CHAPTER 6:

PERSONALITY
FACTORS
 THE AFFECTIVE DOMAIN
• The affective domain is the emotional side of
human behavior, and it may be juxtaposed to
the cognitive side.
• The development of affective states or
feelings involves a variety of personality
factors, feelings both ourselves and about
others with whom we come into contact.
 Benjamin Bloom’s useful extended definitions of the
affective domain:
1. Receiving
- persons must be aware of the environment surrounding
them, be conscious of the situations, phenomena, people,
objects; must willing to receive, willing to tolerate a stimulus; not
avoid it, and give a stimulus their controlled or selected
attention.

2. Responding
- committing themselves in at least some small measure
to a phenomenon or a person. Such responding in one
dimension may be in acquiescence, but in another, higher,
dimensions the person is willing to respond voluntarily without
coercion, and then receive satisfaction from that response.
 3. Valuing
- placing worth on a thing, a behavior, or a person.
Individuals do not merely accept a value to the point of being
willing to be identified with it, but commit themselves to the
value to pursue it, seek it out, and to want it.

4. Organization
- organization of values into a system of beliefs,
determining interrelationships among them, and establishing a
hierarchy of values within the system.

5. Value System
- individuals act consistently in accordance with the values
they have internalized and integrate beliefs, ideas, and attitudes
into a total philosophy or world view. It is at this level that
problem solving, for example, is approached on the basis of a
total, self-consistent system.
 FACTORS
INFLUENCING
SECOND LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION
 SELF ESTEEM

• Self esteem is probably the most pervasive aspect of

human behavior.
• It could easily be claimed that no successful cognitive
or affective activity can be carried out without some
degree of self-esteem, self-confidence, knowledge of
yourself, and belief in your own capabilities for that
activity.
 Malinowski (1923), noted that all human beings
have a need for phatic communion – defining
oneself and finding acceptance in expressing
that self in relation to valued others.
• By self-esteem, we refer to the evaluation which the
individual makes and customarily maintains with regards to
himself;
- it expresses an attitude of approval or disapproval, and
indicates the extent to which an individual believes himself
to be capable, significant, successful and worthy.
- is a personal judgement of worthiness that is expressed in
the attitude that the individual holds towards himself.
- is a subjective experience which the individual conveys to
others by verbal reports and other overt expressive behavior.
 3 LEVELS OF SELF-ESTEEM
1.General or Global Self-esteem
- thought to be relatively stable in a mature adult, and is resistant
to change except by active and extended therapy.
2. Situational or Specific Self Esteem
- referring to one’s appraisal of oneself in certain life situations, such
as social interaction, work, education, home, or on certain relatively defined
traits – intelligence, communicative ability, athletic ability, or personality
traits like gregariousness, empathy, and flexibility.
- The degree of specific self-esteem a person has may vary
depending upon the situation or the trait in question.
3. Task self-esteem
- relates to a particular specific task within a specific situation.
 INHIBITION AND RISK-TAKING
• Its concept is closely related to the notion of self-esteem.
• All people protect their ego by building sets of defenses.
• The higher the self-esteem, the lower walls of inhibitions and greater
success in learning a second language.
• It has been suggested that inhibition influences language learning in a
negative way because it discourages the risk-taking, which is an
essential element in this process.
• It is necessary to make mistakes if a person wants to learn a foreign
language. This is mainly a problem of adults who are more self-
conscious than children are. A child adopts a new language and accent
more rapidly than an older person who is less open to the influences
 ANXIETY

• Intricately intertwined with self-esteem and inhibition and risk-

taking.
• The construct of anxiety, as it has been studied in the
psychological domain, plays an important affective role in
second language acquisition.
• It is associated with feelings of uneasiness, frustration, self-
doubt, apprehension, or worry.
• Any complex tasks we undertake can have the elements of anxiety in
it, aspects in which we doubt our own abilities and wonder if we will
indeed succeed.
 Anxiety can be experienced at various levels
(MacIntyre and Gardner 1991c)
1. Trait Anxiety
- permanent predisposition to be anxious. Some
people are predictably and generally anxious about many
things.

