A Study On The English Self-efficacy Of Eighth Graders In City Ordinary School And The Related Influencing Factors

English self-efficacy is the core of the affective factors which plays significant roles in the English acquisition of students. It refers to students’ perceived capabilities and confidence in English learning. It influences students’ English achievements directly or indirectly. And it also plays the role as a mediating factor through which other affective factors such as motivation and anxiety exert influence on achievements.However, many English teachers in junior schools don’t pay enough attention to it and some of them even totally ignore it because of all kinds of practical reasons. Besides, up till now, most studies have focus on college or university students while only several studies focus on the English self-efficacy of junior students and few studies focus on eighth graders’ English self-efficacy and the factors which influence it.Various factors which influence middle school students’ English self-efficacy exist.Nevertheless, this study only aims to investigate eighth graders’ English self-efficacy as well as find out how influential the sources hypothesized by Bandura(mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasion and physiological and emotional states) and found by Mao Meina(teachers’ confidence, goal setting, the use of learning strategies and multiple learning resources) are. The subjects were from two ordinary city schools in Zigong, Sichuan Province. To achieve the aim, questionnaires and focus group were employed. The following results are found.1) Eighth grade students in city ordinary school have generally low English self-efficacy. 2) There is no significant gender difference of eighth grade students’ English self-efficacy. 3) There is significant proficiency difference. The students with higher academic performances possess high level of English self-efficacy.4) The most influential sources to raise the eighth gradestudents’ English self-efficacy are teachers’ confidence in teaching and the use of multiple learning strategies. 5) The most influential sources to undermine the Eighth grade students are lack of suitable plans and goals, lack of learning strategies and low previous proficiency. Other factors such as family environment, personalities are also found to influence English self-efficacy in this study. Finally, according to the findings,suggestions about how to enhance the English self-efficacy of eighth grade students in city ordinary school are presented.