An Investigation of Multicultural Personality Traits of Iranian High School EFL Learners

The current study aimed to investigate the Iranian high school EFL learners' multicultural personality traits (MPTs) based on their differences in age. To this end, a convenient sample of 138 junior and senior high school learners aged between 14 and 18 years old were selected. Data were collected through a Multicultural Personality Questionnaire. It measures MPTs (open-mindedness, cultural empathy, emotional stability, social initiative, and flexibility) on a five-point Likert scale. An independent samples t-test was used to check the differences between MPTs of junior (14-16) and senior (16-18) high school students. MANOVA was utilized to see the differences between components of MPTs of participants in these two groups. Findings indicated that there is a significant difference between MPTs of junior and senior high school learners in terms of open-mindedness and cultural empathy. That is to say the younger group exhibited more open-mindedness and cultural empathy. Moreover, the results revealed that they were not different in terms of other components of MPTs as social initiative, emotional stability, and flexibility. Besides considering differences between target and native language cultural values and society norms, teachers should attempt to improve students' cultural empathy and open-mindedness in order to gain the students' knowledge of language and attain educational purposes.