An Investigation of the Relationship Between EFL Learners'Self-Actualization and Speaking Proficiency

The current study investigated the relationship between EFL learners' self-actualization and speaking proficiency. The participants of this study were ۶۰ male and female EFL students from two English institutes in Semnan. The data were collected using the standard Nelson test to assess the homogeneity of the participants and also Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) questionnaire developed by Jones & Crandall (۱۹۸۶) was distributed to check the level of self-actualization of the students. In the end, an interview measured participants ‘speaking proficiency. A Pearson correlation analysis was performed on SPSS to find any significant relationship between students' self-actualization and their speaking proficiency. The results of the Pearson correlation indicated a significant relationship between learners’ speaking proficiency and self-actualization. A multivariate analysis of variances (MANOVA) was run to compare the male and female groups’ means of speaking and self-actualization. It was found that there were not any significant differences between male and female subjects’ means of speaking and self-actualization. According to the results of this study, higher self-actualized students get better results, and especially their speaking ability improves.

کلیدواژه ها:

self-actualization ، EFL learners ، speaking proficiency