The Impact of Self-Esteem on Students’ Communication Skills in Language Learning: A Case Study of EFL Learners in Zahedan

This research investigates the connection between self-esteem and communication capacity among students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Zahedan, Iran—a context whose learners are mostly subjected to limited English experience and educational inequality. While some previous research on affective variables in second language acquisition has taken place, few previous researches have explored the impact of self-esteem on communicative action in under-resourced EFL settings. The research adopts a socio-constructivist perspective and applies a qualitative approach with 20 secondary school students and a three-part questionnaire containing Likert-scale and open-ended questions. The results of the research determine the prevalence of low self-esteem among most learners and implications on their volition to speak, class participation, and general level of linguistic confidence. Students associated their perception with socio-economic status, learning history, and worry about negative evaluation. A few students did not suffer from such issues and exhibited resistance and willingness to change their circumstances irrespective of challenges. These findings highlight the imperative for facilitative and caring teaching styles and curriculum and policy responses directed to correcting the structural inequalities in EFL learning. Encouraging healthy self-esteem has become a key concept for both the emotional well-being of students and the development of their communicative competence.

کلیدواژه ها:

Communication skills ، Language learning ، Self-esteem