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Identity and Second Language Acquisition: A Case Study of the Interaction Between Personality
and Learning
Emily D. Ash
Abstract:
The current study evaluates the personality traits and learning style of a teenage foreign language
student. Incorporating data from both observation and interaction the learners second language
identity, as visible through personality traits, learning strategies, and communicative tendencies,
is examined. The results of the examination argue that incorporation of teaching students to value
their personal second language identity and to use learning strategies appropriate for both the
situation and their personality will increase communicative competence.
IDENTITY AND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
3
1. Introduction
Second language acquisition is a complex task. It is a task for which many considerations
must be made. The present study seeks to focus on one of these many considerations, learner
characteristics. These characteristics, from age to personality traits to ethnicity, all contribute to
the formation of a second language (L2) learners self-identity. This self-identity is, in the words
of Brown (2014), inextricably bound up with ones language, for it is in the communicative
process [] that such identities are confirmed, shaped, and reshaped (p.64). In the foreign
language classroom therefore, new identities are being constructed and negotiated daily as
learners establish new language egos (Brown, 2014). A variety of affective factors (attitude, level
of inhibition, etc.) effect this process and allow for it be less daunting for some learners.
It is unwise to build a theory of second language acquisition (SLA) without taking into
consideration the aforementioned affective factors; known together as the affective domain. In
the foreign language classroom it can refer to feelings or emotional reactions about the
language, about the people who speak that language, about the culture where that language is
spoken, or about the language-learning environment (Gass, 2013, p. 458) and it has allowed
SLA research to look beyond empirical data and cognitive processes to focus on the interaction
between identity and L2, successful, learning. The aim of this case study is to assess a particular
students identity and explore how it facilitates and, or hinders her L2 acquisition.
2. Literature review
Since gaining popularity in the 1970s research pertaining to the affective domain has led to
greater understanding of language learning processes. Many of these studies have focused on
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personality. More specifically, many of these studies have focused on the concepts of
extroversion and introversion (Kayaou, 2013; Zafar &Meenakshi, 2012; Liyanage & Bartlett,
2013; Erton, 2010). The results, unfortunately, have not clearly identified if extroversion or
introversion helps or hinders the process of second language acquisition (Brown, 2014).
However, Kayaou (2013) did find correlations between extroversion/introversion and learning
strategy employed by the learner with introverts leaning toward cognitive strategies (formally
practicing with language elements). Extroverts on the other hand, tend towards metacognitive
strategies such as seeking practice opportunities (Kayaou, 2013). While these conclusions
cannot determine the ultimate success of a L2 learner they do give educators valuable insight
into the probable learning strategies each of their students will use; knowledge that allows the
The tendencies of extroverts and introverts to choose a particular learning style was also
confirmed in Liyanage & Bartletts 2013 study Personality types and language learning
strategies: Chameleons changing colours. The study cautions however that, like chameleons, L2
learners learning strategy preferences tend to change as they are affected by learner internal
well as by external factors that stimulate strategic action (learning contexts) (Liyanage &
Bartlett, 2013, p. 605). In other words, particular learning contexts (listening, writing, speaking)
require learners to draw on different learning strategies and therefore no strategy is less valuable
than another.
