Drawing on a large corpus of video-recorded classroom data, the goal of this study was to understand the processes and mechanisms associated with learning in individuals who have had little education in their home countries. In order to accomplish this goal, we measured the socio-interactive behaviors and the expression of personality behaviors in learners who attended classes to learn English as a second language, and we analyzed the relationship between socio-interactive behaviors and personality with literacy test scores. The results showed that low-education learners behaved differently in the classroom than high-education learners. Socio-interactive behaviors and personality behaviors were related to literacy test scores. Implications of educational background on learning are discussed as well as the limitations and unique contributions of this study.