The Big Five Study in SLA: Future Directions and Pedagogical Implications

Abstract

This chapter is an attempt to integrate the existing theoretical and empirical study on personality traits in SLA in order to consider possible future research directions related to the scrutiny of isolated traits. For this reason, it commences with an outline of existing empirical findings on the role of each trait in the process of foreign language learning. On the basis of the findings, an outlook on future investigation is proposed, followed by an attempt to depict the cluster of traits that might be included to describe the characteristics of the ideal L2 achiever. In the next step, an outline of pedagogical interventions is included. It addresses ways in which specific strengths identified with each trait might be boosted, followed by possible interventions that would help control their effective language learning. The last section of the chapter is devoted to final comments regarding the studied topic.