Abstract
S. Krashen (1983) hypothesized that attitudinal variables directly relate to acquisition, not necessarily to learning. I have done a series of research on the relationship between self-esteem, one of the attitudinal variables, and learning/acquisition. The main purpose of the present article is to study the relationship between self-esteem and learning. The results of this research indicate that self-esteem doesn't correlate significantly with learning (r = .18 〜.2O). The previous studies of mine showed that there is a significant correlation between self-esteem and acquisition ( r = .35 〜 .43). Generally speaking, teaching English in Japan is characterized by a Learning-, not Acquisition-, centered approach, which leads to lack of interest and motivation and a sense of incapability in language learning. Then I proposed an ideal learning model based on self-esteem and acquisition. I hypothesize that self-esteem and acquisition will show the highest correlation in this learning model (XY-type of learning model).
