As we all know there are six affective factors in learning a foreign language: self-esteem, inhibition, risk-taking, anxiety, empathy, and extroversion. They play very important roles. In my case, I think the most dominant factors are self-esteem and anxiety. According to Coopersmith, the definition of self-esteem is a personal judgment of worthiness that is expressed in attitudes that the individual holds towards himself, and indicates the extent to which the individual believes in himself to be capable, significant and worthy. And I think it really impacts my language acquisition. When I become confident with myself, I don’t feel any shame when I speak in FL, even though I make some mistakes. And from those mistakes, I really learn a lot. And through anxiety, I have experienced feelings of anxiousness when I learn a second language. I love to explore new things. My anxiety forces me to learn more and more and it really affects my second language acquisition.
A language ego is like the identity people develop in reference to the language they speak. Basically, our identities are tied up with the languages we speak. If we lose a native accent, we lose a part of our identity. According to me, it affects me both positive and negative sides. The positive is my fluency in using the foreign language becomes better. On the other hand, it affects my native accent which can be considered as losing my own identity. So, in my opinion, it would be better if I could suppress a sense of a second ego developing within me as I use the foreign language. Though it’s good for my second language acquisition, it affects my first language. I don’t want to lose my own language because it’s like my identity.
If I have low task self-esteem, for example, when doing certain kinds of exercises, I think I might change my way of thinking. Supposing that due to my low self-esteem, I tend to be quiet when it’s time to use my foreign language, then I need to trick it somehow. What I could think about is how to maintain the tendencies to boost my self-esteem. For example, if there would be a kind of exam tomorrow, I would be studying a week before the exam so that I will be able to master the lesson well. Even if there is no exam, I need to learn at home so if suddenly the teacher gives us a kind of exam or a quiz, I will be ready to face it. And without even realize it, it will boost my self-esteem.
I have read the Myers-Briggs type on pages 172-173 (158 table 6.1), I found that my type is ESTJ. I am extroversion because I like to socialize with others. Sensing, because I’d prefer to do something based on my experience rather than just hunches. Also, I’m more realistic rather than speculative. When I was thinking, I put it myself in other shoes, which makes me more objective in thinking. So, I’m more into Thinking rather than Feeling. And the last one, between Judging and Perceiving, I think I am in judging simply because I don’t like to wait or to pending something. And sometimes, I could make a decision really fast. So, those types really picture my style of learning.
As I learn English, I realize that I have both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. I am intrinsically motivated when I think that I really want to be fluent in English. That way, I send impulses to my brain to be motivated when learning English. Since I love English, I really enjoy it through its learning. And my extrinsic motivation affects me in a way I use English to support my hobbies. I love watching western TV series which are using English as a medium of communication. It pushes me to be better in English so that I can understand what the movie is all about.
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