Chapter II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents the literature gathered by the researcher. It includes

the different claims and facts about self-efficacy, in which it focuses on the study

of the researcher. The chapter also contains the Conceptual Framework of the

study. The framework presents the interaction of the variables under

investigation.

Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework of the study is presented in Figure 1. The

framework shows the relationship of the dependent variable and independent

variable of the study. The independent variables are factors of self-efficacy and

its sub variables, these are the following: personal (motivation, interest in online

class, and parental/guardian involvement.), social (family members, teachers,

classmates, friends, and neighbors), and academic (prior knowledge, online

learning environment, teaching strategies, teacher’s competence).

The independent variables became a factor to the dependent variable

which is the self-efficacy level of students in online Reading and Writing class,

below the dependent variable are its sub variables these are organizing

information, academic and professional writing, and critical reading.

10
 Personal

 motivation
 interest in online class
 parental/guardian
involvement

Level self-efficacy of the

said students in online
Social Reading and Writing
 family members class
 teachers;
 organizing
 classmates
information
 friends
 academic and
 neighbors professional writing
 critical reading

Academic
 prior knowledge
 online learning
environment
 teaching strategies
 teacher’s competence

Profile of Senior High

School Students

 sex
 academic strand
 socio-economic status
 technological
resources

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework

11
 The illustration below the independent variable and dependent variable is

their intervening variable that may affect the factors and the level self-efficacy of

students, in terms of their profile which are the sex, academic strand, socio-

economic status, and technological resources.

Self-Efficacy

According to Bandura, self-efficacy is a major component of social-

cognitive theory, which contends that behavior is strongly stimulated by self-

influence. That self-efficacy belief is a vital personal resource has been amply

documented in the meta-analyses of findings relating to different spheres of

functioning, achieved under laboratory and natural conditions. The construct of

self-efficacy reflects an optimistic self-belief. This is the belief that one can

perform novel or difficult tasks, or copes with adversity, in various domains of

human functioning. It is clear that Bandura’s view of self-efficacy relates to the

explication of self-efficacy in specifc domains, rather than a global sense of

competence. In this study, the operational definition of self-efficacy is referring to

the global view of one’s coping abilities in a wide variety of situations and global

person’s belief in his or her ability to organize and execute the courses of action

required to achieve specific goals (Triantoro, 2013).

The purpose of the self-efficacy theory is to move beyond concepts such

as self-esteem to understand and improve individuals' performance of tasks.

Helping children or adults realistically understand their abilities as they relate to

behaviors or tasks is more helpful than broad encouraging statements. In fact,

12
telling individuals they “can do anything” can cause unrealistic expectations and

fear of failure. Having a strong sense of self-efficacy, however, can help

individuals approach tasks as challenges the individual can master rather than

doubting one's abilities and approaching tasks with fear (Odle, 2019).

Self-efficacy is related to how individuals feel about their ability to achieve

specific goals and manage or thrive and help others succeed. Self-esteem is the

opinion individuals have of their own self-worth or value. Individuals can have

high self-esteem but low self-efficacy. Recognizing and improving self-efficacy

can help people have confident and realistic beliefs in their abilities and potential

success (Odle, 2019). By working on beliefs, individuals can change thoughts

and eventually actions. The more time people spend learning a skill, the higher

the self-efficacy in that skill.

Sources for Self-efficacy According to Bandura

Bandura (1994) posits those four major sources of information are primary

in the development of self-efficacy beliefs. First, mastery experiences or

“enactive attainment” (Zimmerman, 2000), that is the most effective way of

creating high level of efficacy, and refers to the way people evaluate their own

personal attainment in a given domain. It covers prior task achievements and

play a central role in establishing a sense of self-efficacy. Second, the vicarious

(observational) experiences which is provided by social models, is another way

for creating and strengthening self-beliefs of efficacy. Third, social persuasion is

a third way of strengthening people’s beliefs that they have what it takes to

13
succeed; and ultimately, reducing people’s stress reactions and altering their

negative emotional proclivities and misinterpretations of their physical states is

the last source of modifying self-beliefs. (Naseri & Zaferanieh, 2012).

