Getting Started With Learners: A Study Of The Relationship Between Personality Traits, Language Learning Strategies And Language Performance

Second language acquisition (SLA) research, the study of how people learn to communicate in a language other than their native language, encompasses a broad range of questions from a wide variety of perspectives. One of the most widely recognized facts about SLA was that individual differences play a big role in SLA. In order to provide the most effective instruction, teachers of a second language should learn to identify and comprehend individual difference in their students. Many excellent teachers have learned to do some of this intuitively, but explicit understanding of individual difference dimensions can enhance the work of all teachers.The major purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between personality traits, language learning strategies and language performance based on the Five Factor Theory in individual differences.Data was collected for 171 subjects in Shanghai International Studies University during the first two weeks of the fall semester (September 2009). Subjects were asked to provide information about their language learning history and fill out research instruments to identify their personality traits measured by the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and their language learning strategies measured by the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). In this research, language performance was measured by TEM4 score.Twenty five hypotheses were formulated in an effort to explore potential relationships between personality traits, language learning strategies and language performance among university students in China. Pearson product-moment correlation and multiple regressions were applied to identify the potential relationships between variables. Mediation analysis and Structural equation modeling were utilized to test the model of language learning strategies as a mediator in the relationship between personality traits and language performance.Findings revealed the existence of positive and significant relationships between the three variables. The major findings were: a significantly positive relationship between personality traits (Extraversion, Openness to experience and Conscientiousness) and language learning strategies; a significantly positive relationship between personality traits (Extraversion and Conscientiousness) and language performance; a significantly positive relationship between language learning strategies and language performance; and relation between personality traits (Extraversion and Conscientiousness) and language performance is mediated by language learning strategies (Cognitive, Metacognitive and Affective strategies)...