A Comparative Study between Extrovert and Introvert

Persoality toward Speaking Achievement in English

Department Students 2015
By
Erindah Saptarina
Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Halu Oleo University
erindah.saptarina@gmail.com
Under Guidance by Drs. Asrun Lio, M.Hum., Ph.D. as Supervisor
and Wa Ode Fatmawati., S.Pd., M.A. as Co-Supervisor

Abstract
The objective of this research was generally attempted to compare
between the students who were extrovert and introvert toward their
speaking achievement in English Department Students 2015. The
method used in this research was quantitative research and
comparative analysis technique. In analyzing the data, researcher
had been making sure the data were normal and homogeneous.
Then, first step was finding mean score of extrovert and introvert
students’ speaking score. The mean score of Extrovert was 68.349
and for introvert was 70.830. Then, the result of this research was
observed by comparative analysis with two independent samples T-
test to answer the hypotheses. The result of this research was t-tes
was 0.232 and it was higher than 0.05. It means that H1 was
rejected and Ho was accepted. The result stated that the students’
personality difference had no statistically significant difference to
the students’ English speaking competence. Both group of
students, the extrovert students and the introvert students may
performed better English speaking ability through their own way of
learning. The result of this research also showed that the extrovert
students got lower average English speaking score than the
introvert students. It could be assumed that the extrovert students
did not always possesed higher competency of English speaking
ability which was because of their natural willingness to speak
than the introvert students. Sometimes the introvert students may
overlap the extrovert students with theirs unique strengths.

Keywords: Comparative Study, Extrovert and Introvert Personality,

Students’ Speaking Ability

1
Intrduction

English has become an international language that is

taught in almost levels of education in Indonesia. Here, English is

being taught as Foreign Language not as Second Language. People

realize that English speaking skill is one of important skill in the

era of globalization. In education, speaking also become the

important skills that should be mastered by students. Speaking is

the activity of giving speeches and talks. As the tool of

communication, English speaking skill becomes an important

component for the students since it makes their social intercourse

becomes wider. It means learning English is not only learning

about the theory, but also learning how to practice it in a real

communication. In speaking, students need more effort not only

how to arrange the words, but also how to pronounce them well.

Thus, students need more practice to speak English fluently.

Based on the researcher’s experience during studied at

high school, there are many reasons which influence the students’

achievement of certain language skills. It might be will use by the

teacher and the students. The quality of the teacher, teaching style,

and the performance of the teacher can give a significant impact on

the students’ achievement. From the students’ side, there are some

factors which influence the result of learning process, such as

motivation, learning strategy, and personality of the students.

Though, these research the focus only on personality factor. There

are number of theories explaining that personality factors

significantly influence the degree of success that individuals

2
achieve in learning a second language (Gass & Selinker, 1994). In

language learning, the factors which give impact most are cognitive

and affective factors. Those two factors are significant in

determining students’ learning achievement.

In the western society are the extroverts who are friendly,

sociable, and talkative and tends to be held up as axiomatically

desirable and ideal. This phenomenon also applies in the language

classroom, including in Indonesia. It will use of their open minded

characteristics, the extrovert people can build the communication

better than the introvert ones. So, it can be concluded that the

extrovert people is dominated and better than the introvert in oral

communication, especially in speaking. This statement is

supported by Kezwer (1987:49). “Extroverts student best respond

to reflect about the outer world”. All the English skills are not

dominated by extrovert people, according to Herdawan (2012) some

skills like writing skills are dominated by introvert people, they are

good at it. This might be related to the characteristics of the

introverts themselves who are better thinkers than better speaker.

Whereas, according to Jung (in Howard, 2008:296),

introvert focus on the exploration of thoughts, feelings, and

experiences. Jung (in Feist, 2009:116) states that introversion is

the turning inward of psychic energy with an orientation toward

the subjective. Introvert is tuned into their inner world with all its

biases. Introversion is orientation toward the internal private world

of one’s self and one’s inner thoughts and feelings, rather than

toward the outer world of people and things. So, even the introvert

is like to keep silent, they have a wide mind.

3
 Therefore, the researcher will try to investigate that

phenomenon by conduct a study which entitled “A Comparative

Study between Extrovert and Introvert Personality towards

Speaking Achievement in English Department Students 2015”.

Literarture Review

Concept of Personality

Personality refers to an individual’s pattern of thoughts,

feelings and behaviors that make a person unique. There are

multiple kinds of personalities we encounter in our day to day lives

strong, charismatic, open minded, shy etc. Carl Jung’s perspective

on personality is quite insightful, he wrote that what appears to be

random behavior is actually the result of differences in the way

people prefer to use their mental capacities. Jung’s theory on

personality types shows the various behavioural patterns and

attitude. Using the theory, you can delve deeper into your own

mind and comprehend your thoughts and feelings. According to

Jung there are two mutually exclusive attitudes extraversion and

introversion. “Each person seems to be energized more by either

the external world (extraversion) or the internal world

(introversion)”.

