ENFP

I am working on a research paper about using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as a tool for understanding second language acquisition. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is an assessment tool used to analyze and understand the natural preferences and tendencies that are most commonly perceived as personality. Based on a Jungian philosophy of personality as the compilation of natural tendencies that make up our patterns of behavior, as well as individual thought processes and how we perceive and interact with the world, Myers-Briggs designates these traits into eight different "dichotomies," or preferences, and then sixteen different "types," each made up of combinations of four dichotomies. Every pair of dichotomies are, in a sense, on opposite ends of a spectrum from each other. Individuals fall somewhere on the spectrum, our behaviors or tendencies emulating one end more closely than the other.

While our preferences or tendencies are natural or inborn, they are also developed through experience and our environment. One of the simplest analogies offered to explain how these preferences are developed is "handedness." Each of us has a natural tendency for which hand is our dominant hand, but either hand may become dominant through greater use.

My Dad has used this tool for quite some time in his work helping teams communicate and operate better - and those individuals interact with each other better. These Types have been an important aspect of operating within our family and understanding/respecting each others' needs/preferences.

My Myers-Briggs Type is ENFP. Basically, it means that I am 1) a people person with high social needs - I am energized through interaction with others; 2) I process information intuitively; 3) I make decisions based on my values and how it will affect other people; and 4) I deal with the world in a flexible, spontaneous way, seeking to experience life, rather than try to control it. Again, these are all true of me to varying degrees and this particular combination renders different patterns of behavior than each individual dichotomy would predict on its own. The most accurate/interesting element of my personality that this reveals is that I am future oriented, always believing that tomorrow will be better than today, and dreaming about future circumstances consumes a large portion of my thoughts. You might think this makes me seem like a head-in-the-clouds kind of girl, except that the "Feeling" aspect of my personality is introverted - and I am more likely to seem aloof and indecisive while I process emotions internally. Also, on the Thinking/Feeling scale, I am about dead center - making me both an idealist and a pragmatist.

After all my research, all I can really say in terms of second language acquisition teaching strategies is that someone with a personality profile of Michael Scott would be a much better ESL teacher than someone with the personality profile of Angela (just watch The Office).