As a personality trait, 'grit' has been defined as a combination of perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Past research in social psychology has found grit as an important predictor of success across different populations in various academic and non-academic areas. Since successful mastery of a second language (L2) is highly dependent on…

Grit is among the individual difference (ID) variables that have recently come to the attention of researchers investigating second language acquisition. While some empirical evidence has been accumulated, it is clearly scant and limited, also because of the fact that many studies have looked into domain-general grit rather than this attribute as…

The present longitudinal study investigated the changes of FLE (foreign language enjoyment) and FLA (foreign language anxiety) over time in the foreign language classroom and their relationship with foreign language learning motivation and learners' personality traits. Fifty-five college students completed an FLE/FLA questionnaire after English…

Effective teaching practice requires that teachers know their students not as 'faceless average learners', but as individuals. The most individual of learner characteristics is personality, and yet language education research has made little progress in understanding the role of personality. As the field of language learning motivation seeks to…

Chinese students are frequently seen as passive learners because of their apparent reluctance to speak, particularly in English classrooms. However, this impression seems to reflect a stereotype which is likely to confound willingness to communicate (WTC) and communication behaviour. In this article we argue for more attention to be paid to…