Socionic Types and Foreign Language Learning Styles

First, some general comments about how socionic dichotomies play out in foreign language acquisition.

Extraversion vs. introversion
Most people note that either their speaking skills have a tendency to surpass their listening skills or vice versa. People whose speaking skills dominate acquire new words in order to speak them, while those whose listening skills dominate learn new words in order to understand them (this is only a general pattern). The former find they can often say words and phrases themselves but don't understand them when others say them, while the latter have the opposite tendency. The difference between these two groups is that one has more of an urge to talk and be heard, while the other has more of a desire to listen and understand. These two groups correspond roughly to socionic extraverts and introverts.

Rational vs. irrational
Another broad tendency can be seen in any teaching setting regardless of the subject. One set of people prefers structured instruction, while the other prefers unstructured instruction. Or, to be much more precise — one group prefers a sequential instruction style that provides them with a clear sense of progression from one topic or principle to another, while the other prefers to move around in a haphazard or zigzag fashion until they feel they have assimilated what they wanted to know.

The first, rational, group tends to want to know in advance what the topic of the next lesson will be, what the overall lesson plan is, and what materials will be used in instruction. The other, irrational, group prefers a greater degree of improvisation and doesn't mind — and actually prefers — if the lesson format changes each time depending on people's mood. Trying to appease both groups can be a difficult task in any teaching setting.

Rational types prefer constancy of teaching methods and activities in order to form accordingly their inner state and expectations. Irrational types are more dependent on their current state of mind — which is both less predictable and more flexible than the rationals' — and want to be able to do activities that match their present state. For irrational types, the thought of going to a lesson that will require a certain previously known state of mind that they do not presently have is often highly unpleasant. They would rather not know what the lesson will be like, or to know that the teacher will let them "keep" their current state of mind and not force them immediately to do things that they are not in the mood to do. Rational types, on the other hand, find it comforting to know in advance what state of mind they should be in for the lesson.

In a foreign language teaching environment, irrational types are usually content to be given examples of correct usage, while rational types want to know rules. You might correct a rational type and give him or her the correct phrase, only to have the person repeat the same mistake over and over again because they don't understand the rule. Rational types get less out of subconscious acquisition methods and need to tackle everything logically (you might say, "with their left hemispheres"). This is especially true of logical rational types. Irrational types can often simply fit the word together with the context to guess the meaning and rules of usage and require fewer verbal explanations.

Strengths, leading functions, and foreign language acquisition

A broad principle of language acquisition is that people tend to learn first the words, phrases, and intonations that are related to their greatest strengths and to delay learning everything else. For example, some people rapidly pick up the vocabulary necessary to get around in an unfamiliar location and to create a positive first impression on people. Such people often seem at first to know the foreign language quite a bit better than they actually do, because they have mastered the language of first encounters. This learning style is most typical of ethical extraverts. They learn rapidly what to say when they meet someone and what intonation to use to make the necessary impression.

Other people whose life is centered not on first encounters but on relaxation and everyday life learn vocabulary related to all kinds of enjoyable activities and sensations, while their vocabulary for meeting people and finding things out lags behind. This learning emphasis is typical of many introverted sensers. These people feel most comfortable communicating with people in a highly informal, everyday atmosphere (e.g. at home, at the table, on a walk, etc.).

Some people quickly develop a tactful and concerned speaking style in a foreign language, mastering the intonations and the "right" words to put other people at ease or to elicit an emotional reaction. This is typical of ethical types. Logical types usually have a flatter speaking style and often seem to be talking to themselves rather than the person they are talking with. Or, jerky changes in their intonation, volume, or register (the formality or informality of words being used) destabilize the atmosphere (more typical of logical extraverts).

Since a person's main strengths and priorities are related to, but not wholly determined by type, the tendency to acquire certain vocabulary first is not only determined by type, but also by the person's main interests and tasks in life. A person's working vocabulary in a foreign language (intermediate level and up) is a direct indication of their most obvious strengths.

