The Big Five from the SLA Perspective

Abstract

This chapter focuses on a general assessment of the role of personality in SLA. For this purpose, first an overview of this scientific area is presented, starting with an introduction of the basic terminology pertaining to the field (which is relevant for the discussion of the studied issues), through a short presentation of the uniqueness of SLA when compared to other, apparently similar, research fields or subjects, to an outline of typologies of individual learner differences, among which personality can sometimes be found. In the next step, there is a discussion of the theoretical and empirical approaches to personality traits in SLA. On the basis of the affective, cognitive, behavioural and social ramifications of each respective trait, outlined in the previous chapter, some theoretical propositions pertaining to the prospective research on each Big Five trait are offered. They are followed by a review of the existing, recent empirical research devoted to these specific personality dimensions.