A Study On Correlation Between Self-efficacy And Oral Learning Strategies Of Non-English Majors

It was found that non-English major learners are lacking of motivation and confidence towards oral English study, depending on author’s practical teaching. And exam-oriented education attaches less importance to English speaking, which partly leads to learners’ difficulty in applying speaking strategies. This thesis aimed at investigating the effects of non-English major learners’ language self-efficacy and speaking strategies and their inner correlation. The author first reviewed the related studies by Albert Bandura, Rebecca Oxford, J. Michael O’Mally and Aana Uhl Chamot and other scholars who made some researches on self-efficacy and learning strategies.The author adopted the German psychologist Ralf Schwarzer’s"General Self-Efficacy Scale"(GSES) and Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). In February2012,123sophomore non-English majors from two classes of Hunan University of Arts and Science finished the questionnaires, with the help of SPSS19.0through mean, independent-samples t-test and correlation analysis. Through analysis and discussion of the test, the author reached the following findings:1) The level of learning self-efficacy for the students from Hunan University of Arts and Science is at intermediate level. Most students hold a positive attitude toward English speaking learning, but they also lack confidence toward future academic achievement. There is no significant difference between male and female students concerning the level of learning self-efficacy.2) On applying learning strategies, mean of female is higher than that of male, but there is no significant difference. Among the six kinds of learning strategies, students tend to exert memory strategy and compensational strategy. Students’ speaking level shows a great effect on the applying of speaking strategy.3) Learners’ language self-efficacy and speaking strategies are positively correlated with each other. That is to say, applying to speaking strategies efficiently would reinforce the level of learners’ learning self-efficacy, and vice versa.Based on this research, several suggestions are proposed for future research and teachers in English:First, the learner’ language self-efficacy should be reinforced. Second, it is important to cultivate the learners to be more proficient in applying and mastering speaking strategies. Third, it is necessary to highlight learners’basic competence for language learning.