Personality, Motivation, and Second Language Learning
Keywords:
second language learning, personality, motiviationAbstract
Research by Witkin (1972, 1976) and his associates has corroborated the stable and pervasive nature of degree of differentiation in many levels of psychological function. An examination of possible relationships between extremes of differentiation (field dependence/independence), which suggest contrasting personality syndromes, and motivation in second language learning (integrative motive) was carried out to identify personality and perceptual consistencies in the dynamics of the second language acquisition process, and to test further the general claim made by Witkin. The importance of the integrative motive in second language acquisition has been discussed previously by Gardner et al. (1970). Of 414 university undergraduates involved in the present study, 236 students who scored at either extreme of the differentiation continuum, measured by Thurstone's Closure Flexibility Test, were compared on scales for integrativeness. As hypothesized, T-tests indicated field dependent students were consistently and significantly more integratively motivated.
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