Self-Efficacy and English Public Speaking

Xue Zhang

Due to China’s booming economy and the interest aroused by national speaking competitions, English public speaking (EPS) is gradually gaining prominence and popularity, especially for university students. While self-efficacy is highly correlated with language performance in general (e.g., Chemers, Hu, & Garcia, 2001; Pajares & Graham, 1999; Sanders-Reio, Alexander, Reio & Newman, 2014), there is no instrument to measure English language learners’ (ELLs) self-efficacy for EPS, and very little is known about self-efficacy and EPS performance specifically. This dissertation aims at providing psychometrically sound instruments to measure ELLs’ EPS self-efficacy and sources of EPS self-efficacy and investigating the relationship between EPS self-efficacy and EPS performance. To serve the above two purposes, two studies were conducted based on self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1997). The first study developed two new instruments: the EPS Self-Efficacy Scale and the Sources of EPS Self-Efficacy Scale. A four-factor solution for the first scale, identified by the exploratory factor analysis (EFA), was specified in the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in Sample A (N = 470). Another four-factor model for the second scale was also specified through EFA and CFA in Sample B (N = 270). Results helped support our hypothesis of EPS competences and self-efficacy theory. These two measures are good to use for practitioners and researchers to understand the formation and development of EPS self-efficacy and for further investigation of the role of EPS self-efficacy in language learning. The second study postulated and tested against real data a hypothesized model of predictors to EPS performance to examine the relationships among student background characteristics (i.e., English language proficiency), theoretically postulated environmental sources of EPS self-efficacy, and, most pertinent to the present study, the relationship between EPS self-efficacy and EPS performance. Participants were 82 ELLs enrolled in a university-level EPS course in China. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed for data collection and analysis. Statistical data provided statistical evidence regarding hypothesized relationships among variables; descriptive data helped gain in-depth understanding of such relationships. Results added knowledge to self-efficacy theory in the EPS domain, provided a foundation for more robust models in other contexts, and supported EPS instructional practice.

Self-Efficacy and English Public Speaking

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