Personal Factors on Self-Efficacy

Personal characteristics such as grit and self-efficacy were influential in

forming students’ approaches towards learning experience. In other words, these

qualities shaped students’ academic purists and AGOs. As a result, achievement

goals are related to students’ academic performance. The current study

hypothesized a path model based on existing literature. The primary model

suggested that grit dimensions correlate positively with students’ self-efficacy,

which was hypothesized to influence student goal orientations and academic

performance. Self-efficacy, in the second part of the model, established a

supportive role by positively impacting mastery and performance-approach goals

and a protective role by reducing the negative impact of avoidance goals on

academic performance indirectly. Lastly, mastery and performance goals

enhanced academic performance while avoidance goals had a negative impact

on GPA. This hypothesized model was tested using PA, in which several indices

were obtained to evaluate model fit. The initial model illustrated some

unacceptable fitindices, and was modified by adding a relationship between

performance and avoidance goals. The indices of the modified model

demonstrated a good model fit. These findings provided a theoretical framework

for the direct and indirect effects between study variables in the context of higher

14
education. Student’s approach learning experiences differently by adopting

various achievement orientation goals. Some goals can facilitate academic

achievement like mastery and approach goals. Avoidance goals, however, lead

to lower grades. Moreover, the academic trajectory is not always easy. Thus,

some setbacks and obstacles induce a negative impact on academic progress.

The current study showed that personal qualities such as grit and self-efficacy

oppose such negative influences. In fact, those qualities indirectly influence

achievement orientation goals and academic performance. Specifically,

perseverance of effort in more strongly influential compared to consistency of

interest. Thus, establishing a learning atmosphere that promotes grit and self-

efficacy can be a valuable addition to faculty members’ instructional

efforts(Alhadabi & Karpinski, 2020).

Self-Efficacy as Confidence

Self-efficacy belief refers to the level of confidence that individuals have in

themselves to achieve a desired outcome. These beliefs are also related to the

evaluation of self-concept elements, and the results could differ due to the

capabilities and resources that the person has available, but also due to the

organizing abilities to deal with the situation (Rodriguez & Loos-Sant'Ana, 2015).

To elaborate a sense of self-efficacy an individual considers the resources that

are available to him, the size of his efforts, the level of difficulty of the task, the

kinds of help he receives from others, his own and others’ expectations, among

15
others, after this evaluation, the person still compares his or her own

performance against that of others (Rodriguez & Loos-Sant'Ana, 2015).

Self-efficacy is also positively related to confidence, but they are not the

same thing; in the words of Albert Bandura, “Confidence is a nondescript term

that refers to strength of belief but does not necessarily specify what the certainty

is about… Perceived self-efficacy refers to belief in one’s agentive capabilities

that one can produce given levels of attainment.”

Just as with self-esteem and motivation, self-efficacy and confidence can

work in a positive cycle: the more confident a person is in his abilities, the more

likely he is to succeed, which provides him with experiences to develop his self-

efficacy. This high self-efficacy, in turn, gives him more confidence in himself and

round it goes (Ackerman, 2020).

Self-Efficacy and Interest

Students’ interest and self-efficacy, the “want” and “can” of motivation,

influence both task processing and subsequent performance during task

engagement. While interest, is a momentary state of heightened attention and

enjoyment during task engagement and self-efficacy; confidence in being able to

orchestrate and execute actions required for achieving intended results such as

mastering a task; are suggested to be “intricately associated” and their on-task

changes reciprocally related, research on their mutual effects during tasks is

relatively scarce. Most evidence is either correlational or comes from studies

focusing on unidirectional effects of interest on self-efficacy or vice versa.

16
Further, while the mutual effects between interest and self-efficacy are theorized

to be partly mediated by performance, research on such dynamics is rather

limited, and most studies have treated performance only as an outcome of

interest and self-efficacy (Nuutila, Tapola, Tuominen, Kupiainen, Pásztor &

Niemivirta, 2020).

When working on tasks, students’ interest is considered to be an important

motivational resource, as it is linked to increased persistence, positive effect, and

enhanced performance and learning. While the level of students’ situational

interest may fluctuate during a task, there also seems to be relatively high

stability in interindividual differences (i.e., rank-order between students) within

tasks meaning that situational interest at the beginning of a task is a strong

predictor of subsequent interest. Thus, it seems that the nature of the initial

connection with the task is of special importance, as it sets the direction for a

student’s subsequent engagement with it, and may determine whether the

student decides to engage or disengage with the task in the first place (Nuutila et

al., 2020).

Self-efficacy predisposes students to work harder, persist longer, expend

more effort overcome barriers when pursuing academic goals and enhances

cognitive processing ultimately leading to better task performance similarly to

situational interest, while self-efficacy is likely to fluctuate during tasks it also

shows relatively high rank-order stability suggesting that initial self-efficacy

contributes to subsequent confidence in a task. However, most studies have

17
investigated the stability in self-efficacy over longer time periods e.g., a course or

a semester (Nuutila et al., 2020).

