Personality Type and Language Learning Strategies.

Milne, E. W. (2020). Personality type and language learning strategy use by university students: Where the MBTI and SILL intersect [Unpublished master's thesis]. University of Waterloo and Universität Mannheim, UWSpace. http://hdl.handle.net/10012/16075

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the relationship between personality type and learning strategies for students engaged in undergraduate foreign language courses at the University of Waterloo.

Utilizing the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^® (MBTI^®) to assess personality type, and the R. L. Oxford^© Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) designed for English speakers learning a new language, data from the instruments was cross tabulated and analyzed. The analysis did not find any significant correlations between personality type and student learning strategies. Data was analyzed to test the hypothesis that certain personality types would be more interested in taking adult second language courses. No correlation was found. There were no particular types, in this study, more likely to enroll in second language acquisition classes, nor were any preferred learning strategies of specific types identified.

For the qualitative portion of this study, an exploratory research approach was taken to ascertain if the language used in answering open-ended questions, through keywords and common phrases, could forecast personality type preferences. Analysis showed favorable results; however, the researcher acknowledges that the initial survey was not designed for this type of inquiry and larger writing samples would be necessary to properly address the data. Not all researchers using the MBTI are certified in type and this can sometimes impact interpretations and analyses. The researcher of this study is a certified MBTI practitioner, which showed in her impressive articulation of the meaning behind the preference clarity categories (PCC) and preference clarity indexes (PCI) – nuanced expressions of MBTI scores – and lucidity in explaining type and trait differences. Previous studies have demonstrated a link between personality type and learning strategies, though in this case the specific criteria of the SILL were not met. Predicting personality type through language analysis also has a history in type research, covered in this edition of the Digest, and this study adds to the knowledge base that personality type is expressed implicitly in language and can be identified.

ARTICLE PERMALINK: https://www.myersbriggs.org/research-and-library/journal-psychological-type/personality-type-and-language-learning-strategies/

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