A Developmental Study On The English Pronunciation Self-concept Among Chinese EFL Adolescents

Self-concept, the whole set of attitudes, opinions, and cognitions that a person has of himself (The Collins English Dictionary, 2000), has been much studied in psychology. SLA researchers are interested to know whether self-concept is connected with EFL learning process. A few studies along this line (C. Pan, 2003; W. Pan, 2003; Wang, 2004a, b) have revealed a positive relationship between the English Pronunciation Self-concept, the General English Self-concept and English achievement in high schools. However, the development of the English Pronunciation Self-concept has not yet been investigated among EFL learners. The present study aims to tackle this issue.In light of the research on academic self-concepts and the English Pronunciation Self-concept, the present study set out to collect data from 608 participants of four academically selective and non-selective high schools in Northeast China. An 8-domain questionnaire called ASCQHSS (Academic Self-concept Questionnaire for High School Students) was adopted from the ASQHSS (Wang & W. Pan, 2003). Under investigation were such variables as gender, age, school-type and the participants' achievement score.Data analyses yield the following findings. First, the development of the English Pronunciation Self-concept bears on the General English Self-concept, which in turn influences English achievement. This finding lends support to the L2 Pronunciation Learning Hypothesis (Wang, 2004a), which states that L2 pronunciation impacts on one's perceptions of his/ her L2 learning ability, thus influencing foreign language learning as a whole. Second, the English Pronunciation Self-concept and English achievement are main predictors of the General English Self-concept. Third, the study further reveals that gender and agehave a role to play in the development of English Pronunciation Self-concept. These findings contribute to the English Pronunciation Self-concept research and provide pedagogical implications for EFL teaching. The developmental pattern as revealed in this study has helped shed some light on the development of self-concept in general.