Role of the Big Five Personality Traits and Motivation in Predicting Performance in Collaborative Presentations

Personality traits and motivation have been identified as influential factors in language acquisition and educational achievement. In recent years, as instructors have adapted curriculums to prepare students for academic and professional pursuits, collaborative inquiry-based projects and presentations, where students work together in groups to socially construct knowledge and achieve stipulated outcomes, have become common features of tertiary learning landscapes. This study utilizes 441 English as a foreign language university students' Big Five Inventory-44 and Collaborative Inquiry-based Project Questionnaire ratings to predict performance on their collaborative inquiry-based projects requiring presentations. Regression analysis revealed Extraversion and Project Work as predictors of Presentation Scores. Furthermore, Extraversion and Conscientiousness emerged as partial mediators between Project Work motivation and Presentation Scores. The results underscore the advantage extraverts possess in oral presentation situations while simultaneously stressing the importance of diligence and effort in inquiry-based projects. Implications and suggestions for future study are provided.