On the Interrelationships among Undergraduate English Foreign Language Learners’ Speaking Ability, Personality Traits, and Learning Styles

The vital role individual differences, such as personality variation, play has long been discussed as the origin of different learning abilities. Accordingly, a cross-sectional survey and a descriptive study was conducted. Data was gathered from a sample of 150 students of both genders (107 females and 43 males) with an age range of 19-22. The translated and validated versions of the Big Five personality traits questionnaire and Kolb’s learning styles inventory were administered. Also, a combination of the three speaking courses scores were considered as the speaking ability. To analyze the data correlational analysis and regression were run. Based on the findings it was concluded that openness turned out to have small and positive unique contribution with speaking ability. Also, there was a negative relationship between extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness factors and speaking ability. Moreover, no significant relationship was found between neuroticism and speaking ability. The results indicated that abstract conceptualization turned out to have a small and positive contribution with speaking ability. On the other hand, active experimentation, reflective observation, and concrete experience had negative relationship with speaking ability. Finally, it was found that the Big Five traits and learning styles explained 23% of variance in speaking ability.