignored aspect of personality and language learning research. This study aims to examine language learners’ individual differences by focusing on the relationships of personality traits (extroversion and introversion) and language learning of 56 Turkish university students through administrating Oxford Online Placement Test (OOPT) and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) in an input-based instruction setting. Before starting the instruction, students took a pre-test, and at the end of academic year students took a post-test along with a personality test. The results of the study provides learning environments and instruction type interact with students’ personality type. It is observed that input-based instruction benefits introverts more than extroverts in overall language performance.