A longitudinal investigation into English speaking self-efficacy in a Japanese language classroom

Abstract

Self-efficacy is the belief in one's own ability to carry out a given task, and has been shown to be a powerful predictor of performance. Although researchers have considered self-efficacy within language learning, it remains a relatively underused and unexplored construct. This longitudinal mixed-method study set out to address this, by developing a questionnaire to measure students' English speaking self-efficacy, which was then given to first-year university students on eight occasions over the course of an academic year. Changes in self-efficacy were modeled using Hierarchical Linear Modeling, and potential predictors of change were assessed. The model showed that students grew in self-efficacy, although there were different rates of growth for individuals. Students were interviewed regarding growth in self-efficacy, and possible reasons for change. Students stated that efficacy increased as they became used to the class, but the importance of context as an influence on self-efficacy also emerged.

Students� English business communication self-efficacy and their career aspirations

“…They were written in Bahasa Indonesia as the participants' native language to assure the comprehensibility of the message. Since self-efficacy is domain specific, and as Bandura argues that the strength of it as a predictor variables lies in its specificity so that it is necessary to develop measures which are specific to each skill (Bandura, 1997;Leeming, 2017), the 15 statements in the questionnaire of self-efficacy were developed based on the skills involved in English business communications. Respondents were required to respond to the statements based on their perceived ability to do the tasks mentioned from Scale 1 to 7 (1: I am absolutely not able to do the task, 2: I am not able to do the task, 3: I may not be able to do the task, 4: I may be able to do the task, 5: Basically, I am able to do the task, 6: I am able to do the task, 7: I am surely able to do the task).…”

Reliability and Validity of a Self-efficacy Instrument for Academics' oral Communication in a Foreign Language

“…Araflt›rmac›lar taraf›ndan yabanc› dil alan› bafll› bafl›na bir görev ve ba¤lam olarak de¤erlendirilmekte ise de, genel dil kullan›m›n›n alt›nda yer alan her bir dil becerisi kendilerine özgü zorlay›c› yönleriyle ayr› ayr› incelenmeyi gerektirmektedir. Alanyaz›nda dinleme, konuflma, okuma ve yazma becerilerinin her birine yönelik özyeterlik inanc› ölçekleri bulunmaktad›r (Idrus, Salleh ve Abdullah, 2011;Leeming, 2017;Smith, Pichora-Fuller, Watts ve La More, 2011;Teng, Sun ve Xu, 2017;Yang, 2004).…”

“…Raoofi, Tan ve Chan'›n (2012) da belirtti¤i gibi yabanc› dil kullan›m›na yönelik gelifltirilen özyeterlik inanc› ölçeklerinin çok az› ö¤retmen/ö¤retim eleman› üzerine odaklanm›flt›r. Bu araflt›rmada gelifltirilen yabanc› dilde sözlü iletiflim ölçe¤inin Idrus, Salleh ve Abdullah (2011) ve Leeming (2017) taraf›ndan gelifltirilen ölçeklerden en temel fark›, o ölçeklerin üniversite ö¤rencilerinin yabanc› dilde konuflma becerisi özyeterlik inançlar›n› ortaya ç›karmaya yönelik maddelerden oluflmas›na karfl›n, gelifltirilen ölçe¤in ö¤retim elemanlar›n›n yüksekö¤retim ba¤lam›nda kullan›lan yabanc› dilde özyeterlik inanc› maddelerinden oluflmas›d›r. Ayr›ca yukar›da de¤inilen iki ölçek, ö¤rencilerin üniversitede ald›klar› bir ders ba¤lam›nda ortaya ç›kabilecek görevlere odaklanmaktad›r.…”

English Oral Communication in Public Secondary Schools in Kazakhstan: Understanding its Practice and Challenges

“…This is evident from recent studies which explore the phenomenon of oral communication (OC, henceforth) in various Asian ESL and EFL contexts, such as Bangladesh (Kirkwood 2013); China (Li 2016); Cyprus (Vrikki 2013); Indonesia (Mahmud 2017); Iran (Tavakoli & Davoudi 2017); Japan (Leeming 2017); Malaysia (Singh, Singh & Lin 2015); Pakistan (Alam & Bashiruddin 2013); Saudi Arabia (Alhaysony 2016); South Korea (Kim 2014); Sri Lanka (Samaranayake 2016); Taiwan (Wang 2017); Thailand (Bruner, Sinwongsuwat & RadicBojanic 2015); and Vietnam (Tran, Moni & Baldauf 2013). Notably, previous studies have scrutinized various constructs embedded in the notion of OC that reflect its multifaceted nature, for example, teaching OC practices (Alsaedi 2012); speaking anxiety (Chan, Ain Nadzimah Abdullah & Nurkarimah Binti Yusof 2012); OC strategies (Mirzaei & Heidari 2012); codeswitching in OC (Vrikki 2013), willingness to communicate (Mahdi 2014),…”