Personality Type, Tolerance of Ambiguity and Vocab

Volume15Numbers1-319CarolineGracePersonalityType,ToleranceofAmbiguity,andVocabularyRetentioninCALLCarolineGracePurdueUniversityABSTRACTSeveralstudieshaveshownacorrelationbetweenlearningstrategiesandpersonalityandthatcertainpersonalitytypeshavevaryingdegreesoftol-eranceofambiguity.ThegoalofthisstudyistoexaminetheeffectsoflexicalambiguityinCALL(operationallydefinedaswhetherornottheCALLcontextprovidesfirst-languagesentence-leveltranslationsasameansforverifyingmeaning)onbeginningsecondlanguagelearners.Specifi-cally,itattemptstodeterminewhetherlearners’personalitytypes—asmeasuredbytheMyers-BriggsTypeIndicator—haveaneffectonthere-tentionofsecondlanguagevocabularyindependentlyofthetranslationissueandinanambiguousCALLcontext.Analysesofvocabularyreten-tiontestsshowthatstudentsofallpersonalitytypeslearnedandretainedasignificantamountofvocabularywhenverificationofmeaningwaspro-videdthroughthefirstlanguageregardlessoftheirtoleranceforambigu-ity.Thiscasedidnotobtainforalltypesinamoreambiguouscontext.Findingssupporttheneedforbeginningvocabularylearningsoftwarewhichrendersmeaningclearlywhilepromotingdeepprocessing.KeywordsPersonality,VocabularyRetention,LexicalAmbiguity,Translation,Soft-wareINTRODUCTIONWhendevelopers,whethertheyareinstructorsforaspecificsecondlanguagecourseorprofessionalsformassmarking,createcomputeras-sistedlanguagelearning(CALL)vocabularysoftware,theytargetusersasgroupsratherthanasindividuals.However,itisultimatelyindividuals,20CALICOJournalPersonalityTypeinCALLnotgroups,thatlearnasecondlanguage.Anumberoftheoriesholdthatpersonalityfactorssignificantlyinfluencethedegreeofsuccessthatindi-vidualsachieveinlearningasecondlanguage(Gass&Selinker,1994)basedontheassumptionthatsomefeaturesofthelearner’spersonalitymightencourageorinhibitsecondlanguagelearning(Cook,1996)byenhancingcertainfacetsoflanguagelearningwhileimpedingothers(Larsen-Freeman&Long,1991).Unfortunately,theclassroomteachercannotchangemanypersonalityfactors.Infact,accordingtosomere-searchers(e.g.,Barron,1981),muchofone’spersonalityisgeneticallydeterminedandneverfundamentallychanges.Whetherpersonalitytraitschangeornot,itisgenerallyacceptedthatdifferentlearnersresponddif-ferentlytothesameinputasafunctionofthewaysinwhichtheirperson-alityaffectstheirperceptionandinterpretationoftheworld.Forsecondlanguagelearnerstomakemaximumprogresswiththeirownlearningstyles,theirindividualdifferencesmustberecognizedandattendedto.Inaddition,thewaysinwhichlearnersdiffermustbebal-ancedwiththefeaturestheysharewithothers,andamethodologymuststrivetofindcommongroundbeyondtheindividualvariationsamonglearners(Cook,1996).Thisgoalmayinfactbemoreattainableforsoft-waredevelopersthanforclassroomteachers.CompleteindividualizationisnotalwayspossibleintheclassroombutmaybemoreeasilyrealizedinmultimediaCALL.OneadvantageofmultimediaCALLisitspotentialadaptability;whenuserscontroltheirlearningenvironment,theycanin-tuitivelyselecttheoptionsbestsuitedfortheirlearningstylepreferences.Ifoneofthegoalsofthesoftwareistopromoteeffectiveincidentalvo-cabularylearning,userscandeterminewhen(orwhether)toconfirmtheirinferencesofunknownorambiguouswordstheyencounter.Havingsuchoptionsseemsindispensableinlightofthecorrelationfoundbetweenper-sonalitytypesandtoleranceforambiguity,afactorwhichsignificantlydetermineslearners’successinsecondlanguagelearning.(SeeEhrman&Oxford,1990;Chapelle,1983;Naiman,Frohlich,&Todesco,1975;Naiman,Frohlich,Stern,&Todesco,1978;Chapelle&Roberts,1986;Reiss,1985.)Whatremainstobeinvestigatedistheimpactofambiguityonwordretentionfordifferentpersonalitytypes.Onewaytoeliminateambiguityisthroughfirstlanguagetextualtranslationsofasecondlan-guagetext(Grace,inpress).Thepurposeofthispaperistoshedlightonthefollowingtwoques-tions:(1)whetherallpersonalitytypesretainasignificantamountofvo-cabularywhentheCALLcontextisnotambiguousand(2)whethersometypes—especiallythosewhomightbelesstolerantofambiguity—retainlessvocabularythanotherpersonalitytypeswhentheCALLcontextismoreambiguous(Ehrman&Oxford,1990;Ehrman,1993).Thisstudycontrastsanon-ambiguousCALLcontextwithanambiguousone;thenon-ambiguouscontextprovidingsentence-levelEnglishtranslationsofVolume15Numbers1-321CarolineGracewrittenFrenchdialoguesandtheambiguouscontextnotincludingsuchtranslations.Thisarticlebeginswithareviewoftheliteratureonsecondlanguagelearning,vocabularylearning,andtolerancetoambiguityinrelationtopersonalitytypes.Itthendescribesanexperimentwhichseekstodeter-minetheeffectoflexicalambiguityonpersonalitytypes.Thepapercon-cludeswithimplicationsforsecondlanguagesoftwaredevelopmentaswellassuggestionsforfutureresearch.REVIEWOFTHELITERATURETheMyers-BriggsTypeIndicatorOnemeasureofpersonalitywhichhasbeenusedinavarietyofeduca-tionalsettingsistheMyers-BriggsTypeIndicator(MBTI)(Lawrence,1984).ThisinstrumentisbasedonCarlJung’s(1971)personalitytypologyandhisviewsonperceptionandjudgement,laterexpandedbyMyers(1962;1987)andMyersandMyers(1980).Jung’stheoryclaimsthatmuchseem-inglyrandomvariationinhumanbehaviorisinfactquiteconsistentandorderly,determinedbyba