Personality and speech production: a pilot study of second language learners

Abstract

Personality traits, and extraversion in particular, has long been unjustly neglected in applied linguistics. Some cognitive and physiological characteristics associated with extraversion, such as superior short-term memory and better resistance to stress, can explain interindividual variation in speech production. Working within the theoretical framework of Levelt, 1989, de Bot, 1992, we analysed the French oral interlanguage of 25 Flemish university students and related this to their EPI scores. Correlational analyses between extraversion scores and 6 linguistic variables reflecting fluency and accuracy revealed that extravert bilinguals are more fluent than introvert bilinguals, especially in interpersonal stressful situations. Different hypotheses are presented to explain this phenomenon.