Positive Predictive Value of Extraversion in Diagnosing L2 WTC

Willingness to communicate in a foreign/second language (L2 WTC) is now considered an influential variable underlying the second and foreign language learning processes. It is also perceived in terms of a fundamental goal of second language education, because its higher levels result in a greater desire to practise oral communication, bringing about successful language learning. According to the pyramid model of L2 WTC, it is rooted in personality which produces both distal and enduring influences on a student’s verbal behaviour. It can thus be expected that extraversion, a personality dimension identified with energy and enthusiasm and characterised by sensitivity to reward and sociability…

Language Anxiety Levels in Urban, Suburban and Rural Secondary Grammar School Students

The main purpose of this study is to investigate language anxiety levels in Polish secondary grammar school students from urban (N = 223), suburban (N = 48) and rural areas (N = 122). The results show that rural students suffer from significantly higher levels of anxiety over the length of their secondary school education when compared to their urban and suburban peers. These results confirm the findings in the literature of the field, further demonstrating that social and educational deprivation of rural adolescents continues to prevail. However, this study also shows that the language anxiety levels of all the study participants significantly decrease towards the end of their secondary sc…

Us and them: intercultural sensitivity of Polish and Georgian adolescent multilinguals

The aim of this study is to compare the levels of intercultural sensitivity (IS) in teenage multilinguals coming from two post-communist countries: Poland (N=293) and Georgia (N=240). Aside from quantitative data the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale by Chen & Starosta., the qualitative part of the study focused on exploring quality of contacts with another culture. It was found that Polish students demonstrated significantly lower levels of intercultural sensitivity in spite of their greater foreign language experience. However, Georgian multilinguals demonstrated greater positive affect, both quantitatively (Intercultural Enjoyment as part of the IS assessment) and qualitatively (prevailing…

Willingness to Communicate in L2 and Self-Perceived Levels of FL Skills in Polish Adolescents

The willingness to communicate (WTC) construct, originally referring to individuals’ tendencies to engage in communication in the L1 when given the free choice (McCroskey and Richmond, Personality and interpersonal communication, Newbury Park, CA, pp. 129–156, 1987), can also be applied to a second language context (MacIntyre, Dornyei, Clement and Noels, Mod Lang J 82:545–562, 1998). It can then be defined as “a readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a specific person or persons, using a L2” (MacIntyre, Dornyei, Clement and Noels, Mod Lang J 82:545–562, 1998, p. 547). MacIntyre, Dornyei, Clement and Noels, (Mod Lang J 82:545–562, 1998) proposed a pyramid-shaped L2 WTC m…

Mediation effect of self-efficacy in the relationship between neuroticism and L2 attainment

This article investigates the role self-efficacy plays in the relationship between Neuroticism and foreign language attainment (operationalised as final grades and self-perceived foreign language skills). To date, the role of personality in foreign language learning has not been clearly specified; moreover, self-efficacy related to this domain has not received sufficient attention. For the purpose of the paper it was proposed that the negative relationship between Neuroticism and attainment can be explained by self-efficacy. The study’s informants consisted of 495 secondary grammar school students at the intermediate to upperintermediate levels of English proficiency. The results revealed t…

Perceived teacher support and language anxiety in Polish secondary school EFL learners

The teacher’s role is vital, both in respect to achieving academic goals, and with regard to the regulation of emotional and social processes. Positive perceptions of teacher support can endorse psychological wellness, and help maintain students’ academic interests, higher academic achievement and more positive peer relationships. The teacher who shows understanding, empathy and consistency in their behavior helps students start forming an identity, which will assist them in coping with stress and anxiety directly connected with the foreign language learning process (language anxiety). The main aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between teacher support and language anxi…

