The Impact of Openness and Ambiguity Tolerance on Learning English as a Foreign Language

ISBN-13: 9783031459399 / Angielski

Brygida Lika

Spis treści

Introduction 1

Chapter one

Personality and openness to experience: theoretical background

1.1 personality 5

1.1.1 what is personality? 6

1.1.2 history of personality research 8

1.1.3 the big five model 18

1.2 openness to experience 28

1.2.1 history of research on openness to experience 28

1.2.2 definitions of openness to experience 30

1.2.3 facets of openness to experience and their role 31

1.3 the role of openness to experience in various areas of life 34

1.3.1 the importance of openness to experience in everyday life and education 34

1.3.2 the role of openness to experience in second language acquisition 37

Chapter two

The characteristics of ambiguity tolerance

2.1 ambiguity tolerance 41

2.1.1 what is ambiguity tolerance 42

2.1.2 the characteristics of ambiguity tolerance 46

2.1.3 tolerance versus intolerance of ambiguity 48

2.2 the importance of ambiguity tolerance 51

2.2.1 ambiguity tolerance in everyday life 51

2.2.2 ambiguity tolerance in education 53

2.2.3 ambiguity tolerance in second language acquisition 55

2.3 the connections between openness to experience and ambiguity tolerance 58

Chapter three

Selected empirical research on openness to experience and ambiguity tolerance

3.1 empirical research on openness to experience 62

3.1.1 openness to experience in general functioning 62

3.1.2 openness to experience in education 66

3.1.3 openness to experience in foreign/second language acquisition 69

3.2 empirical research on ambiguity tolerance 73

3.2.1 ambiguity tolerance in general functioning 73

3.2.2 ambiguity tolerance in education 77

3.2.3 ambiguity tolerance in second language acquisition 80

3.3 empirical research on openness to experience and ambiguity tolerance 83

3.3.1 openness to experience and ambiguity tolerance/intolerance during the transition to academic life and in different social groups 83

3.3.2 openness to experience and ambiguity tolerance in second language acquisition 86

Chapter four

Empirical research on the relationship between openness to experience and ambiguity tolerance in foreign language attainment

4.1 research rationale 90

4.2 method 93

4.2.1 participants 93

4.2.2 instruments 97

4.2.3 procedure 100

4.2.4 analyses 102

4.3 results 103

4.3.1 descriptive results of the research variables 104

4.3.2 inferential statistics 108

4.3.3 qualitative results – interviews with selected students 112

Chapter five

Discussion

5.1 the links between openness to experience and ambiguity tolerance 122

5.2 the profiles of foreign language learners with different levels of openness to experience and ambiguity tolerance 127

5.3 study limitations of the present research 141

Chapter six

Implications and recommendations for the foreign language classroom

6.1 purpose of the dissertation 144

6.2 implications for further research 149

6.3 recommendations for the foreign language classroom 152

References 156

Appendices

Appendix a questionnaire 1- research on openness to experience and ambiguity tolerance

Appendix b questionnaire 2 – summary of the research on openness to experience and ambiguity tolerance

Appendix c - students' interview