Student Mental Health, Academic Self-Efficacy and Study Progress

Students who report symptoms of severe mental health problems have

about four times the risk of experiencing low academic self-efficacy compared

with those who report few and moderate symptoms of mental health problems. A

situation in which anxiety contributes to worries, motor restlessness, unfounded

fear of not accomplishing things, in combination with procrastination and

avoidance behavior, may contribute to students developing problems in

participating actively in learning and study situations. This may in turn contribute

to avoidance, isolation and loneliness, leading to poorer academic- and social

inclusion with both fellow students and staff at the educational institution (Byrd

and McKinney, 2012; Salzer, 2012). (Grotan et al., 2019)

Motivation and Self-efficacy of Filipino Senior High School Students

A study in a Senior High School in Nueva Ecija showed results that there

are there is no significant difference on the levels of English motivation and

English self-efficacy when the participants are grouped according to gender and

academic tracks, it could mean that English teachers are not required to come up

with instructional activities specific to each gender and academic track since all

Filipino secondary ESL learners have the perception as regards the importance

of English regardless of their genders and academic tracks.

18
 Also, the fact that Filipino senior high school students in the study are

more instrumentally motivated in learning English, in which their prime motivation

in studying the language is for purpose like fulfilling an academic requirement

such as in taking examination, and preparing for the future this suggests that

developing curricula to prepare and direct students for or towards these purposes

and planning courses in high schools based on the students’ goals and need can

be practiced. Likewise, with the result that Filipino ESL learners have higher

instrumental motivation it is now up to the English teachers, curriculum

developers and policy makers to make English instruction in the micro and macro

levels as training grounds for students who have equal value for integrative and

instrumental motivation in learning English. Such will be more practical and

accordingly enhance the learner’s motivation and achievement as well. However,

while Filipino English teachers are teaching the learners to have higher level of

integrative motivation, extra care should be done on the part of the former in

such a way that much emphasis on teaching Filipino learners to have a sense of

openness and identity to English will not result in the lost of their sense of

nationalism (Alieto & Torres, 2019).

Same study conducted by Alieto & Torres (2019), both males and females

in the study had the same way of perceiving their abilities to perform different

tasks using the English language, ranging from listening, speaking, reading and

writing. What can be deduced from the foregoing results is that Filipino senior

high school students, regardless of their genders, have the same perception as

regards to their levels of abilities in performing communicative tasks in English.

19
This can be attributed to the fact that Filipino learners receive continuous

exposure and training, from primary to tertiary years of schooling, as regards the

nature and structure of English as well as various activities related to it.

Motivation of Self-Efficacy

Motivational factors were also a focus of analysis in studies within our

sample. This is not surprising given that creativity researchers have long noted

the important role that intrinsic motivation plays in students’ creative expression

(Hennessey, 2010). Within our sample, Erbas and Bas (2015) reported that

intrinsic goal orientation related positively to creativity. Similarly, Hong et al.

(2014) found that creative self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation contributed to

creative activities and accomplishments in the domains of music, writing, arts,

and/or science. Also, Dai et al. (2012) found that self-confidence and intrinsic

motivation related positively to creativity. This is not to say that extrinsic

motivation plays no role in creative expression. Indeed, Sánchez-Hernández and

Garber (2015) reported that adolescents who make more external and temporary

attributions (instead of internal and permanent attributions) when faced with

adversities in life tend to have higher scores on divergent production (Van der

Zanden et al, 2020).

Self-Efficacy and Motivation

Self-efficacy and motivation are deeply entwined; they are also two

separate constructs. Self-efficacy is based on an individual’s belief in their own

20
capacity to achieve, while motivation is based on the individual’s desire to

achieve. Those with high self-efficacy often have high motivation and vice versa,

but it is not a foregone conclusion. Still, it is true that when an individual gains or

maintains self-efficacy through the experience of success—however small—they

generally get a boost in motivation to continue learning and making progress

(Ackerman, 2020).

Factors Associated with Happiness among College Students

In our study, the students who had academic self-efficacy were happier

than other students. Self-efficacy can promote an individual’s performance in

different areas. Hence, a student with a low level of happiness, but with a high

level of self-efficacy, may perform appropriate behaviours to have academic

achievements; thus, from an optimistic view, he or she may be able to cope with

a variety of stressors. Based on our results, academic stress had a negative

relationship with academic self-efficacy and was a determinant for low happiness

among students. It means that the negative effect of perceived academic stress

on happiness may be mediated by the low levels of academic self-efficacy. This

finding is in line with the results of a previous study that showed associations

between high level of stress and low level of happiness among college students.

College-related issues such as assignments, financial issues, daily stressors, life

events, and social relationships may cause academic stress. Therefore, it is

suggested to universities to develop particular plans for junior students to resolve

or reduce the accommodation related problems of such students. Previous

21
studies have shown that the students who are engaged in leisure activities, seek

social connections, and have emotional relationships with others can reduce or

manage their stress and improve their level of happiness. Like any other setting,

universities have specific health issues, such as stress, which may affect

happiness among students. Therefore, universities can potentially act as a model

for health promotion. For instance, they can implement health education and

health promotion programs to train the students on how to reduce or manage

their stress, how to promote their self-efficacy and how to make a happier

environment for themselves (Chavoshi et al., 2019).

