A Correlational Study Of English Reading Self-efficacy,Selfattribution And Reading Performance Of High School Students

Reading plays a vital part in foreign language learning,in which students can not only augment their English knowledge,but also improve their skills.In Carrell's perspective(1998),reading is by far the most significant skill compared with the other three(listening,speaking and writing)in a second language,especially when English is learned as a foreign language.This thesis aims to explore the relationship among English reading self-efficacy,self-attribution and reading performance.English reading self-efficacy refers to readers' subjective judgment about their own control of the reading behavior and reading ability before conducting the English reading task.It aims to evaluate one's confidence degree to exploit the reading ability,skills and strategies individual has possessed when fulfilling tasks.Self-attribution refers to the readers' interpretation and deduction of the causes relating to their behaviors according to the results.It attempts to explore the factors governing the ways in which people explain the results,in order to predict,evaluate and control the subsequent behaviors and surroundings.In that learners' English reading self-efficacy and self-attribution style may influence their performance of the reading activities,this study investigated 786 students in Ningwu Senior High School,Xinzhou City about their English reading self-efficacy and selfattribution tendency.They were asked to fill out two questionnaires on English reading self-efficacy and self-attribution tendency respectively.The collected data were then analyzed by SPSS(18.0),combining descriptive statistics,Independent-Sample T-test,Pearson correlation analysis,one-way ANOVA and multiple stepwise regression analysis.The results of the study can be concluded to the following aspects:1)The majority of students held relatively low reading self-efficacy.And students' English reading self-efficacy existed significant differences in different genders and grades.Among the six dimensions of reading self-efficacy,girls' sense of self-confidence and awareness of reading planning were higher than boys',and students' sense of reading ability and performances of resisting environmental disturbance in Grade 11 were higher than students in Grade 12.Students' reading self-attribution existed significant differences in different genders.Compared with boys,girls had more tendency to attribute their reading performance to reading ability.However,students' self-attribution did not exist significant differences in different grades.2)Students' English reading self-efficacy had significantly positive correlation with reading performance and can predict it efficiently.Among students with high,moderate and low reading performance,high-achievers tended to perform best in the six dimensions of reading self-efficacy,while low-achievers perform worst.3)Students' self-attribution had significant correlation with their reading performance.High-achievers tended to attribute their performance to reading ability,reading strategy and teachers' influence,while low-achievers liked to attribute to their effort and luck.4)Students' reading self-efficacy had significant correlation with reading selfattribution.Among the six dimensions of reading self-efficacy,students with high sense of reading ability tended to attribute their reading performance to reading ability,teachers' influence,luck,strategy and effort.Students with high sense of reading control tended to attribute to reading ability,teachers' influence,luck and strategy.Students with high sense of benefiting form reading tended to attribute to teachers' influence,reading strategy and effort.Students with high sense of self-confidence tended to attribute to reading ability,teachers' influence,luck,strategy and reading interest.Students with high awareness of reading planning tended to attribute to reading strategy and effort.Students with good performances of resisting environmental disturbance tended to attribute to reading ability.According to the above findings,the researcher then put forward some methods to improve students' reading self-efficacy and guide students to attribute positively,which will eventually contribute to students' good reading performance.