A Study On Correlation Of English Academic Self-efficacy And English Achievement: From The Perspective Of Senior-1 High Achievers And Low Achievers

English teaching and learning industries have sprung up like mushrooms after rain since China’s entry into the WTO. However, you may surprisingly find out that English education is still far from satisfactory. According to the author’s past teaching experience as a senior middle school English teacher, the English academic achievement of senior students has a tendency of polarization. This has caused bad effects on English teaching and learning process. It is widely accepted that of all the subjects, language learning is bound up with affective factors. While among all the affective factors, self-efficacy is considered to be one of the main determining affective factors. In order to have a better understanding of it, the present paper focused on the study of correlation between English achievement and English academic self-efficacy from the perspective of senior-1 high achievers and low achievers.The subjects of this study are senior grade one students from six classes of Gannan Normal University Affiliated High School, Jiangxi Province. The total number of the sample is 360 which is selected by stratified-random sampling. 106 subjects are selected as high achievers and low achievers, according to the average score of their previous four exams, including the senior high school entrance exam, two monthly exams and the mid-term exam. They are asked to finish General Self-Efficacy Scale Questionnaire and Self-efficacy Questionnaire on English Learning Tasks. Finally, ten high achievers and ten low achievers are asked to take part in a follow-up interview. The data are analyzed through SPSS by using both qualitative and quantitative analytic methods.The results show that: First, according to the descriptive statistics of English achievement, general self-efficacy and English academic self-efficacy, both male and female students’ English achievement, general self-efficacy and English academic self-efficacy are more or less at the same level, and only some tiny differences could be found according to the relevant descriptive statistics analysis of the data. But quite on the contrary, there exists a polarization between senior-1 high achievers and low achievers concerning their general self-efficacy and English academic self-efficacy. Secondly, according to the independent samples test of English achievement, general self-efficacy and English academic self-efficacy, the analysis of the data shows clearly the following facts: There is no significant difference in English achievement due to gender. There is a significant difference in general self-efficacy due to different achievers. There is no significant difference in general self-efficacy due to gender difference. There is a significant difference between high achievers and low achievers in English academic self-efficacy. And there is no significant difference between male and female students in English academic self-efficacy. Thirdly, according to the correlations among English achievement, general self-efficacy and English academic self-efficacy, the analysis of the data clearly indicates the following facts: There is a significant positive correlation between English achievement and general self-efficacy. There is a significant positive correlation between general self-efficacy and English academic self-efficacy. And there is a significant positive correlation between English achievement and English academic self-efficacy. Fourthly, both male and female students hold the same attitudes towards these questions. But they are still some differences on the particular questions. Besides, there are some students who have low English achievement but very confident in solving problems and performing English learning tasks. And there are some students who have high English achievement but not very confident in solving problems and performing English learning tasks. Furthermore, there are some students who have more confidence in solving problems in daily life but have little confidence in learning English. And there are some students who think they can learn English easily but can’t deal with the problems in daily life smoothly.