Introduction
The world of language learning can be a fun and exciting place, both for students and for teachers. There are more and more ways that people are able to connect through language learning sites and are able to practice their language skills with other language learners (places like Hilokal!). Maybe you are teaching through one of these platforms, maybe you are learning, or maybe even both!
Either way, sometimes you just get stuck. Maybe as a teacher you have a student that is struggling to make progress. Maybe as a student you feel like you just haven’t improved with certain teachers.
Here is good news: at some point this happens to almost everyone!
Here is more good news: there are ways to help get around this!
One tool that some educators use to help these differences between student and teacher is the MBTI.
What is MBTI?
Some of you may have read the title of this blog and understood exactly what it meant. Other may be wondering. MBTI? What is that? And what does it have to do with learning a language?
Let’s start with first question. The short answer is that MBTI stands for Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which is a personality sorting test designed to help people understand the behavior of themselves and others. The longer answer starts back in the 1920s.
History of MBTI
The MBTI personality types as we know them today have their roots in the psychological type theory of Carl Jung. He originally published his theory in German in 1921, with an English translation following in 1923. With the release of the English translation, Jung’s work caught the attention of Katherine Cook Briggs. Briggs had started forming her own ideas about different personality types prior to reading Jung’s book, and was naturally interested in his work. Katherine Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myer, then began work on what we now know as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The first MBTI questionnaire was published in the 1940s with the first manual explaining the theory getting published in 1962.
Theory of MBTI
The theory behind MBTI is quite extensive and people can (and do!) spend years studying it. But let’s break it down into manageable chunks. The MBTI sorts people into one of sixteen personality types.
The Letters
Each of the personality types consist of series of letters, for example ESFP or INTJ. Each of the letters in the series stand for a different aspect of someone’s personality. There are four different aspects:
· [I]ntroverted or [E]xtraverted
· [S]ensing or I[N]tuitive
· [T]hinking or [F]eeling
· [J]udging or [P]ercieving.
More recent versions of the test have also added an addition letter at the end, either [A]ssertive or [T]urbulent.
Let’s look at each of these pairs individually.
Introversion vs Extroversion
This aspect of your personality has to do with your relationship to being around other people. Introverts tend to lose energy through interactions with other people, and need more time alone in order to recharge. Extroverts, on the other hand, recharge through social interaction, preferring to be around people than by themselves.
Sensing vs Intuition
The next aspect of your personality deals with how you interact with the world. Sensors tend to prefer dealing with facts and concrete details. They live in the present and would rather be focused on the here and now. Intuitives tend to prefer looking at the bigger picture, thinking in abstracts as opposed to facts and details, and focusing on the future.
Thinking vs Feeling
The third aspect is relatively self-explanatory and has to do with how you process outside information. Thinkers tend to use their head, preferring logic and reasoning. Feelers tend to focus more on the relationships involved and how people are feeling in a given situation. Feelers often outwardly express more emotion than Thinkers.
Judging vs Perceiving
This aspect of your personality is related to how you make decisions and their approach to planning. Judgers tend to prefer structure and clear plans and are usually very organized. Prospectors prefer to be open ended and flexible and are good at improvising.
Assertive vs. Turbulent
The last aspect of your personality deals with the amount of confidence you have in your ability and decision-making skills. People who are assertive are stress-resistant and even-keeled, and don’t spend much time worrying. Those who are turbulent tend to be more self-conscious than those who are assertive, and tend to be more sensitive to stress and worrying.
One note on this specific pair of traits is that it does not change your personality (you will still be one of the original sixteen MBTI Personalities) but it emphasizes how the rest of your traits interact.
How the Types are Formed
After figuring out which aspect you prefer from each pair, you take the letter of each of your preferred traits and put them together to form your type, keeping them in the same order they are listed here. For example, you may get ENFJ-T meaning you are Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging, and Turbulent. Or you could get the opposite, ISTP-A, which would be Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving, and Assertive. According to MBTI theory, you are then assigned different function stacks, which are interesting to learn about but not necessary for understanding the rest of this blog.
Learning Resources and How to Find Your Type
This might look confusing at first and that’s okay! There are dozens and dozens of articles and videos online that explain the theory further. Here are some recommended resources that go deeper into the theory and help you determine your type:
Websites and Tests
· Truity
· The Myers & Briggs Foundation
YouTube Channels
· Love Who
What does this have to do with language learning?
After an initial overview of the personality traits that make up the different MBTI Types, you may be wondering, what does this have to do with language learning? Great question!
