Self-efficacy of college intermediate French students: Relation to motivation, achievement, and proficiency

Research findings from several academic domains have demonstrated that students' judgments of their own academic capabilities, or self-efficacy beliefs, influence their academic behaviors and performances. Absent from this body of research are studies accurately assessing self-efficacy beliefs for foreign language learning. Informed by the tenets of A. Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory, I sought to extend these findings to the area of French language instruction. The primary objective of this study was to examine the influence of self-efficacy beliefs and other motivational variables on the achievement of college intermediate French students (N = 303). I also investigated the relationship between self-efficacy, anxiety, and French proficiency in reading and listening (n = 95). Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that students' reported confidence in their self-regulatory strategies was a more significant predictor of their final course grades than was their reported confidence to obtain specific grades. Students' perceived value of the French language and culture did not predict achievement in intermediate French. Students' self-efficacy to read in French was positively related to reading proficiency, whereas reading anxiety was not related. Listening self-efficacy was positively associated with listening proficiency only for the female participants, and listening anxiety significantly predicted the listening proficiency of both men and women. However, because the listening proficiency measure possessed psychometric flaws, findings regarding listening should be viewed with caution. Implications for researchers and educators are discussed.