A Study On The Relationship Between Extroversion/Introversion Personality And English Learning Strategy Of Non-English Majors

Since the early1970s, researchers in the field of L2 teaching and learning have shifted their concerns from teaching methods to learners'characteristics and their influence on L2 acquisition. With the influence of such a shift, more and more researchers have focused their attention to individual learner differences such as learning strategy and learners'personality traits.According to Rod Ellis'second language acquisition model, individual learner differences together with various situational factors determine the learners'choice of learning strategies. Factors affecting learners'choice of learning strategies can be categorized into two types: individual learner differences (beliefs, affective states, personality) and situational factors (the target language being learned). Researchers abroad (Oxford, Erhman) have investigated the relationship between learners'personality and their use of language strategy. In China, research on this issue is found to be scanty, especially in universities school. Thus, the current thesis aims at investigating the relationship between the extroversion/introversion personality and English learning strategy of non-English majors in China.By means of Eysenck Personality Questionnaire–Revised (EPQ-R) and Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), the author investigated 300 Non-English majors from a university in Jiangxi province. The subjects were grouped into three groups according to their T-scores of Extroversion-Scale: the extrovert group, the neutral group and the introvert group. The software SPSS13.00 was used to analyze the collected data. The statistics showed that the following results: 1) extroversion/introversion personality had significant correlation with the participants'application rate of cognitive strategies, social strategies and total strategies; 2) There was significant difference in the means of cognitive strategies among the three groups of participants; To be specific, both the extrovert group and the neutral group employ cognitive strategies more frequently than the introvert group; 3) There was significant difference in the means of ten specific strategies such as imitation, self-encouraging, among the three groups of participants. To be specific, both the extrovert group and the neutral group use them more frequently than the introvert group.After discussing the above-mentioned results, the researcher of the study gave some suggestions for the future research and the current college English teaching. Teachers should strengthen strategy training to their students on the basis of getting acquainted with their students'extroversion/introversion personality and help them to develop awareness to use strategies to deal with problems. Meanwhile, teachers should help their students develop personality that is beneficial to English learning.