The introvert is more comfortable with the inner world of

thoughts and feelings, so they will see the world in terms of how it

affects them. While the extrovert feels more at home with the world

of objects and other people, and is more concerned with their

impact upon the world. Introverts are more comfortable living

alone and being by themselves. They depend on their “me time” to

4
recharge; they become immersed in their inner world and run the

risk of losing touch with their surroundings or their outer world.

They also tend to be introspective and keep their social circle

limited. Extroverts, on the contrary, are actively involved in the

world of people and things; they are socially active and more aware

of what is going on around them. They like to be part of groups,

communities and probable places where they get a chance to

interact. The idea of being alone terrifies them, leaving them

alienated from their inner selves.

Characteristic of Extrovert and Introvert Personality

Now, if the extroverts develop to know how and when to

bring their unconscious introversion into composition and

similarly, when introverts know when to bring their unconscious

extroversion into composition, they would have command over their

mental space and not vice-versa. For example, extroverts depend

on their external environment all the time. But in life we all face

situations where the solution to our problems lies within us. In

this situation, if extroverts learn to introspect, they would save

themselves from a lot of anxiety and restlessness.

Furthermore, Crow and Crow (1958: 187) explain some

more details of the characteristics of extrovert and introvert. They

state that extrovert people are usually fluent in speaking, free of

feeling worry and not easily get ashamed and awkward, love to

work with others, and good at adapting with their surroundings.

They also put interest in athletic. In the other hand, introvert

5
people are more fluent in writing than speaking, tend to be serious

and anxious, like working alone, often find difficulty in behaving,

and love to read.

According to Eysenck, there is no pure extrovert or

introvert of one’s personality. The type of personality may change

from one pole to another. In order to see personality of people, we

can only see the dominant type, whether the type is extrovert or

introvert. Therefore, we can classify the individual into extrovert or

introvert. The characteristic of extrovert and introvert personality

can be seen from their style of work. Hirsh and Kummerow (1994)

presented the following statements concerning work, which might

be said by extroverts and introverts.

All the theory say that extroverts are better language

learners than the introverts, that they participate more in

classroom activities and have better speaking skills. However, that

theory is not always been proven. The results have often been

diverse and contradictory. There is no disadvantage personality

types. Introverts have also their advantages as learners and

language learning success cannot be determine by one personality

trait or learning style only. There is also no absolutely wrong or

right learning style. The most successful learners do not depend

completely on one learning style only, but take advantages of more

learning styles, so that they always have an alternative.

Speaking

6
 There are several definitions of speaking according to the

experts, as Chaney in Kayi (2006) states that “speaking is a

process of building and sharing meaning through the will use of

verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts”. Then by

Byrne (1984), he defines speaking as a two-way process between

speaker and listener and it involves the productive skill and

receptive skill of understanding. And according to McDonough and

Shaw (1993) “speaking is desire and purpose-driven, in other

words we genuinely want to communicate something to achieve a

particular end. This may involve expressing ideas and maintaining

social relationship and friendships. Fourth, speaking is

fundamental and instrumental act. Speakers talk in order to have

several effects on their listeners. They ask the listeners questions

to get them provide information. They request things to make the

listeners give it. They promise, warn, and exclaim to affect the

listeners. The nature of the speech act should play a control role in

the process of speech production. Speakers begin with the

intention of affecting their listeners in a particular way (Clark and

Clark in Nunan, 1991).

In order to achieve a communicative goal through

speaking, there are two aspects to be considered – knowledge of the

language, and skill in using this knowledge. It is not enough to

possess a certain amount of knowledge, but a speaker of the

language should be able to will use this knowledge in different

situations (Bygate, 1991).

In addition, Bygate (1991) views the skill as comprising

two components: production skills and interaction skills, both of

7
which can be affected by two conditions: firstly, processing

conditions, taking into consideration the fact that a speech takes

place under the pressure of time, secondly, reciprocity conditions

connected with a mutual relationship between the interlocutors.

