A Study Of Self-efficacy In Non-English Majors’ English Reading Ability

Self-efficacy, first proposed by American physiologist Albert Bandura in 20th century, is the belief in one’s capability to learn or perform behaviors at designed levels, which can influence the achievement through cognitive, motivational, affective factors and selection process. However, with the deep research and development of English reading ability, little attention to self-efficacy effect on English reading ability had been paid. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the function of self-efficacy and probes into the effective means to improve the non-English majors’English reading ability from the angle of raising self-efficacy.In this thesis, two research questions are going to be solved. First, does the English self-efficacy have the impact on improvement of English reading ability among non-English majors? Second, how to improve English self-efficacy of non-English majors in college English teaching? Accordingly, the experiment consisting of 24 weeks was eventually carried out in City College of Wuhan University of Science and Technology from January to June in 2013. Two classes of this university were selected, among which the experimental class adopted promoting self-efficacy teaching mode while the control one used the traditional teaching mode. Such instruments as English Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, pre-test, post-test, classroom observation and follow-up interview were implemented in the teaching experiment, and the data collected from the experiment were carefully computed and analyzed through SPSS. The conclusion was made on the basis of qualitative and quantitative research methods.The results show that:(1) Chinese non-English majors have positive attitude towards English and can partly assume the responsibility for their own learning process, however, their current ability is rather low; (2) Chinese non-English majors have low English self-efficacy, especially their specific English self-efficacy in reading, which is mainly affected by lack of goal setting, learning strategies, previous experience, teachers’ self-efficacy and teaching strategies; (3) Promotion of Chinese non-English majors’ self-efficacy is helpful in improving students’English reading ability; (4) Effective teaching strategy has significant and positive influence on Chinese non-English majors’ self-efficacy in English learning.All in all, it’s found that the promotion of learner self-efficacy in English reading ability is the effective way concurrently. The author then, on the basis of the results of the study, discusses the pedagogical implications of the study and puts forward a few tentative teaching suggestions as how to promote Chinese non-English majors’ self-efficacy in the current conditions. To be frank, due to the restraint of current conditions and the author’s capability, the research has inevitably some limitations. For instance, the period for the experiment was relatively short; the processing and analysis of data was not enough in depth. Great efforts have to be taken to explore these issues later on. However, we have to admit that the improvement of self-efficacy does have influence on non-English majors’reading ability.