SELF-ESTEEM IN THAI EFL TEACHER TRAINEES WITH HIGH AND LOW ACADEMIC ABILITY

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine a significant difference in self-esteem between teacher trainees with high and low academic ability. The total population consisted of 309 Thai EFL teacher trainees who were studying the English major program in the Faculties of Education of four Rajabhat Universities. The sample was 186 fourth-year-teacher trainees selected by simple random sampling. The teacher trainees were divided into two groups: high and low academic ability. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) was used to collect data. The reliability established by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.72. Content validity was checked by experts. Mean, standard deviation, and the independent t-test were used for data analysis. The results showed that teacher trainees both high and low academic ability rated their self-esteem at the high level. There was a statistically significant difference in self-esteem between the two groups of teacher trainees. The high academic achievers had higher degree of self-esteem than those in the lower group.