Zafar & Meenakshi (2012) delve deeper into the characteristics of extroverted and
introverted L2 learners. In their study the authors praise both extroverted characteristics, such as,
demonstrating higher risk-taking habits and introverted characteristics, claiming that a more
introverted personality may be better suited to classroom learning (Zafar & Meenakshi, 2012,
p.36). Risk-taking behavior has been associated with success in L2 language learning because it
allows learners to be willing to try to produce the target language even though he or she risks
being wrong. Demonstrating risk-taking behavior in the classroom also promotes participation,
provides opportunities to obtain input, and allows the learner to produce output in functional
practice (Zafar & Meenakshi, 2012). While level of extroversion clearly influences a students
Self-esteem is the part of the affective domain which allows an individual to evaluate his or
her own capabilities to successfully accomplish an activity. It is also an area that is in particular
danger during the language acquisition process because the learners self because deprived of its
normal, comfortable ability of self-expression. Brown (2014) divides self-esteem into three
categories: global, situational, and task. Each is applicable to the foreign language classroom, but
it is the global self-esteem, general assessment of ones worth over time, that tends to be higher in
extroverts who are not daunted by the possible consequences of being laughed at (Zafar &
Meenakshi, 2012, p. 38) and therefore demonstrate willingness to take risks with their language
production. Because not all students, extroverted or introverted, possess high global self-esteem
it is imperative that educators strive to create a classroom in which students feel secure, without
fear of being humiliated when they speak. The classroom should become a place where, due to
encouragement, patience, and preparation, risk-taking does not dissuade a learner from
participating.
3. Case study
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The following case study draws on the knowledge presented above on the affective domain
and its influence on L2 language learning. It does not aim to prove the a particular personality
trait or learning strategies preferable to another but instead endeavors to evaluate the pedagogical
implications of the personality traits and learning strategies demonstrated by the participant.
The study was conducted with a 15 year old girl who, for the purposes of privacy, we will
call Bree. Bree is a 10th grade student currently enrolled in a level 4 Spanish language class of 12
students. As evident by her unweighted grade point average of 3.8, Bree demonstrates a strong
conversation but in which the investigator is sure to include specific topics (Silva-Corvaln,
2001), was employed. The following information, deemed relevant to language studies, was
Bree first encountered the Spanish language at 5 years of age when her grandmother, who
often watched her, started to date a Spanish speaking man. Brees favorite show at the time was
Dora the Explorer and therefore she remembers being thrilled at the opportunity this man offered
for her to learn more Spanish. Even though her grandmother did not learn the language she
encouraged her boyfriend to interact with Bree as much as possible in the language. This
relationship lasted until Bree turned 9 at which point Bree lost her contact with the Spanish
While at a younger age Bree, like most children, did not have any inhibitions in place to
protect her self-identity and therefore was able to easily interact with her grandmothers
IDENTITY AND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
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boyfriend. It was during this time of exposure that Bree was afforded the opportunity to be
exposed to and develop a native like accent; an element of L2 acquisition that has been shown by
virtually all research to be nearly impossible after the critical period which ends at puberty. Her
re-introduction to Spanish however occurred during puberty however when inhibition are
heightened in the trauma of undergoing physical, cognitive, and emotional changes, and
ultimately a totally new physical, cognitive, and emotional identity (Brown, 2014, p. 63). It was
during this process of identity development that Bree decided to embrace her love of both the
Spanish language and culture. As a multi-racial girl Bree felt a lot of pressure to choose which
culture, black or white, she belonged to; she chose Latino. She made friends who were Spanish,
enjoyed listening to their music, preferred their foods, and found novelty in the ability to keep
secrets from others who did not speak the language. She also had feelings of solidarity and
empathy towards her Latino friends because she found similarities between their mothers and her
own; family oriented, protective, loud, emotional, and opinionated. The social nature of language
requires a sophisticated degree of empathy [] so that we can send and receive messages
clearly (Brown, 2014, p. 153). Bree was, clearly, able to develop the necessary empathy to
incorporate into a group of Spanish speaking friends. By generating this sense of affinity with the
target language community Bree was able to limit both psychological and social distance
between her and the native speakers she met. This lack of social distance allowed Bree to
acculturate to the Spanish speaking community, initiating a chain reaction, including contact in
Since middle school Bree has continued her Spanish language studies, excelling in each
class she has taken. She expresses a positive self-concept as a L2 learner and practices a growth
mindset (the idea that effort will develop her basic abilities) which, according to Yoshida (2013)
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appears to allow Bree to produce more spontaneous speech with in the classroom. Yoshida
(2013) also confirms that the familiarity and commonality Bree has found with the Latino
community has contributed to her success in her L2 studies because the threat to her identity is
decreased. Studying Spanish however, is not Brees ultimate goal. Although she plans to travel
to Spain and minor in Spanish in college she expresses interest in also learning French and is
uncertain of which career path is right for her. The lack of clear relevance to her future, Brees
L2 learning is motivated intrinsically and has allowed her to build self-esteem, and a sense of
identity security.
