The Effects of Personality on Second Language Learning

Presenter Information

Kayla Smith, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Location

CSU Ballroom

Start Date

11-4-2017 2:00 PM

End Date

11-4-2017 3:30 PM

Mentor's Name

Anne Dahlman

Description

Language is the most important form of communication. Without language, communication would be difficult. In current times, learning a second language is often encouraged and is a valuable asset to possess. With the encouragement of learning a second language, it is important to determine what factors affect an individual's ability to learn a new language. Based on research, there are several individual factors at play when learning a new language. One such factor is one's personality. In order to determine how one's personality might affect an individual's ability to learn a second language, a single case study of a second language learner was conducted. Through the completion of the case study, it was determined that motivation is a major factor of personality that has an impact an individual's ability to learn a second language. It was also found that introversion and extraversion do not play a significant role in an individual's ability to learn a second language but they help to determine what factors of the learning process an individual will need more help with. Overall, these findings would inform a teacher to learn what aspects of learning a second language a student would need the most help with and therefore would help with the learning process.