Attribution is one such influential personality factor. Another one that really intrigues me is the concept of the language ego. (The word “ego” here should be read as “self”, not as in “My grade on that quiz really bruised my language ego.”) As first defined by Alexander Guiora, a researcher in personality variables in second language acquisition, the language ego is “the identity a person develops in reference to the language he or she speaks”[1]. H.D. Brown notes that “Oneself-identity is inextricably bound up with one’s language, for it is in the communicative process…that such identities are confirmed, shaped, and reshaped.”[2] If you’ve been monolingual all of your life, this concept might not resonate with you, but if you’ve studied a second language seriously, I think that might sound familiar to your experience, even if you weren’t aware of it at the time.
Let’s say, for example, that you think of yourself as a good student, smart, intelligent, and articulate. You begin to study a new language and suddenly…you’re just a baby. You’re largely illiterate, you can’t pronounce things to save your life, and you’re lucky if you can put two words together correctly. You’re erudite in English, but you’re a moron in French.