The role of self-concepts of technical school students in their learning of a second language

Global self-esteem, the evaluative component of self-concept, and the eight Chinese person-perception dimensions, the descriptive component of self-concept, were correlated with scores attained in standard school tests of English usage in 207 technical school students. Students who perceived themselves as higher on Intellect had had higher scores in the English test three months ago. High Intellect and low Emotional Stability could jointly predict better English test result three months later. Replicating Luk and Bond's (1992) result, global self-esteem could be jointly explained by the SAPPS (Sino-American Person Perception Scale) factors of Application, Intellect, Extroversion, and Emotional Stability. However, global self-esteem was not related to any English test result. These results were discussed in relation to personality dynamics.