چكيده
The current study was an attempt to explore the relationship between the multi-dimensional construct of assertiveness and overall writing ability. One hundred and three lower-intermediate students (33 male and 70 female) from two English language institutes in Nowshahr and Chalous, Iran, were chosen as the main participants of the study after taking Oxford Quick Placement Test to 164 EFL students. They were then asked to fill in the Persian version of a validated self-perception questionnaire developed by Townend (1991). This questionnaire includes four subscales, namely assertiveness, aggressiveness, submission and passiveness. Based on their scores on the questionnaire, the subjects were categorized into assertive, aggressive, submissive and passive learners. The researcher investigated the correlation between these four personality types and overall writing ability and also different components of writing (content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics). Studentsʹ writing ability was assessed using two free compositions which were scored by two raters based on ESL Composition Profile (Jacobs, Hartfiel, Hughey, & Wormuth, 1981). The results of the study pointed toward a significantly positive relationship between four personality types of assertiveness and overall writing ability (Eta= .648). The assertive learners had the highest writing ability and the passive learners had the lowest overall writing ability. Moreover, there was a significantly positive relationship between personality types and the five components of writing. Finally, after running independent sample T-tests to the results of writing test scores, it was revealed that there was no significant difference between assertive male and female learners in terms of their overall writing ability.
