RELATIONSHIP OF PERSONALITY TYPES AND STRATEGY CHOICES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Abstract

Language learning is a comprehensive concept encompassing numerous components and needs. Because of this, it is affected by various subjects, the most significant of which are learner personality and the language learning strategy choices of students. Taking into consideration the importance of these factors in language education, the main aim of this study is to discover the relationship of students’ personality types and their language learning strategy choices, also taking into account their language levels, in order to provide information for syllabus designers and language teachers. In order to do so, a survey design method was used, supported by the Myers Briggs Personality Test and the SILL (Strategy Inventory for Language Learning). Sixty-eight randomly selected students participated in the study. After analyzing data with SPSS 23.0, it was found that there is no significant statistical relationship between strategy choices and personality types. On the other hand, the participants showed different characteristics (most of them had ESTJ, or “extravert, sensing, thinking, judging” characteristics); furthermore, they desired to use different learning styles, the most often used of which were compensation, memory, and social strategies. This study is important in that it revealed that students can have different characteristics and learning strategies, and that these differences should be taken into consideration while planning a language course.