The effect of immigration, acculturation and multicompetence on personality profiles of Israeli multilinguals

Abstract

The present study investigates the link between immigration, multilingualism, acculturation and personality profiles (as measured by the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire) of 193 residents in Israel. Participants born in Israel tended to score higher on Emotional Stability than those born abroad. Participants with one immigrant parent (but not two) scored higher on Cultural Empathy, Open-mindedness and Social Initiative. Participants who had become dominant in Hebrew as a foreign language scored lower on Emotional Stability than Hebrew L1-dominant participants. The number of languages known by participants was not linked to their personality profile. A high level of use of various languages was linked to significantly higher scores on Cultural Empathy and Open-mindedness. Gender and age were also linked to personality profiles. Advanced knowledge of more languages and frequent use of more languages were linked to higher levels of Social Initiative and Open-mindedness, while advanced knowledge of more languages was also linked to higher levels of Cultural Empathy. These findings confirm that some personality traits are shaped by individuals' linguistic history, degree of multilingualism and a combination of social and biographical factors.

Attitudes towards code-switching among adult mono- and multilingual language users

“…The 'global proficiency score' is the sum of self-perceived proficiency scores for oral (maximum score 5) and written proficiency (maximum score 5) collected on 5-point Likert scales in up to six languages. Such a measure is potentially useful to distinguish sextalinguals with limited knowledge of three languages from trilinguals with advanced knowledge of three languages (Dewaele and Stavans 2012). We thus avoid the lack of clarity inherent to labels such as 'bilingual, trilingual', where every language is included, despite the fact that knowledge in some can be very limited.…”

“…We used participants' information on self-perceived proficiency in these languages to develop a global measure of multilingualism, first presented in Dewaele and Stavans (2012). The 'global proficiency score' is the sum of self-perceived proficiency scores for oral (maximum score 5) and written proficiency (maximum score 5) collected on 5-point Likert scales in up to six languages.…”

Personality changes after the ‘year abroad’?

“…In SLA research the MPQ has been used more often than the non-specific, context-independent Big Five. For example, Dewaele and Van Oudenhoven (2009) and Dewaele and Stavans (2014) substantiated that some personality traits as measured by the MPQ are moulded by a number of linguistic, biographical, and social factors, such as the degree of multiculturalism. Multilingual London teenagers were found to score higher on O and CE, while scoring lower on ES as compared to monolinguals (Dewaele & Van Oudenhoven, 2009).…”

“…Also, Israeli participants who reported knowing various languages well and using them regularly scored significantly higher on O and SI (but not lower on ES). The advanced knowledge of several languages was also linked to higher levels of CE (Dewaele & Stavans, 2014). Leong (2007) was one of the first studies to examine longitudinal MPQ data gathered from two groups of undergraduate students from Singapore: one group that took part in an overseas exchange and another that stayed home.…”

Multi-competence and personality

“…However, such a label might be general to the point of being less useful for research. In order to obtain a little bit more granularity, Dewaele and Stavans (2014) developed measures including information on proficiency and frequency of use of the various languages. A first multilingualism index based on language knowledge, or a 'total proficiency score', which is the sum of self-perceived competence scores (in answer to the question: 'How proficient are you in your L1/L2/L3/L4/L5/L6?')…”