The different traits of each individual have an impact on each part of their life, including education. For example, someone who has the Introverted trait may not be comfortable learning through group discussion but for an Extrovert that may be their learning method of choice. Each set of traits has this sort of preference, and when they are combined into personality types, it makes for different learning preferences based on the individual. These learning preferences can extend to language learning and can be helpful in understanding how your students prefer to learn and take in information.
INTJ Example
Let’s take, for example, the INTJ. The INTJ has the traits Introversion, Intuition, Thinking, and Judging. In a learning environment, each of these traits will affect the student’s learning style in a different way.
One important note before we start: not all of these preferences will be relevant for every INTJ student. While they may be true for the majority of INTJs, try not to assume that just because a student types as an INTJ, they will have these preferences. The same is true for all of the sixteen personality types.
Introversion
The first trait in the INTJ’s line up in Introversion. Because this aspect deals with how people interact with the world, being introverted in a learning environment means that INTJs are more likely to prefer time by themselves to reflect on concepts and new information and form their opinions before having a discussion with other people—if they discuss with others at all. Because of this preference for solo reflection, INTJs tend to be independent learners who are perfectly fine spending time quietly working things out for themselves.
Intuition
An INTJ’s second trait is Intuition. For those with the intuitive trait, the most important thing when learning is that they understand the overall concept. They like having new things to learn, but aren’t caught up in details like their Sensing counterparts. They can be perfectionistic if they like a subject and they search—whether consciously or not—for patterns in their learning. They like problem-solving and as result prefer assignments with loose instructions.
Thinking
Perhaps the easiest trait to define when it comes to learning preferences is the INTJ’s Thinking trait. As may be expected, Thinkers prefer using logical analysis when it comes to their learning, and they need a reason to believe why the subject they’re learning about is important. They strive for mastery of each given topic they are passionate about and prefer working with a clear goal in mind so they can perform with accuracy.
Judging
The judging trait in INTJs makes them exceptional planners who are good at organizing and work well under deadlines. Judgers like things to be in order and to have structure. Because of their need to have things organized in a way that suits them specifically, they work well independently and can keep on top of things with an efficiency that is not always seen in Perceiving types. Judgers also like knowing what is expected of them so they can plan accordingly and control their time and learning efforts.
INTJs All Together
The result of this specific set of traits is a learner that is highly independent and organized. They have high standards for themselves and have very little patience for things that are unstructured or repetitive. They enjoy being challenged academically and tend to be high performing, enjoying new information that they can analyze and apply practically. Although getting too stuck in the details can annoy them, they do prefer thinking things through before acting on them. Because of their introverted trait, they are not the most comfortable in group discussion if they haven’t had this time to think things through ahead of time. However, because INTJs like to see things from different perspectives, discussion is not avoided entirely, because they see it as a chance to see other viewpoints, the better to see the bigger picture.
Relation to Language Learning
This understanding of an INTJs learning preferences can be used to help language teachers who have an INTJ student in their classroom. Here are some examples of things you might keep in mind if you have an INTJ student in your classroom.
Vocabulary over Grammar
Because of an INTJs preference for overall understanding of a subject and lack of preference for details, it is likely that an INTJ will more focused on learning bigger picture aspects of language. This would be things such as the vocabulary or the cultural background that surrounds it. As a result, the INTJ might then be less interested in picky, detailed things such as grammar, unless they have a strong interest in those areas.
Independence
An INTJs strong independent side, though not a problem in most fields of study, might cause some problems in an INTJs language learning journey. Because conversation is a large, and arguably the most important, part of language learning, INTJs might need some encouragement to practice speaking to others, despite their urge to perfect their knowledge before using it.
Other Learning Styles
Although we only looked at the INTJ in this blog, this process can be used when looking at the learning style of any of the 16 MBTI types. If your students know their type or if you have them take the MBTI assessment as a class, you can use their type preferences as a tool to help you mold your lesson planning to fit your specific group of students. There are many online resources to help you discover the learning styles and preferences of each of the types. Here are some recommendations:
· 16Personalities
(click on a type to find out more—there is not a learning specific section, but the “Career Paths” tab under each type can be helpful)
Let's Recap
The MBTI as a teaching tool can be quite helpful when it comes to knowing how your students prefer to learn and finding ways that you can help them in their language learning journey. Although languages can be difficult both to learn and to teach, having a tool to help you understand your students (and you!) approach learning can make the process that much easier.
The next time you’re feeling stuck in your language learning journey, consider finding your MBTI type and learning style! It just might be what gets you back on track.
