An Empirical Study On Artist-oriented Learners’Self-efficacy, Strategy And Achievement In English Reading

In recent years, the number of senior high school students who choose to be artist-oriented students for the college entrance examination has been increasing. For many of them, unsatisfactory performance in school subjects, including English, stands in their way to their dream university. In view of improving their test achievements in English, it is generally accepted that "those who get a good score in English reading can get a good achievement in English". Therefore English teachers are facing the challenge of helping the artist-oriented students develop their reading strategies and English proficiency.This study chooses160artist-oriented learners from Art School as the subjects. The author investigates their English reading self-efficacy level, reading strategies use and reading achievements, and explores the correlation among the three variables in order to compare the effects of different ways used to improve their reading achievement.Instruments employed for data collection include English Reading Self-efficacy Questionnaire, English Reading Strategy Questionnaire, and the reading tests for2011Shaanxi college entrance examination. For the training part, the author executes the reading strategy training in Class1, meanwhile other training model integrated the reading strategy with self-efficacy is implemented in Class2. Class3serves as the control class. At last, the English reading tests of2012Shaanxi entrance examinations are used to collect data about the effects of the different training models. Based on the quantitative and qualitative data analysis, the author identifies that:(1) Chinese artist-oriented learners’self-efficacy, reading strategies use and reading achievements are at a low level.(2) Self-efficacy highly and positively correlates with the use of total reading strategies, meta-cognitive strategies, cognitive strategies, social/affective strategies and reading achievement. Reading strategies, meta-cognitive strategies, cognitive strategies, and social/affective strategies highly and positively correlate with the students’ reading achievement.(3) The use of the total reading strategies, cognitive strategies and reading achievement has been improved significantly in the first experimental class which received only the reading strategies training. However, the improvement of the meta-cognitive strategies use and social/affective strategies use is not significant through the instruction. What’s more, students’self-efficacy has not been improved significantly either.(4) The use of the total reading strategies, cognitive strategies use and social/affective strategies use, self-efficacy level and reading achievement have been significantly improved after the instruction in the second experimental class which received the simultaneous instruction of reading self-efficacy and reading strategies. But the meta-cognitive strategies use has not been improved significantly.(5) Compared with the separated reading strategies instruction, the simultaneous instruction of self-efficacy and reading strategies is more effective to improve students’self-efficacy level, effective reading strategies use and reading achievement.