A Correlation Study Between English Self-concept And English Achievement Of Middle School Students

Affective variables have had such a great influence on second language acquisition that theyarouse many researchers’ interest. As an important perspective of the affective domain,self-concept plays a significant role in foreign language learning and teaching. Self-conceptrefers to people’s perceptions of themselves. It is a multifaceted and hierarchical structure, whichis consists of academic and non-academic facets. English self-concept falls on the academicdomain. The present study aims to explore the characteristics of Chinese middle school students’English self-concept and its relation to English achievement.Four major issues were examined in the study:(a) whether students’ English self-concept ispositively correlated with their English achievement;(b) developmental character of thecorrelation between English self-concept and English achievement;(c) gender difference inEnglish self-concept;(d) school-type difference in English self-concept.The instrument used for data collection was a Self-Description Questionnaire. Thepopulation consisted of6017thto12thgrade students. They were selected from both key schoolsand ordinary schools in the city of Jining, Shandong Province. Students’ English scores at theend of the term were collected to determine the English achievement for each participant. Thecorrelation analysis and independent T-test were used to test the hypotheses of the study.The results of the study indicated that middle school students’ English self-concept ispositively correlated with their English performance. Students’ general English self-concept andEnglish pronunciation self-concept both have a positive influence on their English learning andcould be served as predictors for their English achievement. The correlation between students’self-concept and their achievement should be viewed from a developmental perspective.Students’ general English self-concept becomes more strongly correlated with their Englishachievement with the increase of age, while the correlation between English pronunciationself-concept and English achievement turns weaker. Significant gender differences werediscovered among middle school students. Girls exhibit higher general English self-concept andEnglish pronunciation self-concept than boys. And no obvious school-type differences werefound in terms of English self-concept. Students from key schools and ordinary schools show nodistinctive differences in English self-concept.Implications and suggestions are made for middle school English teachers. Teachers shouldencourage students to be involved in more academic activities and help students develop positiveEnglish self-concept so as to improve their academic performance.