Assessing elements of learners identity, including but not limited to their self-esteem,
personality traits, and learning strategies can be challenging. After all, learners are not always
self-aware and, as has been seen in previous research, identity and learning strategy choices are
fluid and dependent on situation. Therefore, this study focuses on five activities designed to
The relationship between personality and L2 learning has been widely researched and
debated amongst SLA researchers for decades. One of the most popular personality assessments
is the Myers-Briggs type Indicator (MBTI). The MBTI assesses ones prevailing personality
traits and focuses on four styles of functioning: (1) introversion vs. extroversion, (2) sensing vs.
intuition, (3) thinking vs. feeling, and (4) judging vs. perceiving (Brown, 2014). Brees results on
this test showed a moderate preference for extraversion, sensing, feeling and perceiving. Bree
IDENTITY AND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
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also took a similar assessment called the Keirsey Temperament Sorter which indicated her
After observation these results were not surprising as Bree demonstrated many of the
assets and liabilities, as suggested by Ehrman (as cited in Brown, 2014, p. 157), of her
personality traits. For example, tending towards extroversion it follows that during observation
Bree often answered questions first, was often engaged in conversation, and enjoyed group
assessments. Fortunately her extroversion is tempered by a strong sensing trait that requires she
approach her work systematically with attention to detail, ensuring work be done correctly
instead haphazardly (a liability for many extroverts who are easily distracted (Zafar &
Meenakshi, 2012)). Brees success in the classroom can also be attributed to her feeling and
perceiving traits, as these allow her to be open and flexible while smoothly navigating social
interactions.
While Brees extroversion has aided her L2 acquisition due to increased interaction with
the language and higher risk-taking habits, the element of feeling, her most prevailing
personality style, has the biggest impact on pedagogical strategies. Learners who present with a
strong feeling and idealist personality can quickly become discouraged if not praised and are
upset by confrontation and conflict (Brown, 2014; Kiersey Temperament Test). Insufficient
praise would potentially lead to reduced risk-taking behaviors, increased anxiety, and a decrease
in Brees performance within the classroom setting. Confrontation and conflict have the same
potential as seen in the noticeable decrease in Brees classroom participation on March 20th, 2015
following the internal group conflict she experienced when writing the Subjunctive Song.
Teachers armed with this knowledge of Brees personality will be better prepared to offer the
Inspired by a general research consensus that extroversion and introversion level has a
direct impact on the learning strategy a student is most likely to employ, Bree was also asked to
take two learning style preference assessments (Learning Style Inventory and the VARK). It is
common for such an assessment to be given to learners at the beginning of any course since in
modern language teaching today, relating individually with the students on academic basis and
trying to learn more about the student profile provides further advantages for the language
learner and the teacher to meet the program goals (Erton, 2010, p. 115). This approach helps
teacher develop strategies and adapt their teaching styles to accommodate individual learner
characteristics. For Bree this approach would include copious visual and auditory input, paired
with opportunities to use information in written form. Her tendency towards visual and auditory
learning follows proven trends of extroverts in their learning strategy preferences (Erton, 2010;
Kayaou, 2013; Liyanage & Bartlett, 2013). Erton (2010) cautions however that while a
relationship between learning strategy and personality can be established the same cannot be said
between personality and success level. Therefore, this study proposes that it is Brees effective
use of learning strategies that has aided her L2 acquisition achievement and not her personality.
