Relationship Between L2 Proficiency and Psychological Traits With Self-Assessment Bias Among L2 Speakers

Abstract

Self-assessment is sometimes used to assess second language (L2) skills, but it has a degree of error that is possibly caused by L2 learners themselves, resulting from their L2 proficiency level and psychological traits. This study, involving 196 Japanese university students, calculated the self-assessment bias of L2 speakers using many-facet Rasch measurement. Correlation analysis explored the relationship between self-assessment bias and L2 speaking proficiency with psychological traits including self-esteem, English speaking anxiety, and English speaking motivation. The results showed that self-assessment bias was related to the belief in effortism, in which a person correlates ability with intensity of effort, and the Dunning-Kruger effect, in which high-proficiency learners tend to underestimate and low-proficiency learners tend to overestimate their abilities. Specifically, overestimation related to low proficiency prevents L2 learners from accurately assessing their performance, whereas underestimation related to L2 learners’ belief that they lacked the effort to improve their speaking skills.