There are some aspects that have to be dealt with in

speaking. They are fluency, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation,

and comprehension (Harris, 1975). Since Harris does not define

each of those speaking aspects, the researcher takes the definition

from other resources stated by several experts. Here are the

explanations of speaking aspects based on several experts:

1. Fluency

2. Grammar

3. Vocabulary

4. Pronunciation

5. Comprehension

According to Brown (2001), there are several types of

classroom speaking performance which are explained as follows:

1. Imitative

2. Intensive

3. Responsive

4. Transactional (dialogue)

5. Interpersonal (dialogue)

6. Extensive (monologue)

From the explanation above, speaking is a process of

building and sharing meaning, in which thought and knowledge

are will use to express what people would deliver and communicate

in different situations. In speaking, there are several aspects that

8
must be dealt with and it could be reference to assess the speaking

activity. Some types of speaking activity are also illustrated. In this

research, the researcher will use transactional dialogue that

correlates to role-play technique in which the learners will assume

characters and exchange information.

Previous Studies

The research found the similar research written by ARINA

MUNTAZAH “A Comparative Analysis between Students with

Sanguine and Phlegmatic Personality on Their Achievement in

Speaking Skill” at the seventh semester of English Education

Department State Islamic University (UIN Syarif Hidayatullah

Jakarta) English Education Department UIN Jakarta.The method

use in this research is quantitative research and comparative

analysis technique Based on her opinion, different personality of

the student would make different result in students‟ speaking

ability. In her research showed that there are no significantly

differences between students‟ difference personality with their

achievement in speaking score. The relationship between Arina‟s

research with the researchers research is the variable used.

Nadiyah used sanguine and phlegmatic students as variables.

However, the researcher in this research has different focus. The

researcher focuses on two other types of personality, they are

Extrovert and Introvert personality. Based on statisticcalculation, it

could be concluded that sanguine and phlegmatic students have

no difference in English speaking skill achievement.

Methodology

9
 This research applied descriptive comparative quantitative

study which purpose to compare the students with extrovert and

introvert towards their speaking achievements. The population of

the research was English Department Students. The sample of this

research was all of English Department Student 2015. The total of

the samples were 120 but when the sample was classified as

extrovert and introvert students by the questionare, the

questionnaire that back only 89. So, researcher finally used 89

sample of Englis Department Students 2015 in this research. The

instruments for collecting the data are Questionnaire of Personality

and and Speaking Score.

Findings

To determine the difference between the students who are

extrovert and introvert in their speaking achievement, then the

comparative test using independent sample T-test. Before

performing the test, the researcher must determine the hypothesis

first. Namely as follows:

Ho: There is no significant difference between the students who are

extrovert and introvert in their speaking achievement

H1: There is a significant difference between the students who are

extrovert and introvert in their speaking achievement

With hypothesis:

 Ho is accepted if P value > 0,05 and H1 is rejected.

 Ho is rejected if P value < 0.05 and H1 is accepted.

10
 In a comparison test data have to fulfill two assumptions

to testing the hypothesis, that the data should be normal and

homogeneous.

Group Statistics
Std. Std. Error
Group N Mean Deviation Mean
Personality Extrover
39 68.349 9.4421 1.5119
t
Introvert 37 70.830 8.4456 1.3884

Based on the data above, it can be seen that the mean

score of Extrovert is 68.349 with a standard deviation is 9.4421

and total data is 39. The mean score of Introvert is 70.830 with a

standard deviation is 8.4456 and total data is 37. From mean score

it can be conclude that Introvert is little bit higher than Extrovert

in students’ speaking achievement.

11
 Table 4.6 Independent Sample T-Test
Independent Samples Test
Levene's
Test for
Equality
t-test for Equality of Means
of
Variance
s
Std. 95% Confidence
Sig. Mean Interval of the
Error
F Sig. T df (2- Differe Difference
Differe
tailed) nce
nce Lower Upper
Pers Equal
onali variance - -
. .
ty s 1.20 74 .232 -2.4810 2.0588 6.583 1.6213
762 385
assume 5 3
d
Equal
variance - -
73.7
s not 1.20 .231 -2.4810 2.0527 6.571 1.6094
52
assume 9 4
d

Based on the above table, it can be seen that the value of

significance with equal variance assumed is 0.385 higher than

0.05 then it can be stated that the data is homogeneous. The score

of P Value is 0.232 higher than value a = 0.05. It means that H1 is

rejected and Ho accepted, so it can be concluded that there is no

significant difference of students’ difference between the students

who are extrovert and introvert in their speaking achievement.

Discussion

The result of this study shows that the students’

personality has no statistically significant difference to the

students’ English speaking score. The result of T-Tes was 0.232

12
and it was higher than 0.05. So the null hypothesis (Ho) was

accepted and the alternative hypothesis (H1) was rejected. It can be

interpreted that there is no significance difference between the

extrovert students and the introvert on their speaking achievement.

