Investigating the relationship between perfectionism and EFL learners’ speaking performance
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Date
2020
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Publisher
Oum-El-Bouaghi
Abstract
Perfectionism or the pursuit of perfection is one of the most controversial psychological factors, especially in recent times, as it has become difficult to deny its multifaceted nature and extreme impact on the learners' performance particularly in the field of education. This study is, in fact, an attempt to investigate any plausible relationship between this psychological trait and EFL learners' speaking performance. It seeks to afford an intelligible caption about the potential impact of perfectionism through exploring the perfectionists' experiences and impressions along with the EFL teachers' views. In regard to the research methodology, a mixed method study is elaborated for the sake of attaining the research objectives. To reach the primary aim of this study, a correlation between perfectionism and the learners' speaking performance is conducted. The population embraces students of Master 2 DLE in the academic year 2018-2019. The Almost Perfect Scale-Revised is used as a tool to identify perfectionists (with adaptive or maladaptive perfectionism) and exclude the non perfectionists. After limiting the research sample to 44 participants (24 Maladaptive perfectionists, and 20 adaptive perfectionists), an interview is conducted to assess their performance in speaking. Subsequently, the students' scores in the scale of perfectionism are correlated with their speaking scores in order to investigate the probable relationship between the two. The results present a significant relationship between the two variables. More precisely, maladaptive or neurotic perfectionism has a strong negative correlation with the speaking performance contrary to adaptive perfectionism that shows a moderate positive correlation. To support the research findings, perfectionists are asked to write retrospective reports in which they share their experiences and impressions. Seeking the same endeavour, an interview is conducted with EFL teachers of oral expression. The findings obtained from the interviews and reports prove the same results as the correlational study. Hence, the research hypothesis (H) is confirmed while the null hypothesis (H0) is rejected.
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Keywords
Speaking skill, Perfectionism, Maladaptive perfectionism