SELF-ESTEEM RELATED PERSPECTIVES OF EFL LEARNERS REGARDING GENDER, AGE AND LANGUAGE LEVEL

Abstract

In this study, an attempt has been made to investigate the perceptions of the EFL learners studying at the English Preparatory School of a university about self-esteem in relation to gender, language level and age. In order to explore the perceptions of the participants, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES) was employed. The participant learners were 40 EFL students. Of 40 participants 12 were female while 28 were male. The English language levels of the learners who took part in this study were pre-intermediate and intermediate levels. The ages of the participant EFL learners ranged between 18 and 30. A t-test was utilized to find out whether there were any significant differences in the perceptions of the male and female participants about self-esteem. Another t-test was carried out to explore if the perceptions of pre-intermediate and intermediate level learners differed regarding self-esteem. An ANOVA test was also administered to test whether there were any significant differences in the perceptions of the participants in different age categories in relation to their reported self-esteem scores. The findings of the study revealed that there were no significant differences in the reported perceptions of the participants about self-esteem in relation to gender, language level and age.

Key words: Self-esteem, EFL, Language level, gender, age.

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