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

English curriculum is the natural extension of compulsory education phase as well as the important component of basic education phase. With the national and social development, higher and more requirements are advanced for senior high school students’ English quality, however, the present English teaching and learning methodology is far to meet the demands of national and social development for English talents. Owing to this, it is urgent to seek more effective English teaching approaches to improve English teaching and learning efficiency. In addition, self-concept, one of the most important constructs in psychological sciences, is the way in which people perceive their strength, weaknesses, abilities, attitudes and values through interaction with the environment and other people. And a positive self-concept will strengthen learners’ achievement motivation and confidence, drive learners positively engage in learning tasks, and contributes to the improvement of academic achievement. On account of this, explore the characteristics of senior high school students’ English self-concept and its relationship with English academic achievement can help to provide effective suggestions for English teaching in senior high schools, improve the comprehensive English quality of senior high school students, and meet the demand of national and social development for English talents.Taking the senior high school students from senior one to senior three from Cenxi Middle School of Guangxi Autonomous Region as an example, the current study has made specific study on the characteristic of their English self-concept and the correlation between English self-concept and English achievement. The following research questions were addressed for this study:(1) Do senior high school students have a positive English self-concept?(2) Does senior high school students’English self-concept positively correlate with their English academic achievement?The survey demonstrated that generally speaking, high school students do not enjoy a high general English self-concept and specific English self-concept, furthermore, there are gender, class and grade differences between senior high school students’English self-concept; the English self-concept of senior high school students is positively correlated with English achievement, and the correlations are different between different grades, but the present research failed to find the correlations are increased with age.The current study has put forward some suggestions for both students and teachers according to the results of investigation:students should have a right cognition about the significance of English learning as well as an accurate understanding about their English ability, set their own English leaning goals, and cultivate autonomous learning abilities and co-operative spirit for the purpose of increasing their confidence and English achievement. Meanwhile, on the basis of having a good grasp of students’different learning needs, teachers should encourage students to set their own learning plan, assign the suitable tasks for students, provide informative feedback for students, cultivate students’ co-operative spirit in order to help student increase their English self-concept and then improve their English achievement.