Present Position Accorded to the Importance of Personality Variables in Second Language ResearchWhereas the importance of affective variables in second-language learning is frequently acknowledged in the L2 literature (e.g. Brown, 1987, p. 111; BleyVroman, 1989, P. 49; but see Long, 1990, p. 275 for contrary view), variables specifically within the realm of personality are currently accorded little importance in research reviews. This is due to the fact that studies in which the role of personality variables have been investigated in relation to language learning have failed to produce consistently significant findings, e.g. Swain and Burnaby (1976) Naiman, Frolich, Stern, and Tadasco (1978), Genessee and Hamayan (1980).The hypothesis which has received the most attention (actually almost all the attention) is that relating extraversion to language learning proficiency; the relationship is however very far from being definitively established, and reviewers have consequently arrived at generally pessimistic conclusions as to the importance of personality variables in SLA, and even questioned the validity of the constructs investigated. For example, in one of the most recent reviews, Skehan (1989), maintains that L2 research should concern itself with improving definitions in the personality domain. He states:"There are grounds for questioning the desirability of adopting, wholesale, a construct from a feeder discipline, psychology, rather than subjecting the construct to further analysis to relate it specifically to language learning." (p. 105)I'd like vein, McDonough (1986, p. 139) reports that L2 researchers have not always been satisfied with the validity of personality scales developed for psychological studies. Ellis (1985, p. 120) similarly observes that L2 researchers have often preferred to develop their own batteries of personality traits "which intuitively strike them as important".