Roles of Self-Esteem in Second Language Oral Production Performance

340 Words2 Pages
. Researchers have been studying a correlation between second language oral production tasks and various personality variables. Frequently explored traits include sociability, extroversion, field dependence/independence, empathy, and anxiety (Gardner & Clement, 1990). Brown (1994) lists self-esteem, inhibition, risk-taking, anxiety, empathy, and extroversion as personality factors. Furthermore, he considers second language learning strategies in relation with Myers-Briggs character types, which attempt to categorize personality according to combinations of four dichotomous styles of functioning: extroversion-introversion, sensing-intuition, thinking-feeling, judging-perceiving. It is not easy to isolate a single personality trait that shows a statistically significant correlation with second language oral performance partly due to difficulties building a psychological inventory to test personality traits. Nonetheless, certain variables seem to have a major impact on learners' performance. One of the variables, a degree of self-esteem, cannot be eliminated in the discussion of personality factors of second language oral production tasks. In addition, in order to achieve high levels of speaking proficiency, one has to take risks with new knowledge in language as a normal course of learning. However, taking such risks has the potential to damage one's self-esteem. Therefore, risk-taking should be examined as a personality factor of oral performance in relation to self-esteem. Furthermore, flexible ego and a degree of task anxiety, locus of control, and attribution styles seem to have a strong link to self-esteem. Those variables are also powerful determinants of second language oral production performance. Coopersmith, quoted in Brown (1994), defines self-esteem as the expression of "an attitude of approval or disapproval, and indicates the extent to which an
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