Attributing success to learning strategies and not individual personality traits has many
benefits. Primarily it diminishes any direct threat to the learners identity and language ego
because it promotes a growth mindset and prevents lack of success from being attributed to a
personal character flaw. Secondly, educators are expected to and capable of guiding students to
identify ways in which they can modify/improve their language learning strategies. The same
cannot be said about personality traits. After taking the learning style assessments Bree received
confirmation that some of the strategies she already uses (listening to music to increase
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vocabulary, re-reading stories and notes, and discussing concepts with others) are directly related
to her preference for audio/visual learning styles. She was also able to identify additional
strategies to further enhance her study habits (using a recorder, turning visuals into words and
possible multiple choice questions) (VARK, 2015). Educators who provide time for learners to
assess their learning styles and help them to develop a personalized kitbag of strategies to fit the
various contexts in which they will learn and with which they are at ease, in terms of
personality (Liyanage & Bartlett, 2013, p. 606) ultimately set the learners up for success.
Popescu and Cohen-Vida (2013) remind us however that even though educators have
both the duty and the responsibility to guide [their] students in the learning process to develop
their communication strategies to become proficient communicators (p. 3489) students must
show some level of autonomy. In other words, no matter how many assessments of learning style
are given, or how many conversations are had about strategies, at its base learning strategies are
choices the learner consciously makes to manage his or her learning and s/he ultimately
becomes responsible of the strategies used, of the concrete activities practiced, in the learning
situations, and of the risks taking to transfer the learning strategies to new situation with other
learning tasks (Popescu & Cohen-Vida, 2013, p.3490). Driven intrinsically due to having
acculturated to the Spanish speaking community during puberty, Bree is well on her way to
communication strategies to compensate for lack of linguistic and lexical knowledge. In the
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the learner while simultaneously helping him or her to work past frustration and anxiety in order
to build communicative confidence (Yoshida, 2013; Popescu & Cohen-Vida, 2013). Outside of
the classroom however the learner is left on their own to communicate with others in the target
language. To gain greater insight into Brees communicative competence and communication
strategies she completed an oral ACTFL proficiency interview with an ACTFL assessment train
Although Brees proficiency interview revealed that she has achieved advanced low
tasks, form well connected discourse of paragraph length in a variety of tenses, and contribute
to the conversation with sufficient accuracy, clarity, and precision to convey [her] intended
message (p.6). Her speech however is still effected by her dominant language, English, and her
Hypothesis (CAH) to analyze her performance some linguistic difficulties and first language
interference can be identified (Brown, 2014). Brees two most salient mistakes revolved around
lexical shortcomings and verbal morphology. CAHs original or strong version proposed a
hierarchy of difficulty with the most difficult aspect of the target language being when one item
in the native language becomes two or more in the target language (Brown, 2014, p.256). Brees
break down in past narration supports this claim due to the split in Spanish of the past tense into
two distinct verb tenses, preterit and imperfect. Even though CAH has been disproven as a
reliable predictor of learner performance its implications for pedagogy are still important. For
IDENTITY AND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
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example, acknowledging and addressing differences between native and target language
structures can reduce error rate by drawing learner attention to said differences.
Bree also participated in a casual conversation with a bilingual peer. Unlike the ACTFL
proficiency interview the purpose of this activity was not to assess grammatical competence but
instead to focus on strategic, sociolinguistic, discourse competence. Taking into account the
results from Brees personality and learning strategy assessments it was predicted that Bree
would employ tactics associated with affective and sociocultural-interactive (S-I) strategies.
