On Correlation Of Self-esteem And The Oral Task Performance Of Chinese EFL Learners From Low-income Families

Affect can be considered as a very important factor in second language acquisition. In particular, self-esteem, the positive aspect of affect domain has been proved to be more and more of an important factor in EFL context. Recently, a vast body of research evidence has been accumulated showing a positive correlation between self-esteem and achievement,and with regard to self-esteem and school achievement in particular. However, few studies have examined the correlation between self-esteem and oral task performance of Chinese EFL learners in terms of the three aspects of accuracy, fluency and complexity. Thus, the present study aims to explore such relation focusing on Chinese EFL learners from low-income families. Self-esteem and three facets of oral task performance have been measured in the study.The participants were 69 non-English major undergraduates from low-income families in Chongqing University. All participants'self-esteem was measured: self-esteem levels were measured by a standard self-esteem test scale—Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE). Their oral task performance was also measured in terms of three facets, namely, accuracy, complexity and fluency. Their overall performance in the oral task performance was further scored by two skilled teachers simultaneously by means of Foreign Service Institute (FSI) model. In the oral task, the participants were asked to work on a topical discussion after three minutes individual preparation. Pearson correlation statistical analyses were performed, which yield the following three results: 1) there was a positive correlation between self-esteem and overall performance of oral production task; 2) self-esteem was strongly and positively correlated to oral accuracy, but moderately and positively related to oral fluency; 3) there was no significant correlation between self-esteem and oral complexity. These results were partially in line with previous literature and also provided some new findings. These results revealed preliminary findings of one aspect of the affective factors in second language learning: in general, self-esteem of EFL learners from low-income families was positively correlated to their oral task performance. Also, the findings suggested attention needs to be given to students from low-income families and indicated the significance of enhancing their self-esteem in foreign language education.