This research is a contribution to a continued exploration of second or foreign language learning and its consequences on the personality of the individual learner. It is an exploration that acknowledges bilingualism as fluid, migratory and continuously mutating, with emergent personality simultaneously embodying and transcending the second language input and the various hypotheses which have been identified and postulated by scholars. Specifically, the study explores the presence or absence of personality changes when using a second or a foreign language and provides some accounts for its causes. It also examines the correlation between the participants’ language proficiency and their various experiences during their study abroad programs. Epistemologically, the study employs the quantitative core area of philosophical study and an eclectic mixture of approaches that include a case study, descriptive and comparative methodologies. Subsequently, we are able to investigate the personality changes in terms of mental and physical changes and its attendant causes such as images of language, interlocutors, and the speech contexts. Our data shows that physical changes occur easily compared to mental changes due to the ‘mimicry’ nature of the foreign language. We are also able to demonstrate that language proficiency based on CEFR scales has little effects on personality changes. Rather, opportunities for speaking in English language is a major factor in personality changes. This study is expected to demonstrate to foreign language professors at the university level in Japan, and the university administrators responsible for study abroad programs, the essential features of bilingual students and their expected behavior in the classroom especially after their foreign language study experiences.
Kolawole Waziri Olagboyega (Wed,) studied this question.