A Correlational Study Of Junior High School Students’ English Writing Self-efficacy And Writing Achievements

Mcleod(1987)proposed that writing tasks are not only a cognitive activity,but also an emotional activity.Therefore,it is also a process of emotional expression.Students will inevitably be affected by emotional factors at all stages of the writing process,including writing self-efficacy.Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy(1986,1997)leads to writing self-efficacy,which refers to the individual’s confidence in whether they can complete a specific writing.Many foreign studies have proposed that the attitude and concept of writers play an important role in the process of writing(faijley et al.,1985),and self-efficacy research will provide a new way of thinking in teaching reform of writing(Beach,1989).However,as an emerging field of subject teaching psychology,few scholars are involved,and most of the research is focused on college students or high school students.Therefore,this research focuses on the junior high school students,and mainly discusses the following research issues:1.What is the current situation of junior high school students’ writing self-efficacy?2.Do junior high school students’ writing self-efficacy differ in gender and grade?3.What is the relationship between junior high school students’ writing self-efficacy and their writing achievements?Quantitative research method was used in this study.A total of 278 subjects were selected from the junior middle school of Bohai in Binzhou.First,a questionnaire survey was performed on their English writing self-efficacy.The data collected from the questionnaire was analyzed by SPSS22.0.The conclusions of this study are as follows:1.Junior high school students ’English writing self-efficacy is generally at a medium level,and both factors are at a medium level.Among them,students’ self-efficacy in writing tasks is significantly higher than self-efficacy in writing skills.2.There is a significant difference in writing self-efficacy among different grades.Among them,the writing self-efficacy of the ninth grade students is significantly higher than that of the seventh and eighth grade students.There are also significant differences between boys and girls in their self-efficacy in English writing.Among them,girls have significantly higher confidence in using writing skills than boys.3.There is a significant positive correlation between junior high school students’ self-efficacy in English writing and their two dimensions of writing tasks and skills,that is,if the writer has a higher sense of writing self-efficacy,then he is more confident in completing the writing task and using the writing skills,and their writing performance will be higher accordingly.The teaching implications of this research are as follows:(1)Enhance personal charm and set an example for students;(2)Use the "process teaching method" instead of the output teaching method;(3)Guide students to the correct attribution of success or failure;(4)Establish a diverse feedback mechanism.Disadvantages of this study: The sample size of the questionnaire is not sufficient,and only the final exam scores are used to measure the students’ writing level,which is not comprehensive enough and the writing style is single.Therefore,follow-up research should expand the sample size and use different genre and topic composition types to test the writing level of students.