An Empirical Study On The Relationship Between University English Classroom Interaction And Students' Self-efficacy

As we know, the focus of education has shifted from teacher-centered to learner-centered instruction in recent years and more and more researchers in the field of EFL have begun to study the issues relevant to learners' individual differences. Besides, the necessity in foreign language research and teaching to explore learners' affective variables as a means of explaining differences in one's ability to learn a new language has been emphasized. It has been declared that one of the important affective factors affecting language learning is learners' self-efficacy.On the basis of the social psychology theories related to language learning and second language acquisition theories as well as the related literature review, this paper aims to explore the relationship between self-efficacy and university English classroom interaction. In the process of the program, the subjects who come from the Taiyuan University of Technology are asked to do questionnaires about self-efficacy and English classroom interaction at the beginning and end of the term and the collected data is analysed by SPSS 17.0. The author firstly makes an investigation by using descriptive statistics analysis to understand the general situation of the university students' beliefs and attitudes towards English classroom interaction and their self-efficacy. Then the writer further explores the relationship between self-efficacy and English classroom interaction through correlation analysis. After finding out the relationship between self-efficacy and English classroom interaction, the author designs English classes with a set of various activities and programs accordingly on the basis of self-efficacy theory and second language acquisition theories and apply some appropriate strategies to cultivate the students' self-efficacy and improve English classroom interaction. At the end of the term, the author compares the two sets of statistics about self-efficacy and the English classroom interaction through paired sample t-test and makes a detailed analysis upon related theories and research.Apart from quantitative analysis, the author also conducts qualitative analysis to make the research more scientific and comprehensive. So in the program, the author makes files for each student and asks them to keep diaries about their performance and experience in English classroom and then make self-reflection. According to Bandura, a psychology without introspection can not be used to explain the complexities of human behaviour. So only when the students make sense of their cognitive process and how they interpret their behaviours can they predict the subsequent performances. In the qualitative study, the writer also makes classroom observations about the students' classroom performance and the detailed situation of their classroom states.This paper includes six chapters in total. In chapter one, the author introduces the background knowledge and the concepts of self-efficacy and English classroom interaction are illustrated. Chapter 2 demonstrates the social psychology theories concerning language learning and second language acquisition theories and a comprehensive literature review is stated. In chapter 3, the writer introduces the methodology and research design as well as the strategies used for the cultivation of self-efficacy. Chapter 4 is about the research result and the detailed analysis of quantitative study. In chapter 5, the author exposes the result and discussion of qualitative research. Chapter 6 is the conclusion which includes the summary, implication and limitation as well as the suggestions for further study.Finally, the research result of the quantitative and qualitative data indicates that there is a positive significant relationship between self-efficacy and English classroom interaction. Moreover, the students' self-efficacy has improved and their attitudes and performances in English class have greatly changed, which in return has promoted English classroom interaction. The research result is in agreement with the previous research. The author hopes it will make a little contribution to the theoretical and practical study of psychology and second language acquisition.