Chapter 6: Personality Factors PDF

Chapter 6: Personality Factors The Affective Domain Affective domain is the emotional side of human behavior. The development of affective states involves a variety of personality factors such as, self-esteem, inhibition, etc. Bloom (1964) Taxonomy of Affectivity This taxonomy gives an extended...

Chapter 6: Personality Factors The Affective Domain Affective domain is the emotional side of human behavior. The development of affective states involves a variety of personality factors such as, self-esteem, inhibition, etc. Bloom (1964) Taxonomy of Affectivity This taxonomy gives an extended definition of the affective domain. It has been devised for educational purposes, and gives a general understanding of the affective domain. It has five levels. - Fist level; the development of affectivity begins with receiving. People must be aware of the environment surrounding them and be conscious of situations, phenomenon, people, and objects. - Second level; persons must go beyond receiving to responding, committing themselves in at least some small measure to a phenomenon or person. This response could be in one 38  dimension acquiescence (agreement) and in other dimension the persons themselves are willing to respond voluntarily. - Third level; is valuing, placing worth on thing, object, or people. - Forth level; the organization of values into a system of beliefs - Fifth Level; individuals become characterized by and understand themselves in terms of their value system. Understanding how human beings feel, respond, believe and value is an important aspect of SLA theory. Affective Factors in Second Language Acquisition Self-esteem (‫ری‬‫)خودبا‬ It is self-appraisal, self-confidence, and knowledge of oneself. It is the beliefs in your capabilities in performing a task. It is a personal judgment of worthiness that individuals have about themselves. It is a subjective experience that individuals express and report overtly by behaviors such as reporting. Its multidimensionality is being realized through the following categories of self-esteem: 39  - Global self-esteem; it is relatively stable and resistant to change in a mature adult. It is the general or prevailing assessment one makes of one’s own worth over time and across different situations. - Situational or specific self-esteem; it is one’s self-assessment: a. In particular life situations such as, home, work, education, social interaction b. In certain discretely defined traits such as, intelligence, communication ability, athletic ability, c. In personality traits such as, gregariousness, empathy, and flexibility. - Task self-esteem; it refers to particular tasks within specific situations. Within an educational domain, task-self-esteem may refer to one subject-matter area. Specific self- esteem might include L2 acquisition in general; it may refer to one’s self-evaluation of a particular aspect of process: writing, speaking, a particular class in L2, or even a special kind of classroom exercise. A chicken-or-egg question: Does high-self-esteem cause language success, or does language success cause high self- esteem? Clearly both are interacting factors. It is important to note that the teachers could have positive effects both on learners’ linguistic development and emotional well-being. Phatic communion It is defining oneself and finding acceptance in expressing that self in relation to others valued. Attribution Theory and Self-efficacy Attribution theory focuses on how people explain the causes of their own successes and failures in achieving a personal objective. Research shows that people attribute four factors into their successes of failures: (a) ability, (b) effort, (c) difficulty of a task, and (d) luck. Effort and ability are two internal factors to the learners, and task difficulty along with luck is the external factors. Self-efficacy: beliefs in one’s own capabilities to perform a task A student with high self-efficacy may attribute his/her failure in an exam to internal factors, namely, effort and ability. In other words, this student accepts that if she/he devoted enough efforts he/she would pass the exam. Conversely, if a student with low self-efficacy fails in an exam, she/he may attribute his/her failure to the external factors including task difficulty and luck. Willingness to Communicate (WTC) 40 WTC is defined as an underlying continuum representing one’s predisposition (intention) toward or away from communicating with others, given the choice. MacIntyre (1998) contended that a number of factors contribute to predisposing one learner to seek, and another learner to avoid communication in second language. Given the communication avoidance, the researchers maintain that there are some cognitive and affective factors discouraging L2 learners not to communicate in L2 such as, motivation, intergroup, personality and two levels of self-confidence including situational self-confidence and L2 self-confidence. According to Peter MacIntyre et al. (2001), social support is a key contributor to increasing and building WTC in L2 learners. The techniques including, group works, pair work or any other interactive activities could improve social support in L2 language classrooms. Inhibition (threat) All human beings, in their understanding of themselves, build sets of defenses to protect the ego. According to Freudian psychology, ego is the part of your mind with which you think and take action. The physical, cognitive, and affective changes in adolescence bring on (to make something bad or unpleasant happen) mounting defensive inhibitions to protect a fragile ego. More in details, these defensive mechanisms ward off ideas, experiences and feelings threaten to dismantle the organization of values and believes on which the assessments of self-esteem have been founded. More clearly, the stronger the ego = the higher the self-esteem = the lower defenses Those with weaker self-esteem maintain walls of inhibitions to protect self. Language Ego It is an identity a person develops in reference to native language s/he speaks. It is the very personal, egoistic nature of second language acquisition. Meaningful second language acquisition involves some identity conflict as language learners take on a new identity with their new acquired competence. An adaptive language ego enables learners to lower the inhibitions that may impede success. Reporting on the importance of language ego in L2 acquisition, Ehrman (1999, 1993) suggested that the openness, vulnerability, and ambiguity tolerance of those with thin language ego create different pathways to success from those with hard-driving, systematic, perfectionistic, thick ego boundaries. 