English learning requires students to actively participate in the classroom, yet observations at SMPN 1 Banuhampu found that many seventh-grade students appeared quiet, showed little enthusiasm, and lacked focus when the teacher explained the lesson, a condition suspected to be related to differences in students' personality characteristics. This study aimed to identify the Big Five Personality factors influencing English language learning among seventh-grade students and to examine how the dominant factor contributes to passive classroom behavior. A descriptive quantitative design was employed, supported by a qualitative component in the form of telephone interviews. Data were collected from 75 respondents using a 15-item Likert-scale questionnaire covering the five OCEAN dimensions, and further explored through interviews with 10 students who obtained the highest scores on the dominant trait. The results showed that Agreeableness was the most dominant personality trait (M = 4.26, 85.16%, very high category), followed by Openness and Conscientiousness, while Neuroticism obtained the lowest mean score (M = 3.00, moderate category). The interviews revealed that although students exhibited high Agreeableness, this trait was associated with passive rather than active classroom behavior, largely driven by fear of making mistakes and limited confidence in their mastery of the material. These findings suggest that Agreeableness needs to be taken into account by English teachers when designing classroom strategies that encourage more active student participation.
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