Mohammad Hossein Gherami - English Department- Soofian Branch - Islamic Azad University

Self-esteem often has a connection with mentally health, learning successfully, living effectively, and even the good life (Murk, 2006).The present study aimed at identifying the relationship between self-esteem, as an affective factor and English language learning among Iranian EFL learners. The participants were 80 sophomores (40 males and 40 females) at Tabriz Azad University majoring in English Language Teaching. More specifically, answers to the following research questions were sought: Is there any relationship between self-esteem and the English achievement among Iranian EFL students? Is there any difference between the males and females’ perception of their self-esteem? To this end, the Coopersmith Standardized Questionnaire of self-esteem was used in this study. The mean of the participants’ final-exam grades in their listening and speaking, reading and writing courses was considered as their English language achievement. The results revealed, not only is there a significant positive relationship between the learners’ self-esteem and their English achievement but there is also a significant relationship between the learners’ self-esteem and their gender. And also, males and females have similar self-esteem because there existed no significant difference between the means of the self-esteem scores of females and males. So, Self-esteem plays an important role in Iranian EFL learners’ English language achievement and the results of this study could help the English language instructors at their teaching and educational planning.

Self-esteem, Gender, EFL achievement