Relationship Between EFL Writing Self-efficacy And Autonomous Writing Ability Of College Students

With the in-depth development of the research on second language writing and foreign language teaching,writing pedagogy has undergone a transition from product-oriented to process-oriented.The influence of affective and cognitive factors upon the learner's writing process has begun to attract the attention from researchers.In this context,there have been some studies on second/foreign language writing self-efficacy and autonomous writing ability both at home and abroad.However,so far,most of those studies have been theoretical analyses while empirical research has been rarely conducted,and there are even no researchers to explore the interactive relationship between writing self-efficacy and autonomous writing ability.Therefore,based on the existing research findings of foreign language writing instruction at home and abroad,combined with the actual situation of Chinese college students' English writing learning,this study designed the college students' EFL writing self-efficacy scale and the college students' English autonomous writing ability scale.Then,a questionnaire survey was carried out with 678 non-English major freshmen from University of South China as subjects,whose majors include accounting,international trade,mining,machinery,dynamics,clinical medicine,nursing,etc.Besides,questionnaire surveys,test of autonomous writing proficiency,classroom writing observations and interviews were also conducted.The research aims to explore the current situation of non-English majors' EFL writing self-efficacy and autonomous writing ability,to clarify the significant degree of differences in EFL writing self-efficacy and autonomous writing ability of students with different writing proficiency levels,to analyze the relationship between college students' EFL writing self-efficacy and autonomous writing ability,and to investigate the influence of EFL writing self-efficacy on autonomous writing ability.Through the quantitative analysis of the data collected from questionnaires and writing test,combined with qualitative analysis of classroom writing observations and face-to-face interviews,the study found that: 1)The non-English majors' EFL writing self-efficacy and autonomous writing ability are both generally on a moderately upper-middle level;2)There are significant differences both in EFL writing self-efficacy and autonomous writing ability of students with different writing proficiency levels;students with high writing proficiency levels have higher EFL writing self-efficacy and higher autonomous writing ability,while students with low writing proficiency levels have lower EFL writing self-efficacy and lower autonomous writing ability;3)There are significant and positive linear correlations between the two dimensions(writing skill self-efficacy and writing task self-efficacy)of EFL writing self-efficacy and the five factors(the mastering of teacher's teaching aims,the setting of writing goals,the using of writing strategies,the monitoring of strategies' use,evaluation of writing process,)of autonomous writing ability;4)EFL writing self-efficacy is significantly predictive to the autonomous writing ability,and students' level of autonomous writing ability can be predicted according to their level of EFL writing self-efficacy.Therefore,in English writing instruction,teachers should set appropriate writing teaching goals according to the students' writing proficiency levels so as to boost students' confidence in autonomous writing,stimulate their writing motivation and interest,improve their autonomous writing ability,and promote the development of their English writing skills.