The data also interpret that the extrovert students get lower

average English speaking score and the introvert students have

higher average score. In this research, the speaking score of the

extrovert students is noted for 68,349 in average whereas the

average of the introvert students is 70,830. The result indicates

that this research gives difference perspective that the introvert

students can be better than the extrovert students. This research

also seems to break the theory on the concept of personality that

the extrovert is better than the introvert in speaking. The extrovert

students do not always possess higher competency of English

speaking ability which is because of his natural willingness to

speak than the introvert students because sometimes the introvert

students may overlap the extrovert students.

Introverts have the capacity to make wonderful speakers.

They have unique strengths that some extroverts do not possess.

According to Jim Anderson (2016), Introverts have a special skill –

they happen to be very good listeners. What this means is that

when they are preparing to give a speech, they can use their

listening skills to create a better speech. As they gather the

information that they’ll need to create their speech, introverts take

the time to listen to differences in opinion. This allows them to find

the best solution, even if it turns out to be one that they didn’t

suggest themselves. Introverts are phenomenal listeners, which

13
makes them aware of the needs of others. For introverts, that’s why

speaking (instead of listening) can feel completely unnatural. They

have a greater tendency to remember that public speaking is not

about them, knowing it’s about the audience. For an introvert, it’s

not all about listening. Instead, listening is where it starts. Once

they’ve heard what someone has to say, an introvert will take this

information and analyze it. They’ll consider all of the facts as they

process what they’ve been told. The end result of this will be a well-

thought out set of ideas that can be worked into their next speech.
Introverts will also think deeply about their message.

According to Mazurn (2013), since introverts relish

thinking big thoughts, having a well-thought out message is easy

for them. They are also writing and structure. A tell-tale sign of an

introvert is that they like to write. Introverts have a tendency to

enjoy writing and will go to great lengths to come up with the right

message. An introvert will seek feedback from others but not

usually until the majority of the speech is prepared. Introverts will

take time to research, ask questions and think through what the

audience needs to know and how to shape the message. Not only

during the planning stage but also during the delivery, an introvert

will remain focused on the audience and this is an important part

of getting instant audience feedback. If you are able to gain

valuable non-verbal cues from your audience whilst you are

speaking, you can make subtle changes.

Because introverts take the time to both listen and then

think about what they’ve heard, the speeches that they deliver

often talk directly to the issues that the audience is dealing with.

14
Also, Introvert is a quiet person. According to their behavior, when

they are in a new environment, they will prefer to be quiet while

playing phones than talk to other people. This can be used by

introverts to increase their knowledge by surfing the internet. They

will read more articles that can increase their knowledge and

become more qualified if they are encouraged to speak.

Finally, creating a great speech takes time. Extroverts

spend a lot of time thinking about how they’ll deliver the speech.

Introverts spend their time thinking about what they’ll deliver. In

this world, it takes all types of people in order to give good

speeches. Extroverts are often passed over when picking someone

to give a speech. Perhaps we should not do this. Introverts have the

ability to create a unique type of speech that can really connect

with an audience.

In sum, it can be concluded that students’ personality

both extrovert and introvert did not have any significance

difference achievement in speaking ability. We will find the

introvert students about the same quantity in classes as the

extrovert students’ quantity. In fact, the introvert is likely the

characteristic of the students who has not really active in speaking

activity. It also can be assumed that the extrovert students do not

always possess higher competency of English speaking ability

which is because of his natural willingness to speak than the

introvert students. Sometimes the introvert students may overlap

the extrovert students with their unique strengths.

Conclusion

15
 This research showed that there was no significantly

different between the extrovert and the introvert students in their

achievement in speaking ability. The data interpreted that extrovert

and introvert students had no difference in their speaking score

achievement. Through sequence of calculation at the previous

chapter the hypotheses of the research shows that the Ho which

states “There is no significant difference between the students who

are extrovert and introvert in their speaking achievement” is

accepted.
This research also seems to break the theory on the

concept of personality that the extrovert is better than the introvert

in speaking. The extrovert tends to speak vocally. He likes to be a

good speaker through his leadership soul. In contrary the introvert

does not really like to speak and he likes to be a good listener. The

data interpret that the extrovert students get lower average English

speaking score and the introvert students have higher average

score. The speaking score of the extrovert students is noted for

68,9 in average whereas the average of the introvert students is

70,3. The extrovert students do not always possess higher

competency of English speaking ability which is because of his

natural willingness to speak than the introvert students.

Sometimes the introvert students may overlap the extrovert

students.

The possibility of error in this research may be highlighted

from the decision taking while the students are doing the

personality test and there is also the possibility of

inappropriateness on giving score which is influenced by the

16
students; they might not show their best ability in English

speaking performance at that time.

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