ScholarOne - Does Personality Matter in EFL Communicative Teaching? A
Dispositional Perspective of Teacher Immediacy
Abstract
English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pedagogy is a complicated process in
which various psychological elements, including personality
characteristics and socio-interactive preferences contribute to the
effectiveness of teacher-learner communication. Based on the Big Five
Personality Dimensions, this qualitative study explored the relationship
between EFL teachers’ personality types and instructional immediacy. The
findings revealed that extraversion, agreeableness, and openness induced
immediacy and that the opposite ends of agreeableness and
self-centeredness precluded immediacy. However, introversion was found
to have mixed effects on immediacy, depending on the EFL teachers’
self-awareness of communicative importance. Thus, personality influences
communication skills.