A Study On The Relationship Between Personality Traits And English Language Proficiency Of Yunnan Ethnic Minority Students

Theory and research of foreign language teaching on primary and secondary schools in the ethnic minority areas of China have always been the focus of EFL in our country. Among which, efficient teaching practice needs to be generalized and difficulties facing EFL require to conduct further research. In the last two decades, the center of the study of foreign/second language learning has focused on learners and learning process instead of language policy, classroom teaching and language input. As for the studies on individual learner differences, personality is one of the most important variables.(Liu, 1990) In addition, the reviewed studies(Wang, 2000; D?rnyei, 2005) substantiate that there is certain correlation between personality traits and English language proficiency. However, there are few studies, either theoretical or empirical, about the relationship between the ethnic minority middle school students’ personality traits and their English language proficiency. This study investigates the personality traits of the ethnic minority students in Yunnan Province and their English language proficiency, aiming at providing useful information for English teachers in such areas to improve their teaching.Questionnaires were used to collect data about students’ personality traits and their English language proficiency. 306 Dai, Lahu and Wa students from Hongta Middle School at Menglian County of Pu’er, Yunnan participated in this study. The instruments used were the Five-factor Personality Questionnaire for Middle School Students(FFPQ)(Zhou et al., 2000) for personality traits, and a standard English test designed by Pu’er Municipal Education Bureau for English language proficiency. After collecting data from the questionnaires, One-Way ANOVA was employed to see if there are any differences of personality traits among Dai, Lahu and Wa students. In addition, based on the data collected from FFPQ and the English language proficiency test, One-way ANOVA and Regression Analysis were applied to analyze any relationship between students’ personality traits and their English language proficiency. The results indicated that 1) there are significant extroversion difference between Wa students and Lahu students, and neuroticism difference between Wa and Dai students; 2) Agreeableness and Neuroticism are significantly related to English language proficiency; 3) No significant Agreeableness difference among Dai, Lahu and Wa students made it difficult to explain the differences among their English proficiency; 4) Because of the significant difference between Dai and Wa students in Neuroticism, their differences in English proficiency are closely correlated with Neuroticism. Finally, implications of the findings were discussed in the context of English language teaching in ethnic minority areas.