The Comparison of the Self-Concept between Introvert and Extrovert Students in Improving Speaking Skills

Abstract

This study examines students’ speaking skills based on two psychological factors – self-concept and personality. Grounded in psychology's fundamental theories of the academic self-concept model (Shavelson & Bolus, 1982) and personality in second language learning (Dörnyei, 2005), the author investigates introvert and extrovert students’ speaking skills examined from their personality and self-concepts. The current quantitative research is conducted to address three main problems: (1) whether there is a significant difference between an introvert and extrovert students’ speaking skills; (2) whether there is a significant difference between extrovert and introvert students’ self-concepts in their speaking skills; and (3) whether there is an interaction between self-concept and personality toward speakings skills. It is predicted that both personality and self-concept contribute to speaking achievement. Thus, both are expected to show an interaction toward the result of speaking. The study is implemented in SMA Negeri 14 Semarang assessing 39 tenth graders’ English-speaking ability with four learning sessions of preparation before the speaking test. Initially, the participants filled in two reliable questionnaires: ASDQ II (Marsh, 1992) to reveal the students’ academic self-concepts, particularly in English subjects, and McCroskey Introversion Scale (McCroskey, 1997) to identify the students’ personality preferences. Statistical calculation processes the descriptive and inferential data using two-way ANOVA and T-tests to solve the mentioned predictions. The aftermath indicates no significant difference in students’ speaking mean scores based on personality preferences. It shows that the value obtained for personality effect on speaking skill is 0.271, more than 0.05. Additionally, there is no interaction between personality and self-concept towards the speaking skills in which data obtained 0.538, which is also more than 0.05. The heavy influence roots in the students’ self-concept toward their English-speaking ability significantly affected their speaking ability. The data shows 0.000 significance which is less than 0.05. This implies that the higher the self-concept, the higher the speaking score is. Further data also confirms that introverts’ English-speaking scores outweigh extroverts’ high and low self-concepts. Though many studies and assumptions regard personality as an essential factor influencing students’ language learning, this study has revealed that extrovert and introvert learners have the same chance of progressing their speaking performance despite individual differences. The conclusion is heavily inferred from accepting the second central hypothesis, which reveals that students’ self-concept significantly influences their speaking skills, not personality. This helps students turn their self-concept into a more positive self-evaluation toward enhancing their speaking ability. Keywords: self-concept, introversion, extraversion, speaking skills, psychological factors