According to Oxfords meta-strategies, affective strategies help the learner to employ beneficial
energy, form positive attitudes towards the learning process, and generate and maintain
motivation (as cited in Brown, 2014, p.126) while S-I strategies allow the learner to maintain
interactive communication win a cultural context despite knowledge gaps. During the
conversation Bree utilized the following tactics (laid out in Brown, 2014):
interesting topics as to lower boredom and develop empathy with her peer
Generating motivation by focusing on what she can do with the language and
In instances when Brees linguistic competence did fall short one of two things happened: (1) the
pair began to speak in English or (2) Bree employed a compensatory strategy. Bree tended to rely
on nonverbal signals such as gestures and miming as well as circumlocution to describe the word
she did not know. The girl with who Bree spoke also demonstrated a communicative strategy,
foreigner talk. Featuring slowed speech rate, long pauses, high-frequency words, and
understanding and communication when speaking with a non-native speaker (Gass, 2013).
Further investigation therefore is needed to determine why Bree occasionally chose to switch
into English during the conversation since all influencing factors (affective domain, linguistic
aptitude, having a native speaker familiar with communicating with non-natives) indicate that
3.2.4.Performance evaluation
The final activity Bree was asked to complete was a reflection on her linguistic
performance during the time of the case study. She was prompted to include insight about her
successes, her difficulties, and her failures. Paired with written samples from the course this
performance analysis as a less restrictive concept that places a healthy investigation of errors
within the larger perspective of the learners total language performance (p.251). Brees final
reflection, which she elected to write in the target language, provides this larger context for her
language performance.
In her reflection, which contained zero grammatical errors, Bree cites nerves and lack of
familiarity with concepts as the two main causes of difficulty in her language production. She
did not admit to experiencing any moments of communication failure and she attributes success
IDENTITY AND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
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to having a passion for acquiring the language and to her love of the culture. In an effort to
communication failure was never observed and her cultural interest was frequently apparent.
Having obtained such a high level of proficiency in the language finding multiple examples of
linguistic output (spoken or written) with a common error was not an easy task. Repetitive errors
exhibited by someone with Brees skill level would constitute fossilization, the relatively
permanent incorporation of incorrect linguistic forms into a learners L2 competence. Zafar and
Meenakshi (2012) argue however that for learners like Bree who exhibit low inhibitions, high
self-esteem, and high risk-taking habits are more likely to extend their existing language systems
to the limit and therefore, is more like to change and more resistant to fossilization (p.37).
Bree however is not immune to mistakes as evident in the examples below (the bolded
Each of these statements demonstrates an error of permutation, or the use of the incorrect past
tense. Supported by the previous discussion of CAH in which the most difficult elements of a
language will be those that require a learner to make a choice between two items that are one in
their target language, it is not surprising that these errors were found. Fortunately, these errors
are only local errors or errors that do no inhibit communication usually because [] the
reader/hearer is able to make an accurate guess of the intended meaning (Brown, 2014, p.252).
IDENTITY AND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
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Pedagogically such an error, with its source lying in the native language of the learning, can be
difficult to eradicate from the L2 learners competence. Continued guided practice and the
provision of appropriate feedback that draws the learners attention to the error would both be
4. Conclusion
This qualitative case study drew on careful observation and purposeful interaction with an
adolescent Spanish language learner. Situated within the context of effective classroom language
learning the studied endeavored to identify how her affective domain influenced her language
learning. It has successfully revealed the complex nature of the relationship between personality
traits, learning strategies, identity and communicative competence. Although it does not identify
any particular combination of traits and strategies that guarantee successful second language
acquisition it does shed light on their interactions and the benefits of knowing which ones
learners possess. Similarly to the processes of language acquisition however, awareness is only
the first step to learning (Gass, 2013). Therefore, educators cannot simply acknowledge the
individuality of L2 learners but instead must concede to the mounting evidence of the
usefulness of learners incorporating strategies into their classroom learning process (Brown,
2014, p.132). By incorporating and differentiating activities based on personality traits into their
lesson plan repertoire and guiding students to recognize the learning strategies that best coincide
with their personalities, educators recognize the importance of each learners L2 identity. This
approach also helps to build self-esteem and self-confidence because the learners L2 identity
and language ego are less threatened by high-risk language tasks. Finally, this approach helps to
guide students toward autonomy and the ability to use their own personal strengths to
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