PERFECTIONISM LEVEL OF STUDENTS WITH VARIOUS PROGRESS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Abstract

The phenomenon of perfectionism and its influence on students’ progress in the English language is considered in this article. In the research 5-scale technique «Perfectionism questionnaire» developed by N.G. Garanyan and A.B. Kholmogorova was used. 157 first and se-cond year students at one of St. Petersburg universities took part in the research. The group of students was divided into 3 subgroups: well advanced students in English (who only get marks «4» and «5»), rather advanced students in English (who get marks «3» and «4») and poor students in English (who get marks «3» and «2»). It appeared that rather advanced students in English had the highest values of perfectionism on 3 scales and the general indicator of the construct was the biggest among this subgroup of students. Rather advanced students in English on the scale «the overestimated claims and requirements to themselves» differed from both poor and well advanced students (р < 0.01). On the scale «high performance standards while focusing on the most successful people» the level of perfectionism was higher among rather advanced students than well advanced ones (р < 0.01). On the scale «selection of information about own failures and mistakes» statistical distinction between rather advanced and poor students in English was noted (р < 0.01). The general indicator of perfectionism is also the highest among rather advanced students in comparison with students from 2 other groups (р < 0.01). The results testify that well advanced and poor students in the English language aren’t perfectionists while rather advanced students in English show the highest level of perfectionism.

Keywords

• perfectionism
• level of perfectionism
• students’ progress
• the English language
• high performance standards
• overestimated claims
• polarized thinking
• perception of other people