Students' self-esteem level in a Hong Kong EMI school: comparisons regarding age and gender

Abstract

The result from the writer’s last research showed that students from an English Medium of Instruction (EMI) school had a higher self-esteem level than those from a Chinese Medium of Instruction (CMI) school. This researcher provides a picture of the adolescents’ self-esteem development under the fine-tuned MOI policy at an EMI school in Hong Kong.

The research focuses on the differences of students’ self-esteem level in form three and form six as well as the differences of female students’ and male students’ self-esteem level in these two forms respectively. Understanding female and male adolescents’ self-esteem development is very important for teachers as teachers play an important role in an adolescent’s life. Data collected from 119 secondary school students from an EMI school in Hong Kong. A questionnaire, Chinese Adolescent Self-Esteem Scale (CASES), was used to measure students’ self-esteem in seven domains: social, intellectual, family, physical, moral, appearance and general self-esteem. The findings showed adolescents’ self-esteem level varied. In particular, male students’ social self-esteem level and general self-esteem decreased while female students’ intellectual self-esteem, family self-esteem, appearance self-esteem and general self-esteem increased during adolescence. In terms of gender, male students in junior form perceived a higher intellectual self-esteem, appearance self-esteem and general self-esteem than female students in junior form. In contrast, female students in senior form had a higher social self-esteem, moral self-esteem, and family self-esteem than male students in senior form.