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How to Enhance Japanese University Students’ Self-Esteem. ~ An Attempt on Self-Affirmation in Written Form ~ #1342

Nowadays, a growing number of institutions and educators in English Language teaching (ELT) has been highlighting its psychological aspect. Particularly, self-affirmation methods that contain psychological effects on students’ academic achievement are noticeable in a recent study (Cohen et al, 2009). The purpose of this study is to investigate whether a regular self-affirmation in written-form can improve the degree of self-esteem, specifically, Global Self-Esteem (GSE) and Foreign Language Self-Esteem (FLSE). The research design is quantitative research using online surveys as the main instrument. The participants of this study were 55 university students who were from three different faculties of a private university in Tokyo. The research examined and compared their GSE and FLSE of two experimental groups and a control group at the beginning and the end of the semester. Whereas self-affirmation in written form was mandatory for the experimental groups in every class, the control group was not asked to do any self-affirmation. The results showed that the students’ self-esteem in the experimental groups was boosted by self-affirmation in written-form to some extent. The findings of this study will benefit numerous educators and students since the enhancement of students’ self-esteem is a profound source for their language learning.