Investigating the Relationship between Self-Esteem and Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety among Moroccan Undergraduate EFL Learners: a pilot study

Abstract

The current pilot study aimed at identifying whether Moroccan undergraduate EFL students’ levels of self-esteem (SE) correlated significantly with their Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA), focusing particularly on their speaking in the EFL classroom context. The study followed a quantitative approach using Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) to collect data from 150 second and third-year students who have completed at least two years of university English instruction. Fear of negative evaluation seemed to be a major source of (FLA) for our selected sample, followed by communication apprehension and test anxiety respectively. The two variables correlated negatively (r= -0.74, p <.001) with (SE) explaining 54% of the variance in anxiety. Besides, according to the independent t-tests, there was no indication of any significant differences between genders. This strong negative correlation and predictive association observed in the present study confirms Krashen’s (1982) Affective Filter Hypothesis which posits that self-perception directly affects learners’ levels of anxiety. The study concludes with educational implications aiming at enhancing students’ self-perception and reducing speaking anxiety in the Moroccan EFL context.