41 Given this issue in mind, teachers should create techniques that reduce the amount of inhibition2 in language classes. More precisely, the language teaching programs should enable the learners to take risks, to orally try out hypotheses resorting on their linguistic knowledge. Testing hypotheses usually follows making mistakes and errors. Risk Taking L2 learners have to be able to gamble a bit, try out hunches about the language and to take risks of being wrong. Beebe (1983) elaborated on the negative ramifications of risk taking fearing both in the classroom and natural setting Classroom ramifications - Low score in the course - A fail on the exam - A reproach from the teacher - A smirk from a classmate - Punishment or embarrassment imposed by oneself. Natural setting ramifications - Looking ridiculous - Not being able to communicate based on frustration coming from their blank look - Not being able to take care of themselves - Fear of alienation and not being able to get close to others - Loss of identity What is the solution? Dufeu (1994) believes that through an affective framework teachers have to create a climate of acceptance that will stimulate self-confidence, and encourage the learners to experiment and to discover target language, allowing themselves to take risks without feeling embarrassing. It is a myth to assume that the successful L2 learners are highly risk-takers since in a study it was observed that the L2 learners with moderate risk-taking were more successful than L2 students with higher risk-taking. Hence, it could be concluded that successful learners are learners who make willing and accurate guesses (Rubin & Thompson, 1994). Note: it seems that risk-taking has a close connection to self-esteem. Because when a learner with a higher general self-esteem committees an error or makes a mistake, he/she doesn’t easily daunted or embarrassed by the possible consequences of being laughed at. 2 Building defenses around our egos 42 Note: Beebe (1983) maintained that fossilization3 is probably due to lack of willingness to take risks. Anxiety Anxiety can be experienced in two levels: - Trait anxiety; it is the deepest and general anxiety. Some people have a permanent tendency to anxiety. It is not useful in predicting the L2 achievement since its nature has not fully understood. - State anxiety; it is a more momentary and situational level experienced in relation to some particular event or act. The current research on anxiety investigates the nature of this kind of anxiety and its effects on L2 learning. Given this issue in mind, the teacher should realize whether the learner’s anxiety comes from a general trait or stems from a particular activity or task at the moment. Literature review documents three components of foreign language anxiety: - Communication apprehensions, arising from learners’ inability to adequately express mature thoughts and ideas. - Fear of social negative evaluation, arising from a learner’s need to make a positive impression on others - Test anxiety over academic evaluation. Anxiety in language learning is analyzed and described in the following perspectives as well: - Debilitative anxiety; - Facilitative anxiety Oxford (1999) described the former as “harmful” and the latter “useful” anxiety. Spielmann and Radnosfky (2001) introduced the neutral concept of tension to describe the possible dysphoric (detrimental) and euphoric (beneficial) effects in learning a foreign language. The followers of facilitative anxiety and euphoric tension assert that there should be a little concern or apprehension in performing a task, and they consider this amount of concern as a positive factor in the successful performance of the task. Feeling nervousness, in experienced speakers, is a sign of facilitative anxiety before giving a speech. 3 It is a mechanism in inter-language system which refers to the linguistic forms in the performance of a second language learner that do not conform to target language norms, even after years of instructions and the exposure to the standard form of the target language. 43 Note: Rogerian humanistic theory of learning promotes lower anxiety among the learners and a non-defensive posture where learners do not feel that they are in competition with one another. Note: too much and too little anxiety may hinder the process of L2 learning. Linguistic Deficit Coding Hypothesis (LDCH) The claim that anxiety in a foreign language class could be the results of first language deficits, namely, the difficulties that the students may have with language codes including, phonological, syntactical, lexical and semantic features. In other words, Linguistic Coding Difference Hypothesis claims that success in foreign language learning is primarily dependent on language aptitude and that students’ anxiety about learning an L2 is a consequence of their learning difficulties. Some researchers attribute the common source of anxiety in language learning situations to several factors including, interference, fear of negative evaluation, identity conflict, a quest for perfection, etc. and not merely to LCD hypothesis. Empathy Transaction is the process of reaching out beyond the self to others, and language is the best tool used to accomplish this process. Literature review indicates some transactional variables applying in L2 learning: imitation, modeling, identification, empathy, extroversion, aggression, styles of communication …. In this book, only two of these variables, namely, empathy and extroversion are discussed. Empathy in common terminology means: it is the process of “putting yourself into someone else’s shoes”, reaching beyond of self to understand what the other person is feeling. It should be noted that verbal and non-verbal communication facilitates the process of empathizing. Empathy in sophisticated terms: it is the projection of one’s own personality into the personality of others in order to understand them better. Here, projection means the act of imagining that someone else is feeling the same emotions as you. Communication needs a certain degree of empathy. In order to have a successful communication, you have to understand the cognitive and affective states of your audience. Empathy in spoken communication: oral communication is a case in which, at least at cognitive level, it is easy to achieve empathetic communication since there is immediate feedbacks from the hearer. A misunderstood word, phrase or sentence can be questioned by the hearer and then rephrased by the speaker until the message is clearly interpreted. 