A case study: factors affecting EFL self-concept formation regarding the role of social comparison

This exploratory case study was carried out to investigate the factors that affect EFL self-concept formation and the role of social comparisons in EFL self-concept formation of a 10th grade high school student. The data was gained by using qualitative research methods. The data was gathered through interviews one of which was semi-structured and the other was unstructured. The participant was asked to keep a journal and write a narration about a specific experience related to her language learning process. She was also asked to draw a mind map about her perceptions of the self as a language learner to help the researcher comprehend her EFL self-concept. Besides, a sociogram was formed to have a better understanding of her social relations. Due to the nature of the study, content analysis was conducted to identify the emerging themes. The codes were classified and interpreted through Mercer's (2011a) I/E Model. The results were compared to the literature to be able to support the findings. The findings of the study indicated that a variety of internal and external factors affect EFL self-concept of the participant. The other findings of the study demonstrated that social comparisons as one of the external factors highly affected the participant's EFL self-concept. Comparisons with different people about various subjects resulted in different effects on her EFL self-concept. This study support the findings of the previous studies that examine the factors that affect EFL self-concept formation. Keywords: self-concept, EFL self-concept, social comparisons