The Relationship between Extroversion/Introversion, Field Dependence/Field Independence, and EFL learners’ Willingness to Communicate

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between EFL learners' cognitive styles, their personality types and their willingness to communicate. To this end, 198 English language students (131 females and 67 males) participated in the study. First, the participants' personality traits (introversion/extroversion) were determined through the Eysenck Personality Type Questionnaire, Adult Form (EPQ). In the second stage, the cognitive styles of the participants (field dependence and field independence) were determined through Group Embedded Figure test. Having distributed the relevant questionnaires among all the participants in a step-wise fashion, the researchers divided them into introverted/extrovert learners and field dependent/independent field learners, and finally the WTC questionnaire was administered to determine students' willingness to communicate. Data were analyzed through two-point correlation and Pearson correlation. The obtained results showed a significant relationship between cognitive styles and the desire to communicate. Comparison of individuals with field dependence and field independence showed that the tendency to communicate was higher among field dependent language learners. Extroverted language learners enjoyed significantly higher field dependence and were more inclined to communicate than introverted language learners. The study points to the importance of informing language learners about their cognitive styles and personality types and the need to pay more attention to these variables to improve language skills in general and the possible relationship between these factors and the increased tendency to communicate in foreign languages in particular.