2. State Anxiety
- experienced in relation to some particular event
or act at a more momentary or situational level.

3. Foreign Language Anxiety

- focuses more specifically on the situational nature
of state anxiety.
 3 Components of Foreign
Language Anxiety
(Horwitz et. Al 1986, MacIntyre and
Gardner 1989, 1991c)
1. Communication Apprehension, arising from learner’s inability
to inadequately express mature thoughts and ideas.

2. Fear of negative social evaluation, arising from a learner’s

need to make a positive social evaluation

3. Test anxiety or evaluation or apprehension over academic

evaluation
• Foreign language anxiety can be distinguished from other types
of anxiety and that can have a negative effect on the language
learning process. (MacIntyre and Gardner 1991c:112)

• Another important insight to be applied on the understanding of

anxiety lies in the distinction between DEBILITATIVE AND
FACILITATIVE ANXIETY

4. DEBILITATIVE ANXIETY – viewing anxiety as familiar

with “test anxiety” before examination

5. FACIITATIVE ANXIETY- some concern– some apprehension

over a task to be accomplished is a positive factor.
 EMPATHY
• In common terminology, it is define as the process of “putting
yourself into someone else’s shoes”, of reaching beyond the
self and understanding and feeling what other person is
understanding or feeling.
• It is probably the major factor in the harmonious coexistence of
individuals in society. Language is one of the primary means of
empathizing, but nonverbal communication facilitates the
process of empathizing and must not be overlooked.
• In a second language learning situation, the problem of
empathy becomes acute.
• Not only must learner-speakers correctly identify cognitive
and affective sets in the hearer, but they must do so in a
language in which they are insecure.
• Then, the learner-hearers, attempting to comprehend a
second language, often discover that their own states of
thought are misinterpreted by a native speaker, and the result
is that linguistic, cognitive, and affective information easily
passes “in one ear and out the other”.
 EXTROVERSION
• Extroversion is the extent to which a person has a deep-
seated need to receive ego enhancement, self-esteem,
and a sense of wholeness from other people as opposed
to receiving that affirmation within oneself.

• Extroverts actually need other people in order to feel

“good”. However, extroverts are not necessarily
loudmouthed and talkative. affirmatiofothers.
• Introversion, on the other hand, is the extent to which
a person derives a sense of wholeness and fulfillment
apart from a reflection of extroversion from other
people. Contrary to our stereotypes, introverts can have
an inner strength of character that extroverts do not
have.
 MYER-BRIGGS CHARACTER TYPES
• The Myers-Briggs test revived the work of Carl Jung of
a half-century earlier.
• Jung (1923) people are different in fundamental
ways, and that an individual has preferences for
“functioning” in ways that are characteristic, or
“typical”, of that particular individual. Jung’s work was
all but forgotten but we have now returned to a
recognition of the acute importance of individual
variation, especially in the realm of education.
Borrowing from some of Jung’s “types”, the Myers-
Briggs team tested four dichotomous styles of
functioning in the Myers-Briggs test: (1.) introversion
versus extroversion, (2.) sensing versus intuition, (3.)
thinking versus feeling, and (4.) judging versus
perceiving.
 The Extroversion-Introversion (E/I)
The Extroversion-Introversion (E/I) category is the way
we either “turn inward” or “turn outward” for our sense of
wholeness and self-esteem.
EXTROVERSION (B) INTROVERSION (I)

Sociability Territoriality
Interaction Concentration
External Internal
Breadth Depth
Extensive Intensive
Multiplicity of relationships Limited relationship
Expenditure of energies Conservation of energies
Interest in external events Interest in internal reaction
 The Sensing-Intuition (S/N)
The Sensing-Intuition (S/N) category has to do with the way we
perceive and “take in” the world around us. Sensing types are data-
oriented and empirically inclined to stick to observable, measurable
facts, while intuitive types are more willing to rely on hunches,
inspiration, and imagination for perceiving reality.

