Perfectionism and English Learners’ Self-efficacy

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between students’ English selfefficacy and the three types of perfectionism (adaptive, maladaptive, and non-perfectionists). A sample of 114 high-intermediate and advanced ESL students completed two self-reported surveys: the Questionnaire of English Self-Efficacy (QESE) scale and the Revised Almost Perfect Scale (APS-R). Pearson correlation, the hierarchical cluster analysis, MANOVA, and independent samples t-test were run. The main results showed that the total English self-efficacy scale and its four subscales correlated significantly with the Order and High Standards subscales. However, the Discrepancy subscale did not significantly correlate with the total English self-efficacy scale or with any of the four selfefficacy subscales. In addition, there was a significant main effect for perfectionism on students’ English self-efficacy: adaptive perfectionists scored higher than both maladaptive perfectionists and non-perfectionists while the non-perfectionists scored the lowest. However, there was not any significant interaction between English levels and perfectionism.

Keywords

• adaptive perfectionism
• english as a second or foreign language
• english self-efficacy
• maladaptive perfectionism
• non-perfectionism.