Self-Efficacy in L2: A Research Proposal

Self-efficacy is one’s belief that they can accomplish a task or a set of tasks (Bandura 1997). The key role of such beliefs in human functioning is that “people’s level of motivation, affective states, and actions are based more on what they believe than on what is objectively true” (Bandura 1997: 2). They provide the foundation not only for human motivation, but also for personal accomplishment and well-being. Self-efficacy is rooted in four sources: mastery experience, the vicarious experience of observing others, social persuasion, and affective states. The first one refers to the positive assessment or interpretation of one’s own previous attainment in tasks related to the one at hand.…

The Big Five Traits and Their Ramifications

This chapter focuses on the analysis of the Big Five traits, discussed in relation to the classical and modern views on the trait hierarchy. In the next section the socioaffective, cognitive and educational, as well as behavioural ramifications of each trait are outlined in order to create a general background for the analysis of the Big Five in the foreign language learning context. In the light of the above considerations, each trait appears to have beneficial, and also negative effects for the individual’s functioning. Finally, a discussion of age and gender differences in the Big Five, and their development across the lifespan is offered.

At the Crossroads: Challenges of Foreign Language Learning

This book offers a valuable contribution to the discussion on the complexities of L2 learning processes that pose a challenge to learners. Focusing on the cognitive, affective and socio-cultural perspectives, the papers included provide important insights into the individual’s experiences in second language acquisition. This work also addresses social interactions and cultural background, shedding new light on their role in the context in L2 learning processes. It is a valuable resource for anyone interested in understanding the challenges of foreign-language (FL) learning and teaching.

The Big Five Study in SLA: Future Directions and Pedagogical Implications

This chapter is an attempt to integrate the existing theoretical and empirical study on personality traits in SLA in order to consider possible future research directions related to the scrutiny of isolated traits. For this reason, it commences with an outline of existing empirical findings on the role of each trait in the process of foreign language learning. On the basis of the findings, an outlook on future investigation is proposed, followed by an attempt to depict the cluster of traits that might be included to describe the characteristics of the ideal L2 achiever. In the next step, an outline of pedagogical interventions is included. It addresses ways in which specific strengths ident…

Foreign Language Teacher Burnout: A Research Proposal

Burnout is a serious psychological syndrome that can affect not only an individual’s well-being, but also the functioning of whole organisations, such as schools. It consists of three basic stages: exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Not only personal variables, but also work-setting characteristics influence burnout. The teaching profession is claimed to be extremely demanding, hence teachers seem to be prone to burnout. This may be the reason why the syndrome has already been investigated in reference to teachers of various subjects or school levels. Yet, there has been no research to date attempting to investigate burnout in foreign language teachers. It m…

Willingness to Communicate in a Foreign Language: Evidence from Those Who Approach and Those Who Avoid L2 Communication

It is still unclear why some learners are willing to communicate in a foreign language while others are disinclined to do so. One of the most promising paths of inquiry in this respect is the study of willingness to communicate (WTC), focusing on the volitional process of initiating, maintaining, and terminating communication. That is the reason why the main purpose of this paper is to investigate the testimonials of Polish students with persistently low or high L2 WTC scores obtained during their 3-year secondary grammar school experience. The qualitative results of the study appear to demonstrate that, independently from the individual’s general predilections towards communication in the …

Personality: Definitions, Approaches and Theories

The main objective of this chapter is to describe the concept of personality and approaches to researching it. For this reason, first a view on outlining the field of personality psychology in its present form, then the key term—personality—is discussed. The next section contains a synopsis of the main approaches to the study of personality, including psychoanalytic, learning and humanistic perspectives. The objective of the second part is to present the main theoretical directions in personality studies, which are divided into two basic trends. The first one is represented by type theories that focus on qualitative differences and discrete categories. The other direction is composed of tra…

The Big Five from the SLA Perspective

This chapter focuses on a general assessment of the role of personality in SLA. For this purpose, first an overview of this scientific area is presented, starting with an introduction of the basic terminology pertaining to the field (which is relevant for the discussion of the studied issues), through a short presentation of the uniqueness of SLA when compared to other, apparently similar, research fields or subjects, to an outline of typologies of individual learner differences, among which personality can sometimes be found. In the next step, there is a discussion of the theoretical and empirical approaches to personality traits in SLA. On the basis of the affective, cognitive, behavioura…

