A Study Of English Learning Self-efficacy Of Low-achievement Students In Junior High Schools

The theoretical background of New Curriculum emphasizes “human based”idea,which requires a high level of English teaching.In the process of English teaching,English teachers should devote themselves to helping students to know themselves and build up their confidence.At the same time,teachers should help students master some effective learning strategies and methods.At the same time,teachers should help every student get the maximum development in all aspects.New Curriculum Standard also mentions that teachers should care about students' mental and emotional changes and development.Junior middle school stage is the crucial period for students' physical and mental development.However,in the process of English teaching,there are some students with sound mind and body and they have normal intelligence,but can't reach the minimum requirements of the syllabus.They are called the low-achievement students.Therefore,helping those students get rid of difficulties to improve their academic performance becomes an important task of education.Educators and English teachers are aware that emotional factors have a great effect on language learning.Bandura,a famous American psychologist,was the first person who put forward the conception of self-efficacy in 1977.Self-efficacy has already become an important issue by now.Lots of scholars' related studies have shown that students' English learning self-efficacy has a great effect on students' academic achievement.However,low-achievement students always possess a lower learning self-efficacy and this phenomenon not only influences students' academic performance,but also influences their learning mood.Therefore the research about how to improve low-achievement students' self-efficacy has great significance.This research concentrates on discussing the following questions: 1.What's the general situation of English learning self-efficacy of low-achievement students? 2.What are the main contributing factors of English learning self-efficacy of low-achievement students in junior high schools? 3.What are the major factors influencing self-efficacy of low-achievement students in junior high schools? 4.What are the possible ways to improve self-efficacy of low-achievement students in juniorhigh schools? The author intends to combine both qualitative and quantitative research methods in order to explore a reliable result.The subjects are 133 in total and all of them are low-achievement students from a public junior high school.All of the students completed the questionnaires,and some of them took part in the interviews.The low-achievement students are from different three grades.The findings of this thesis are as follows: The English self-efficacy of low-achievement students in junior high school is low;The main contributing factors of low-achievement students in junior high schools are confidence in English learning behavior;confidence in English learning ability;confidence in English learning methods and confidence in English academic achievements;confidence in dealing with English learning difficulties;confidence in English learning willpower;confidence in self-aptitude;The main influencing factors of low-achievement students' self-efficacy are personal situation,personality traits,personal important experiences and students interactions with some important persons;The suggestions and strategies to improve low-achievement students' self-efficacy are as follows: guiding students to have positive and right attribution;setting reasonable English teaching objectives;paying attention to cultivating students' learning strategy in teaching;setting up harmonious teacher-students relationship;encouraging students to overcome their weaknesses;enhancing students' English learning abilities;enhancing students' English learning self-efficacy;changing students' subjective consciousness of their English academic scores;improving students' confidence in facing difficulties;cultivating students' positive expectation on their willpower.