Moh annad Ahmadi Safa - Associate Professor of T eaching Engl ish as a Foreign Language, Bu A li Sina Unive rsity of Hamedan, Hameda n, Iran
Robab Zamani Jamshidi - MA i n TEFL, Engl sh Departme nt, Khorasga n Branch,Islamic Az ad University, Isfahan, Ira

The re searchers have long been i nterested to e xplore the impact of perso ality traits on second or foreign language learning. The current study is an attempt toinvesti gate whether there exists a statistica lly significan t relationshi p between introvert and extrov ert EFL learners’ willing ness to com municate and ambiguitytolerance. To this e nd, a total o f 150 EFL learners completed the Introversion/Extroversion Scale developed by McCroskey (1998), the Willingness to Communicate Que stionnaire (M acIntyre et al, 2001), and the To erance of Ambiguity Scale ( Ely, 1995). The findings of Pearson correlation coefficient revealed that there w as a signific ant positive r elationship between (a) int overt EFL learners’ WTC and ambiguity tolerance, and (b) extrovert EFL learners’ WTC and ambigu ity tolerance. Furthermore, indepen dent sample s t-tests indicated a signific ant meaningful differenc e between introvert and extrovert EF learners’WTC and ambiguity tolerance. Moreover, whereas extro vert EFL learners were positively different from introve rt learners in their willi ngness to co mmunicate (WTC), introvert E FL learners w ere found to be more tolerant of amb guity than extrove rt EFL learn ers. The find ings imply that EFL teac hers, practitioners, and policy makers need to consider psychological aspects an d personalit y types as determining factors for the succ ess of secon d or foreign language learners and accordingly modify their educational practices.

Introversion, Extroversion, Toler ance of Ambiguity, Willingness to Communicate, and P ersonality Traits