The Big Five in SLA

Polish Adolescents’ Perceptions of English and Their Desire to Learn It

In the process of foreign language learning the way in which students perceive the language may have a strong facilitative impact on their language acquisition process, especially when this perception is positive (Despagne, 2010). Unfortunately, it has not yet been clearly established whether the relationship between perceptions and foreign language achievement can be explained by the moderating power of the student’s desire to learn the foreign language. For the purpose of this paper it is hypothesized that the learner’s perception of the foreign language is strongly related to the desire to learn it, leading to higher achievement in cases of positive perception. In order to corroborate th…

Twelve lectures on multilingualism

POGLĄDY NA NAUKĘ JĘZYKA OBCEGO U OSÓB Z WYSOKĄ I NISKĄ GOTOWOŚCIĄ KOMUNIKACYJNĄ W JĘZYKU ANGIELSKIM

Reflection is understood as an activity which enables the reproduction of past experiences, reflection and meditation about them and their evaluation. One of the most significant features shaping learner reflection may be willingness to communicate in a foreign language – one’s volitional readiness to enter a communicative event in this language. In spite of a wealth of research conducted in this area, it is still unclear why some students are willing to start communication in a foreign language, while others are adamant to avoid it. For the purpose of this paper a qualitative-quantitative study was performed, focusing on four students with very low levels of willingness to communicate in E…

Danuta Wiśniewska, Action research in EFL pedagogy: Theory and analysis of practice. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, 2013. ISBN: 9788323226123, 414 pages

Assessing Personality in SLA: Type- and Trait-Focused Approaches

The study of personality has long been one of the major themes in Psychology. Nevertheless, within the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), this research area has not received a lot of recognition, despite the strong ties of both disciplines. The objective of this paper is to describe the concept of personality and its role within the SLA field, as well as to outline the dominating research methodologies that are based on distinctive theoretical approaches. For this purpose, in Section 1 of the paper, the basic term of personality is defined, and its role in the process of foreign language acquisition is described, together with an outline of the most frequent problems encountered in…

The ecosystem of the foreign language learner : selected issues

This volume examines selected aspects of the foreign language learning process from an ecological perspective, adopting a holistic view on complex interrelations among and within organisms (L2 language learners) and their milieus (family, school and society). First of all, the personal ecosystem of the learner is taken into consideration, whereby two powerful influences are intertwined: cognitive and affective aspects. The learning space formed by the individual is largely shaped by their affective states coexisting in conjunction with their cognitive processes. Moreover, this specific space is also modified by a wider array of other personal ecosystems or those of cultures. Hence, the ecos…

Self-regulatory Efficacy and Foreign Language Attainment

The foreign language learning process is lengthy and full of obstacles, while the most significant learning effects are quite delayed in time, and difficult to notice on a day-to-day basis. For this reason perseverance in self-controlling efforts may be of crucial importance to language success. It allows for a steady linguistic and cultural development of the student, allowing him to enjoy diverse, even contradictory opinions, leading to ultimate language success. The results of the research carried out with Polish secondary grammar school students (N = 621) demonstrate that only in reference to self-assessment of FL skills students with high levels of self-regulated efficacy significantly…

Openness to experience as a predictor of L2 WTC

Abstract This paper aims to provide empirical evidence for the relationship between openness to experience and L2 willingness to communicate (WTC). The study posits that openness as a personality dimension may have a dual effect—both direct and indirect—on one's L2 WTC levels. First, openness directly influences L2 WTC through its stable character, shaping one's cognition, affect and behaviour. Also, it has a possible dual indirect impact by mediating perceived communicative competence and language anxiety. According to the results of step-wise multiple regression, openness can be regarded a significant predictor of L2 WTC, explaining 21% of its variability. It may be concluded that student…

