Exploring Factors Influencing Engineering Majors’ English Writing Self-efficacy

English writing is an essential language skill for college students.English writing self-efficacy is positively correlated with English writing proficiency.In general,students with higher English writing self-efficacy have higher English writing proficiency.Nonetheless,studies consistently found that the English writing self-efficacy of engineering students in universities was relatively low.The pass rate of College English Test Band 4(CET-4)of engineering students was generally lower than50%.Moreover,the pass rate of CET-4 of engineering students was generally lower than that of students in other majors.In actual instruction,College English teachers also found that there were significant differences in learning self-evaluation among different majors,and engineering students had relatively low confidence in English writing.Therefore,the importance of exploring engineering students’ English writing self-efficacy is axiomatic.Based on problems in literature and actual instruction,this paper aims to investigate the English writing self-efficacy level of Electrical,Electronics &Communications Engineering(EECE)majors of Y university and explore latent factors influencing their English writing self-efficacy.Two research questions are put forward as follows: 1)What is the English writing self-efficacy level of Electrical,Electronics &Communications Engineering(EECE)majors of Y university? 2)What are the factors influencing their English writing self-efficacy?A mixed method was adopted in this paper.Qualitative methods were supplemented by quantitative methods.First of all,questionnaires were sent to 254first-year EECE students of Y university to measure their English writing self-efficacy level and to testify to the assumption in previous studies--engineering majors have low English writing self-efficacy.Based on the measurement results from questionnaires,9participants of different English writing self-efficacy levels were interviewed to explore latent factors influencing their English writing self-efficacy.Data from interviews were transcribed,segmented,and coded through the thematic analysis.Results show that 1)according to criteria on writing self-efficacy level proposed by Pajares and Valiante(1997),EECE majors of Y university have a low level of self-efficacy in English writing,among which the self-efficacy of the writing regulation is the highest,and the self-efficacy of the writing ideation is the lowest.Results from statistical analysis are consistent with previous research.2)One hundred and ninety-one codes,eight themes,and three categories emerged from the data.Three categories of factors affecting the English writing self-efficacy of EECE majors at Y university are student-related factors,teacher-related factors,and contextual factors.Student-related factors include scanty writing practice,negative perceptions of writing practice,negative emotions for writing practice,and low writing proficiency.Teacher-related factors are negative writing assessments and lax supervision of writing practice.Contextual factors include time limitations and inconvenient online writing systems.Different from previous research,three new factors leading to low English writing self-efficacy of EECE majors,such as students’ negative perceptions of writing practice,teachers’ lax supervision of writing practice,and time limitations,are discovered in this study through the analysis of qualitative data.These new findings partially enrich the research results in related fields.In addition,three factors affecting low English writing self-efficacy--students’ lack of use of pre-writing planning strategies,excessive negative writing assessments from teachers,and inconvenient online writing systems,differ from what previous studies have found.Based on these findings,this paper suggests increasing EECE students’ writing practice,developing their positive perceptions and emotions towards writing practice,and improving their writing proficiency.To achieve these positive results,College English teachers need to supervise writing practice more intensively and provide more positive feedback for students.This paper also proposes implications and directions for future research on English writing self-efficacy.