Neuroticism and the oral performance of Iranian EFL learners: a structural equation modelling approach

Document Type : research article

Authors

1 Department of Linguistics and Foreign Languages, Payame Noor University

2 Department of Linguistics and Foreign Languages

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effects of neuroticism, as one of the big five personality factors, on oral performance and its components comprising cohesion and fluency, pronunciation, grammaticality, and lexical resources. To this end, 257 Iranian EFL students took an oral proficiency interview (OPI) and responded to a personality questionnaire including 50 items (Goldberg, 1992). The participants' oral performance was rated by two trained raters. The structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, revealing the standardized non-direct effects of neuroticism on the components of speaking, showed that neuroticism had moderate and negative indirect effects on cohesion and fluency (Beta = -.351), lexical resources (Beta = - .365), grammaticality (Beta = -.354), and pronunciation (Beta = -.350). The results of the study are discussed and the pedagogical implications are provided for the EFL context.

Keywords

References

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Journal of Foreign Language Research
Volume 9, Issue 3
January 2020
Pages 721-740

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