Observations from teaching English

Extraverted sensing types (SLE and SEE) are the types most tied to the physical world around them that they can see with their eyes. This does not mean that they are devoid of abstract thinking, but rather that they prefer only to think about things that they can see and come into direct contact with (if not now, then at least in the near future). They prefer activities that involve direct manipulation of objects and ample visual stimuli, and quickly get bored with discussions about people's opinions and views, speculation about things you can't see, and role-playing unrealistic situations. These types rarely hesitate to express their impatience and want teachers to "get to the point." They have little tolerance for long-winded explanations of principles of grammar and usage, but — ironically — have the tendency to take up too much time themselves talking about things that don't interest others.

SEEs' motivation for learning foreign languages often differs somewhat from SLEs'. They want to be able to talk informally to certain people and generally already have such an application in mind, while SLEs often have their own professional advancement and organizational interests in mind and have less interest in informal person-to-person interaction with people from other countries. In either case, both types know exactly why they are studying the foreign language — in contrast to many intuitive types.

Extraverted intuiters' (ILE and IEE) focus in foreign languages is to acquire the vocabulary to get ideas across to people and express their interests and views and find out those of other people. They are naturals at discerning the most important words, phrases, and constructions of a language — those that are used most often and in the most possible ways. In doing so they neglect to learn the names of many objects, as well as words used to describe appearance and physical actions, because this vocabulary has less communicative potential (i.e. can only be used in one way or in one context).

Extraverted intuiters (and intuiters in general) have both the tendency to learn foreign languages before they actually have a direct need for them, and then to avoid learning a language when there is a need for it right now that they did not foresee. Sensing types are more practical in this regard.

Many ILEs are drawn to "novel" languages with limited real-life application, such as Esperanto or Navajo (as a sort of fascinating mental exercise), while IEEs are usually drawn to the most widely used world languages that offer the most potential for future communication. In the classroom, both types prefer unstructured environments where they can express their views and discuss interesting facts in a genuine discussion setting (i.e. where the teacher and other students are actually interested in what they have to say). They have little tolerance for exercises longer than just a few minutes or "boring" hands-on activities like learning the words to songs and singing them together, or playing games that don't create mental stimulation.

Introverted intuiters (IEI and ILI) are less concerned with acquiring externally useful words and phrases and like to learn to talk about their internal world in a foreign language. Many of them enjoy learning quirky or obscure words and using them in their speech, regardless of the external impression they will create. These types like to listen to others with a sort of ironic attitude and then pop in with comments on what is occuring or what people are saying rather than leading discussions themselves.

Extraverted ethical types (ESE and EIE) easily pick up expressions that help them make an impression on people and "sound impressive," even if these expressions are used infrequently in the foreign language. This can be pointedly official or businesslike language as well as expressions to describe strong feelings and interpersonal dynamics. Usually ESEs and EIEs are very audially oriented. They swiftly pick up a good speaking style and useful words, but they also usually lack the thoroughness to weed out the minor grammar and usage mistakes they make habitually.

These types prefer for lessons to have a mostly fixed, repeating structure to rely on (for example: 20 minutes of discussing recent work events, 20 minutes reading and discussing articles from the book, and 20 minutes of grammar study and practice). At the same time, they need to be able to say whatever they feel like and go off on expressive tangents within this framework. The difference between extraverted intuiters and extraverted ethical types is that the former like to share insights and interesting facts, while the latter like to talk about things that have aroused strong feelings in them.

03/07/2007 Logos
LIIs seem to be missing entirely, as well as the preferences of Ti learning styles, from this article.

03/08/2007 Author
Yes, that's because I wasn't able to find the commonalities between my LII and LSI students. There is quite a range of speaking talent among them. If I were to try to generalize, I would say that grammar is a concept that they don't have to strain to understand, but, paradoxically, this does not necessarily mean they make fewer grammar mistakes. Some, but not all

types I have taught have seemed overly dependent on achieving a mental understanding of words and phrases before they could say them, rather than simply getting the "feeling" of the phrase. Basically, I'm still in the process of observing them and can't make any definitive generalizations yet.

Socionic Types and Foreign Language Learning Styles

Socionic dichotomies and learning styles

Strengths, leading functions, and foreign language acquisition

Observations from teaching English