A Study On The Correlation Between Senior High School Students’ English Academic Self-efficacy And Learning Engagement

The English Curriculum Standards for Senior High School(2017 version,revised in 2020)states that the senior secondary English curriculum should follow the laws of education and teaching as well as the laws of students’ physical and mental development,and therefore educators should pay attention to non-intellectual factors that affects academic effectiveness,such as students’ will,attitude and self-concept.Numerous studies have shown that academic self-efficacy not only influences students’ choices of learning behavior,attitudes to difficulties and attributions,but also determines the level and duration of effort.Learning engagement is an affective cognitive state generated by students in the learning process,which can reflect the effectiveness and quality of learning from the side and has an important impact on individual academic development.Therefore,the relationship between students’ academic self-efficacy and learning engagement in English is worth exploring.Accordingly,this study mainly explored the following questions :(1)What is the current status of high school students’ academic self-efficacy in English learning?(2)What is the overall level of high school students’ English learning engagement?(3)What is the correlation between high school students’ English learning academic self-efficacy and learning engagement? If yes,what is the specific correlation?Quantitative and qualitative methods were both used in this study.Two questionnaires were completed with the participation of 235 students from a high school in Nanning,Guangxi: the Language Learners’ Academic Self-Efficacy Scale and the Learning Engagement Scale.To further interpret these two scales,six students were selected to participate in semi-structured interviews,and all the data were put into SPSS statistical software.Through analysis and discussion,the following results are obtained:(1)High school students’ English academic self-efficacy is generally at an intermediate level(mean=2.83).Of the two specific dimensions,learning ability self-efficacy(mean=2.95)is the highest and learning behavior self-efficacy(mean=2.72)is the second highest.(2)The overall English learning engagement of high school students is moderate(mean=2.95).The mean scores for each dimension of learning engagement,from high to low,are: absorption(mean=3.20),dedication(mean=3.06),and vigor(mean=2.59).(3)There is a significant positive correlation between students’ English academic self-efficacy and learning engagement(r=0.777).Meanwhile,there is a significant positive relationship between the two dimensions of English academic self-efficacy and the three dimensions of English learning engagement.In addition,English academic self-efficacy significantly predict English learning engagement,which can explained 61.7% of the variation in English learning engagement with a regression equation of y = 0.442 + 0.853x(y is English learning engagement and x is English academic self-efficacy).Based on the findings,some suggestions for teaching English in senior high school classrooms are put forward: Firstly,reinforcing students’ successful experiences and providing positive feedback so as to help students build up their English learning self-confidence and improve their English academic self-efficacy;Secondly,helping students set English learning goals that are within their reach and challenging so as to stimulate their intrinsic interest in English learning and increase their learning engagement;Thirdly,creating a positive English learning classroom atmosphere and focus on students’ emotional experiences.