44 Empathy in written communication; this communication needs a special kind of cognitive empathy enabling the writer to communicate the ideas by means of an empathetic intuition and judgement of reader’s state of mind and structure of knowledge. In a second language learning situation, a learner-speaker must identify the cognitive and affective sets of the hearer. The learner-hearers of L2 discover that their own states of mind are often misunderstood by native speakers, and the result is that the linguistic, cognitive, and affective information easily passes in one ear and out in other. Extroversion It is the extent to which a person has a deep-seated need to receive ego enhancement, self- esteem, a sense of wholeness from other people opposed to receiving that affirmation within oneself. Extroverts need other people to feel good. They are not necessarily talkative. They may be relatively shy but still need the affirmation of others. Introversion is the extent to which a person derives a sense of wholeness apart from a reflection of this self from other people. Introverts have an inner strength of character than extroverts. Motivation A countless studies and experiments show that motivation is a key to learning. Theories of Motivation - Behavioral view; the need for reward and positive reinforcement - Cognitive view; motivation plays much more attention to individual’s attention - Constructivist view; motivation is derived from social interactions Instrumental and Integrative Orientations (not Motivations) The instrumental side of dichotomy is referred to acquiring a language as a means for achieving instrumental goals such as, academic goals, career, and reading technical materials. The integrative side describes learners want to integrate themselves into the L2 culture group. Motivational intensity It is the strength of one’s motivational derives and needs. It is important to note that instrumentality and integrativeness are orientations rather than types of motivation. That is, depending on whether a learner’s context or orientation is (a) academic or career related (instrumental), or (b) socially or culturally oriented (integrative), different needs 45 might be fulfilled in learning a foreign language. Motivational intensity could have varying degrees within any one of these orientations or contexts. McClelland (2000) asserted that the integration with a global community of speakers may be quite different from integration with native speakers. Assimilative Orientation It is defined as learning a language in order to form a long-term identity with the culture of a second language group, possibly at the expense of losing one’s original identity. There are varying degrees of motivational intensity in instrumentality orientation as well; for example an English learner may learn the language to fulfill his/her academic needs on one hand and business or career needs on the other hand. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Orientation of Motivation Intrinsic motivation could be generated in a number of ways, such as, the method the teacher use in the class, the type of tasks students involved in etc. By the same token, the extrinsic motivation comes from the outside of the class. For example, students may desire to learn the English language for different purposes. It is widely accepted that injecting motivation is a core element in learning an L2 language; however, sustaining the motivation is far more important than merely its creation within the language learners. Intrinsically motivated behaviors are aimed at bringing about certain internally rewarding consequences, namely, feelings of competence and self-determination. Extrinsic motivation is fueled by the anticipation of a reward from outside and beyond the class such as, money, prizes, grades, positive feedbacks, and punishment avoidance. The growing stockpile of research strongly favors intrinsic motivation, especially for long-term retention. According to Piaget (1972), incongruity, uncertainty, and disequilibrium are motivating for human beings. In simple words, as human beings, we seek out a reasonable challenge. Then, we initiate behaviors intended to conquer the challenging situation. Incongruity itself is not motivating, but optimal incongruity or what Krashen (1985) calls (I + 1) make the learners to bring resolution. Maslow (1970) claimed that motivation is first dependent on the satisfaction of basic physical needs (water, air, food), then of community, security, identity, and self-esteem, the fulfillment of which finally leads to self-actualization, that is, the culmination of human attainment. Flow Theory Flow theory claims that as a result of intrinsically rewarding experience associated with flow, people push themselves to higher levels of performance. 46 Bruner (1966a) argued that one of the most effective ways to help both children and adults to think and learn is to free them from the control of rewards and punishments. One of the main weaknesses of extrinsically driven behavior is its addictive nature. Not all, but many instances of intrinsic motivation may turn out to be integrative. Motivational Dichotomies Intrinsic Extrinsic Integrative L2 learner wishes to integrate with L2 Someone else (not the learners culture (e.g., marriage, immigration) themselves) wishes the L2 learner to know the L2 for integrative reasons (Iranian parents send their children to Iranian schools to learn Iranian culture and background in California) Instrumental L2 learner wishes to achieve the goals External powers wants L2 learners using L2 (for academic goals, career) to learn L2 (Iranian companies send their businessmen to U.S. for language training) Intrinsic Motivation inside the Language Classroom Intrinsic motivation could be generated by what happens inside the classroom. This could be the teacher’s methods, the tasks and activities students take part in, or their perceptions of success or failure. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation comes from outside of the classrooms and may be affected by factors such as the attitude of the society, family and peers. 47