An Investigation On English Learning Self-efficacy Of Non-English Major College Students

Self-efficacy helps to promote students' English learning by influencing their mental process,affecting the choices students make and the effort students expand on activities,and the perseverance and resilience students present in face of frustration.Therefore,it's significant to help teachers enhance students' English learning by researching into their English learning self-efficacy.This thesis applies both qualitative and quantitative research methods.Questionnaires and interview are employed to collect data.In this study,the English Learning Self-efficacy Questionnaire is adapted from professor Zhang Risheng's(2004)Foreign Language Self-efficacy Questionnaire,which is divided into four dimensions: sense of competence,sense of effort,sense of challenge and sense of frustration.Influential Factors of English Learning Self-efficacy Questionnaire is developed from Liu Wei's(2015)questionnaire,which mainly covers five dimensions: learning motivation,successful and vicarious experiences,physiological state,attribution style and teacher's feedback.181 non-English major college students from Guangxi Normal University are involved in this research,and 165 valid questionnaires from them are processed by SPSS 20.0.The concrete research questions spread out as follows:(1)What's the current status of non-English major college students' English learning self-efficacy?(2)What are the differences in non-English major college students' English learning self-efficacy in terms of gender and family background?(3)What is the correlation between English academic performance and English learning self-efficacy?(4)What are the main factors affecting the English learning self-efficacy of non-English major college students?The results of the questionnaires and interview show that 1)The overall non-English major college students' English learning self-efficacy is at a moderate level.2)There is no significant difference between male and female students in their English learning self-efficacy;there is no significant difference between urban students and rural students in their English learning self-efficacy;3)Students' English academic achievement is positively related to their English learning self-efficacy.4)Teacher' feedback,students' learning motivation and their physiological state are three main factors among the five influential factors of English learning self-efficacy.Based on the research results,some implications for enhancing the non-English major college students' English learning self-efficacy and for improving the college English teaching and learning are proposed.These suggestions are helping students to set appropriate goals and attribute success and failure properly,improving their learning strategies,providing them with positive feedback and establishing the harmonious teacher-student relationship.