TESL Trainee Practitioners’ Self Perception of their Personality Traits and Verbal Communication Skills

The teaching and learning of English as a second language involve many different skills. This study investigates the relationship between Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) trainee practitioners’ (TPs) personality traits and their verbal communication skills. The personality traits investigated are the Big Five, while the verbal communication skills investigated include interpersonal skills, verbal-linguistic skills, motivation, altruism, and selfregulation. This study involved 277 TESL TPs from four different teacher training institutes in Malaysia. This quantitative study used  questionnaires to investigate both the variables. The findings show that out of the Big Five personality traits, only openness showed positive relationship to verbal communication. This trait deserves greater attention if students are to maximise the use of effective communication skills. This study profiles personality traits to examine the relationship of each trait in relation to communication skills. The findings of this study would be significant for the Higher Education Ministry of Malaysia and education regulators, apart from the teaching community.