The Influence of Ambiguity Tolerance on Willingness to Communicate in L2

The main purpose of this chapter is to find empirical evidence for the role of ambiguity tolerance (AT) in shaping one’s L2 willingness to communicate levels in the context of the English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) classroom, in the Polish educational context. As the pyramid model of L2 WTC proposes (MacIntyre et al., 1998), AT’s basis is constituted by the most distal and enduring influences of personality. For this reason, ambiguity tolerance, conceived of as a personality variable (Furnham and Marks, 2013), can have a significant impact on L2 WTC. The complexity of interrelated mechanisms embedded in the foreign language learning context induce ambivalent feelings of being simultaneousl…

Emotional intelligence as a mediator in the relationship between neuroticism and L2 achievement

Abstract The present study investigates the interaction of the higher-order personality trait of Neuroticism and the lower-order personality trait of Emotional Intelligence (trait EI) in the context of foreign language acquisition (FLA). A mediation model was applied to explore the pathway from Neuroticism via trait EI to self-rated L2 skills. The reported results show that the trait EI is not only a significant predictor of the self-reported L2 speaking proficiency, but also a mediator in the relationship between Neuroticism and self-rated L2 speaking proficiency. Consequently, trait EI could be regarded as an important variable in the FLA context because its positive impact on self-percei…

Gender-dependent language anxiety in Polish communication apprehensives

This paper analyzes the relationship between communication apprehension and language anxiety from the perspective of gender. As virtually no empirical studies have addressed the explicit influence of gender on language anxiety in communication apprehensives, this paper proposes that females are generally more sensitive to anxiety, as reflected in various spheres of communication. For this reason, language anxiety levels in communication apprehensive females should be higher, unlike those of communication apprehensive males. Comparisons between them were made using a student t test, two-way ANOVA, and post-hoc Tukey test. The results revealed that Polish communication apprehensive secondary …

Forms of Social Support and Foreign Language Attainment: The Mediating Effect of Gender

This chapter analyzes the relationship between adolescents’ social support network and L2 achievement, as mediated by gender. The main sources of social support for teenagers are their families, peers and teachers, with whom they interact most frequently. These three groups play a buffering role between stress and psychological well-being by helping teenagers cope with adverse challenges (Demaray et al. 2009). Empirical studies on social support demonstrate that gender is an important factor, with female adolescents perceiving higher levels of support from the three groups (Bokhorst et al. 2010). Also, in the situation of stress caused by the necessity to learn a foreign language as a compu…

Investigations in Teaching and Learning Languages : Studies in Honour of Hanna Komorowska

Correlates and Predictors of L2 Willingness to Communicate in Polish Adolescents

The concept of willingness to communicate (WTC) in L2 denotes “a readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a specific person or persons, using a L2” (MacIntyre et al. 1998, p. 547). In the early model of L2 WTC, there are two main variables influencing its levels: perceived communication competence and communication anxiety (MacIntyre 1994). WTC is now considered a fundamental goal of second language education (MacIntyre et al. 2003) because it offers L2 learners “greater chances for L2 practice and authentic L2 usage” (MacIntyre et al. 2001, p. 382). Students taking the risk of initiating communication in a language they do not know well are likely to become more proficie…

L2 or L3? Foreign Language Enjoyment and Proficiency

Enjoyment is among the achievement emotions encountered in school and university settings. While often identified with a sense of belonging not necessarily connected with learning (Lumby, 2011), foreign language enjoyment (FLE) in SLA has been found to correlate with teachers’ professional and affective skills, and the existence of a supportive peer group. The risk involved with meeting the challenges of the SLA process induces both private and social feelings of FLE (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2016). This study hypothesizes that a good command of language may be a source of elevated levels of enjoyment, because greater language proficiency is connected with greater control perception, especially…