The effects of personality traits (introversion, extroversion) on interactive attitudes or behaviors of L1 learners in the classroom

Abstract

This study attempts to investigate the effects of some personality variables (Introversion\Extroversion) on the interactive behaviors and Attitudes of L1 learners in the English department. The aim of the present research is to show the possible relationship of the afore-mentioned personality features and the learning process with the hypothesis that the more students are Introverts, the more it can affect their classroom performance and their teachers’ evaluation. This study is performed at Yahia Fares University of Medea, involving around fifty participants of the English department L1. As far as the data gathering tools are concerned, Students are tested with the Myers Briggs (MBTI) personality test online, in order to identify their personalities and to arrange them accordingly. The second step takes place in the classroom where a questionnaire is administered to 50 students to determine their introversion tendency and anxiety level respectively. Furthermore, 6 teachers are also asked to answer a questionnaire that identifies their opinions on the effect of these traits on their students and the possibility of these results affecting their evaluation and attitudes. Henceforth, the obtained results prove that the introvert and extrovert learners differ in terms of the way they receive and share information in the classroom, as well as the way they communicate with teachers. While extrovert may use the discussion method with teachers through the lesson, introverts choose to stay silent and listen, also extroverts tend to produce longer sentences and speak loudly and clearly, while introverts use short sentences filled with pauses. As to the third step which concerned teachers’ opinions, results show that teachers pay more attention to the extrovert learners as they are more active