A Study Of The Correlation Between Attribution, Self-efficacy,and EFL Performance On Fee-free Normal English Majors In ECNU

Bandura’s self-efficacy theory and Weiner’s attribution theory provide new perspectives in the study of learning motivation, but few studies have been carried out in EFL learning in China in the perspective of attribution and self-efficacy. Since fee-free normal students entered universities in2007, their learning motivation has attracted many researchers’ attention. However, the researches based on self-efficacy theory and attribution theory are scarce. This study analyzes the cognitive motivation of fee-free normal English majors in East China Normal University by investigating the correlation between self-efficacy, attribution and EFL achievement.Based on Bandura’s self-efficacy theory and Weiner’s attribution theory, this study chooses127Grade-three fee-free normal English majors as subjects. Data about self-efficacy, attribution and EFL achievement are collected through three questionnaires including CDS Ⅱ, LAAS and Self-efficacy Scale, and are analyzed by Pearson correlation, MANOVA, Multiple Linear Regression and so on. The findings indicate that there are close correlation between each two of these three items—self-efficacy, attribution and EFL achievement. In addition, both those with high levels of self-efficacy and those with high scores attribute more of their good performance to effort, stable and personal controllable factors than those with low levels of self-efficacy and those with low scores, and those with low scores tend to attribute their performance to luck. It is also found that when combined together, fee-free normal English majors’ self-efficacy, effort attribution and personal controllable attributions are the best predictors of their EFL performance. Generally speaking, these results confirm Bandura’s self-efficacy theory and Weiner’s attribution theory, and provide implications for EFL teaching and the prediction of fee-free normal English majors’ EFL performance.