SENSING (S) INTUITION (N)

Experience Hunches
Past Future
Realistic Speculative
Perspiration Inspiration
Actual Possible
Down-to-earth Head-in-clouds
Utility Fantasy
Fact Fiction
Practicality Ingenuity
Sensible Imaginative
 The Thinking-Feeling (T/F)
The Thinking-Feeling (T/F) category describes ways of arriving at
conclusions and storing reality memory. Thinking types are generally cognitive,
objective, impartial, and logical. Feeling involves more affectivity, a desire for
harmony, a capacity for warmth, empathy, and compassion.
THINKING (T) FEELING (F)
Objective Subjective
Principles Values
Policy Social values
Laws Extenuating circumstances
Criterion Intimacy
Firmness Persuasion
Impersonal Personal
Justice Humane
Categories Harmony
Standards Good or bad
Critique Appreciative
Analysis Sympathy
Allocation Devotion
 The Judging-Perceiving (J/P)
The Judging-Perceiving (J/P) dichotomy has something to do with
one’s attitude towards the “outer world”.

JUDGING (J) PERCEIVING (P)

Settled Pending
Decided Gather more data
Fixed Flexible
Plan ahead Adapt as you go
Run one’s life Let life happen
Closure Open options
Decision-making Treasure hunting
Planned Open ended
Completed Emergent
Decisive Tentative
Wrap it up Something will turn up
Urgency There’s plenty of time
Deadline! What deadline?
Get to show on the road Let’s wait and see
 MOTIVATION
• is commonly thought of as an inner drive, impulse, emotion, or
desire that moves one to a particular action.
• In technical terms, motivation refers to “the choices people
make as to what experience or goals they will approach or
avoid, and the degree of effort they will exert in that certain
needs or drives”.
• Some psychologist define motivation in terms of certain needs
or drives. Motivation is something that can, like self-esteem,
be global, situational or task-oriented.
• Learning a foreign language clearly requires some of all three
levels of motivation. For example, a learner may possess high
“global” motivation but low “task” motivation to perform
well.
• Motivation is also typically examined in terms of the
intrinsic and extrinsic orientation of the learner. Those
who learn for their own self-perceived needs and goals are
intrinsically oriented and those who pursue a goal only to
receive an external reward from someone else are
extrinsically motivated.
Ausubel’s 6 needs undergirding the construct of
motivation:
1.The need for exploration, for seeing “the other side of the mountain”, for probing
the unknown.
2.The need for manipulation, for operating – to use the Skinner’s term – on the
environment and causing change.
3.The need for activity, for movement and exercise, both physical and mental
4.The need for stimulation, the need to be stimulated by the environment, by other
people, or by ideas, thoughts, and feelings.
5.The need for knowledge, the need to process and internalize the results of
exploration, manipulation, activity, and stimulation, to resolve contradictions, to
quest for solutions to problems and for self-consistent systems of knowledge.
6.The need for ego enhancement, for the self to be known and to be accepted and
approved by others.
Instrumental, Integrative and Assimilative Motivation
Instrumental Motivation
- refers to motivation to acquire a language as means for
attaining instrumental goals: furthering a career, reading technical
material, translation and so forth.
Integrative Motivation
- motive is employed when learners wish to integrate
themselves within the culture of the second language group, to identify
themselves with and become part of the society.
- It is the desire on the part of a language learner to learn the
second language in order to communicate with, or find out about,
members of the second language culture, and does not necessarily imply
direct contact with the second language group.
Assimilative Motivation
- is the drive to become an undistinguishable member of a
speech community, and it usually requires prolonged contact with
the second language culture.
- characteristic of a person who, perhaps at a very young age,
learn a second language and second culture in order to identify
almost exclusively with that second language.
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

INTRINSIC EXTRINSIC
Integrative L2 learner wishes to Someone else wishes
integrate with the L2 the L2 learner to know
culture the L2 for integrative
(e.g., for immigration or reasons
marriage) (e.g., Japanese parents
send kids to Japanese-
language school)
Instrumental L2 learner wishes to External power wants L2
achieve goals utilizing L2 learner to learn L2
(e.g., for a career) (e.g., corporation sends
Japanese businessman
to U.S for language
training)

Table 6-2. Motivational Dichotomies

Intrinsic Motivation
- ones for which there is no apparent reward except
the activity itself. People seem to engage in the activities for
their own sake and not because they lead to an extrinsic
reward.
- Intrinsically motivated behaviors are aimed at bringing
about certain internally rewarding consequences, namely,
feelings and competence and self-determination (Edward Deci
(1975-23)).
-
Extrinsic Motivation
- carried out in anticipation of a reward from outside
and beyond the self.
- typically money, prizes, grades, and even certain
types of feedbacks.
- behaviors initiated solely to avoid punishment.