Perceived Nutritional Status, Perceived Dietary Self-Efficacy and Dietary Behavior among pregnant Bangladeshi women

Understanding Writing Self-Efficacy of Thai EFL students

Rapassak Hetthong

Assoc. Prof. Adisa Teo, Ph.D.

Teaching English as an International Language, Faculty of Liberal Arts

Rationale of the study

• Writing is perceived among EFL learners as a demanding and difficult language skills (Lavelle, 2006).

• Student writers’ beliefs about their writing ability (writing self-efficacy) influence their

writing performance (Latif, 2007).

Rationale of the study (2)

• Self-efficacy is claimed to be the most consistent and reliable predictor of student’s task performance (Bandura1986; Bandura, 1997; Zimmerman, 2000).

Self-efficacy…?

Self-efficacy is an individuals' confidence in his/her ability to successfully perform a particular task (Bandura 1977).

Model of Reciprocal DeterminismIn social cognitive learning theory, there are three factors which all influence and are influenced by each other (Bandura, 1977):

1. Personal factors:(beliefs and attitudes that affect learning, especially in response to environmental stimuli.)2. Behavioral factors:(responses one makes in a given situation)3. Environmental factors:(the role of stimuli which surround the person) Self-efficacy

What does self-efficacy do?

Self-efficacy

Success

Self-evaluation

• Mastery Goals• Commitment

• Effort• Persistence• Resilience

Rationale of the study (3)

• Concept of self-efficacy has been explored and confirmed in the field of SLA worldwide, yet only few studies have been done in Thailand.

• Writing is the language skill that needs a new paradigm of exploration in Thai research context.

Purpose of the Study

1. To investigate sources of writing self-efficacy among the students of with different levels of writing performance.2. To explore how the sources of writing self-efficacy impact students as writers. 3. To investigate the relationship between students’ writing self-efficacy and their writing performance.4. To validate a questionnaire for sources of writing self-efficacy in Thai, a new instrument for examining students’ sources of writing self-efficacy.

Research Questions

RQ 1: What are the sources of writing self-efficacy of the students? Is there difference in sources of writing self-efficacy among students with different levels of writing performance?

RQ 2: In what way do the sources of writing self-efficacy impact students as writers?

Research Questions

RQ 3: Is there a relationship between the students’ writing self-efficacy and writing performance? Based on the score of the seven aspects in the students’ writing performance, are there any aspects incongruent with their self-rated writing self-efficacy?

RQ 4: To what extent is the questionnaire for sources of writing self-efficacy a valid and reliable instrument for identifying sources of writing self-efficacy?

Scope and Limitations

1. This study is limited to an investigation of writing self-efficacy of EFL students in Thai context. Findings of this study may or may not be applicable to learners of English in other contexts.

2. The questionnaire used for collecting data on writing self-efficacy is a quantitative instrument. The data can be subjected to the respondents’ bias or experience in judging themselves in a self-rating questionnaire.

Significance of the Study

1. This study functions as an additional investigations for the self-efficacy theory in the area of second language education.

2. English language educators in Thailand can use the empirical data from this study as reference to consider applying the questionnaire for writing self-efficacy as one of their motivational treatments.

Definition of Terms

1. Writing self-efficacy includes learners’ beliefs about their judgments of their ability to write different writing tasks and of their possession of various writing skills (Pajares, 2003).

2. Sources of Self-efficacy (Bandura,1977, 1997) : 1) Mastery experience2) Vicarious experience3) Social persuasions4) Emotional state

Self-efficacy

1. Mastery experience

2. Vicarious experience

3. Social persuasions

4. Emotional states

Sources of self-efficacy

Definition of Terms

3. Writing Performance: the students’ score in a paragraph writing test.

4. Thai EFL students: third-year English majors at Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai campus in 2013. All of them have taken academic writing courses, and have previous exposures to English writing courses and paragraph writings.

Conceptual Framework

Sources of Writing Self-efficacy

Writing Self-efficacy

Writing Performance

Research Methodology

1. Subjects : 54 students third-year English majors at Prince of Songkla University, Hai Yai Campus in 2013.(Purposive sampling technique)

2. Design: • A cross-sectional design. • A mixed approach between quantitative and qualitative methods (questionnaires and a focus group discussion)

Instruments

1. Questionnaire for sources of writing self-efficacy-20 items, 6-points likert scale representing the extent to which the statement is true of themselves:

Instruments

Example item and the scale in English and Thai

A . I admire people who are good writers. (item 6) ฉันชื่นชอบคนที่เขียนภาษาอังกฤษเกง

0 = never true of me / ไมเปนจริงเลย1 = rarely true of me /มักจะไมเปนจริง2 = sometimes true of me/เปนจริงนาน ๆ ครั้ง3 = often true of me/เปนจริง บอย ๆ4 = usually true of me/มักจะเปนจริง5 = always true of me/เปนจริงเสมอ

Instruments

2. Paragraph writing test and the scoring criteria • Paragraph writing test- A single argumentative paragraph of 150 words (with a clear instruction and a writing prompt)• 7 Scoring criteria

1. Content of your answer2. Organization of your ideas3. Cohesion4. Vocabulary5. Grammar6. Punctuation7. Spelling

Instruments

3. Focus group discussion protocol and the consent form

• Focus group discussion protocol 3 questions for each source of writing self-efficacyexcept social persuasions which has 4 questions.

• Consent Form To give an overview and the purpose of the discussionTo make the respondents feel comfortable to share their experiences.

Instruments

4. Questionnaire for writing self-efficacy- Based on 7 writing aspects (the 7 scoring criteria of the paragraph writing test)

1. Content of your answer (2 questions)2. Organization of your ideas (2 questions)3. Cohesion (2 questions)4. Vocabulary (2 questions)5. Grammar (2 questions)6. Punctuation (1 question)7. Spelling (1 question)

- Scale is from 0 to 100 - Rate their judgment about their ability to write a paragraph

Procedures

1. Validation of the Questionnaire for sources of writing self-efficacy1.1. Construct Validity1.2. Validity of Thai Translation1.3. Reliability (after pilot)

2. Pilot Study60 students from Walailak University50 students from Prince of Songkla University, Pattani Campus40 students from Taksin University (the paragraph writing test is piloted with this group)

Sequence of Administration

1. Paragraph writing test ( 1 hour)

•Break (10 minutes)

2. Questionnaire of sources of writing self-efficacy (15 minutes)

3. Questionnaire of writing self-efficacy (10 minutes)

Data analysis

High Medium Low

Mean S.D. Mean S.D. Mean S.D.

1. Masteryexperience

? ? ? ? ? ?

2. Vicarious experience

? ? ? ? ? ?

3. Social persuasion

? ? ? ? ? ?

4. Emotional State

? ? ? ? ? ?

Group

Sources

RQ1: What are the sources of writing self-efficacy of the students? Is there difference in sources of writing self-efficacy among students with different levels of writing performance?

Data analysis

RQ2: In what way do the sources of writing self-efficacy impact students as writers?

Coding the data

Analysis

Synthesis

Data analysis

RQ2: Is there a relationship between the students’ writing self-efficacy and writing performance?

Based on the score of the seven aspects in the students’ writing performance, are there any aspects incongruent with their self-rated writing self-efficacy?