SOCIAL SELF-ESTEEM AND EFL

SOCIAL SELF-ESTEEM AND EFL

Aydogan, Hakan
Akbarov, Azamat

This study has been an attempt to investigate the learning styles and strategies, word learning strategies and social self-esteem of students in EFL classes at Intermediate level in the Sarajevo International Colleges in Vraca and Ilıdža in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Hercegovina. For this purpose, 100 students at two colleges have been applied a questionnaire containing various vocabulary learning strategies and their learning preferences, styles and social self-esteems have been examined. SPINO instrument (PANAS - Positive and Negative Affective Schedule, SOSA scales Social Self-Esteem Scale, The Learning Style Inventory (LSI 2011), and Inventory for Vocabulary Learning Strategies were used to carry out the implementation part of our study. In order to collect the data, this study was based on a design including quantitative data analysis by using questionnaires. The study intends to describe an experience connected to the systematic use of vocabulary learning activities connected with the learning styles to enhance students’ self- esteem and thus, promote language learning. The correlations between active learning strategies, emotional states and social self-esteem have been significant and positive. In our study, it has been concluded that vocabulary learning strategies produce positive emotions and there is a positive correlation between these two variables.Positive emotions and higher social self-esteem give rise to more usage of different learning strategies. As teachers, we are in a constant search to work on the social-emotional development of students. By developing a feeling of social self-esteem in what they learn lexically, they build self-acceptance and trust through expanding their vocabulary knowledge. The content relates real life situations to their own feelings, beliefs, needs, values and experiences. It is worth mentioning the fact that the students were observed to get in touch with the positive qualities of themselves with self-esteem and introspection, learning unknown words emphasizing selfdiscovery and their own strengths concretely. The results of learning styles identification instruments showed that learning styles of students can be diagnosed quite reliably. The research proved that students can learn better when they are taught through the certain methods that reflect their specific learning styles. In this paper we are discussing the pedagogical implications of this work and offering a model for the EFL teachers to manage this field in their work.

Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed

2016

3444