Personality and the ESL Student

How can an extroverted or introverted personality in ELL and ESL students affect behavior, learning process and classroom environment? Extroversion versus Introversion the terms originated from psychologist Carl Jung's theory of personality. Jung saw the extrovert as directed toward the outside world and the introvert as directed toward the self or inside world. That is why, theoretically, introvert students are less involved in the classroom and extrovert students are more active. As I observed a classroom where the student population consists of 90% Latino and 70% are ELL or ESL students, I noticed how students’ personality and behavior could make a significant impact in a classroom. To understand more about the students’ conditions is worth to know that ELL stands for English Language Learners and ESL stands for English as a Second Language. As educational designations can be the same, but the philosophies behind the words differ. ESL assumes they already have a language structure in their native language, which is transferring into the second language, while ELL only assumes that English is not the learner's first language and that the student is immersed in a multi-language environment. The above theory, deals with a reality in which everyday thousands of children struggle to learn the language and to immerse themselves in the American culture dealing with assimilation and accommodation to make this easier in their pursuit to become bilingual and bi-cultural individuals. Within this context, there are a number of conflicts and contradictions in which ELL and ESL students use a variety of defense mechanisms as described by Freud and with the purpose to compensate feelings of frustration, in adequacy and disadvantage. As futu...

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