Anxiety and Emotional Intelligence on Self-Efficacy in Students

The results from the bivariate analyses showed that general perceived

self-efficacy is statistically related to state and trait anxiety, the coping strategies

of problem-solving abilities, emotional expression, cognitive restructuring, social

withdrawal, and coping, in addition to the emotional intelligence aspects of

emotional clarity and mood repair. In turn, of all the variance in self-efficacy, 39%

was predicted by a model including anxiety, problem-solving, emotional

expression, social withdrawal, and emotional clarity. This can be explained

because self-efficacy is associated with how university students feel, think, and

act in the academic scenario. Poor performance in academic tasks or

assignments due to limited personal resources (such as ineffective coping

strategies and low emotional intelligence) could be causing a lower level of self-

efficacy in these students. Regarding anxiety, this study showed that state and

22
trait anxiety are factors associated with self-efficacy. In other words, when the

anxiety components or symptoms increase, the levels of self-efficacy decrease,

or vice versa. These results may be explained because the assignments,

classes, tutorial attendance, and exams can be a source of stress that university

students have to cope with. Therefore, higher levels of anxiety may be a risk

factor for low levels of self-perception of efficacy, and showing high levels of

general self-efficacy perception could be a protective factor against anxiety.

(Morales & Pérez-Mármol, 2019)

Student Satisfaction with Life and Academic Self-Efficacy

This study found that satisfaction with life was predicted by academic

satisfaction and school connectedness, academic self-efficacy was predicted by

conscientiousness, and self-reported academic achievement was predicted by

both college well-being and anxiety. These findings suggest that it is important to

support student mental health during the first year of university. They also

indicate that aspects of conscientiousness might be important points of focus in

terms of developing skill-building programming, as this personality factor seems

to be a multifaceted construct and some aspects appear to be skill- based. This

would suggest that programming could be developed to address these issues for

some students. Finally, academic satisfaction and school connectedness are

important factors related to student satisfaction with life, and universities should

explore ways of engaging first-year students in terms of fostering their

23
connectedness to the institution and supporting students to promote their

academic satisfaction. (Wilcox & Nordstokke, 2019)

Parental/Family Involvement and Pressure

Moneva & Moncada (2020) studied about parental pressure and self-

efficacy, they found out that there are parents have too much anticipation from

their children in academic performance. Thus, parents' pressure towards their

children is not so impending if they support them emotionally. Parents who assist

their children in terms of school activities, their children will excel in school.

Significantly, they have the chance in inspiring their children in terms of academic

achievement. Parental pressure is highly the reason why students experience

academic stress. Parents pressurized their children in order to attain desirable

grades without thinking the abilities of their children. Moreover, students have the

fear of discouraging their parents in getting lower grades.

According to Moneva & Moncada (2020), putting too much pressure

coming from the parents to gain high achievement would result to anxiety. It is

suggested that the parents should know that the pressure they are injected to

their children would lead to high anxiety and social isolation. In the same manner,

parents' pressure their children in academic activities creates stressful life of the

students. When the students feel high level of stress because of grades, they will

hardly learn.

On one hand, student’s personal drive and learning process can be

identified through their level of self-efficacy. During past two decades, self-

24
efficacy is an effective predictor of student’s motivation and learning. Having a

perceived self-efficacy will help humans to achieve success and it will help them

personally in various ways. Since the students have a high level of self-efficacy,

they are more confident and have a majority of positive attitude toward their

future career. Student’s self-efficacy plays an important role as predictors of

academic achievement. In any case, people who have high level of self-efficacy

often feel that they have enough motivation that allow them to choose a tasks

where they put effort unto it. They are able to perform well, take part of activities

and putting more effort in the challenging task to achieve the goal.

Students having a high level of self-efficacy have the belief that they are

free and they control their own behaviors. However, students with lower self-

efficacy believed that intelligence do not have a role in improvement. Students

may boost their self-efficacy by listening to the experiences of the former student

who have been successful. Students who failed to do a task successfully, they

believe that it is the product to a lack of effort. The individuals in the immediate

community of the students should strengthen the academic success of the

students. In connection, to those parents who actively join a program with their

child has to do with the students’ academic success in a manner that parents

have the chance to reflect the previous performance of their child in the present.

Ecological Systems Theory

Ecological systems theory of Bronfenbrenner suggests that children

develop within a complex system of relationships within various levels of their

environment. The innermost levels, or the microsystems, refers to the activities

25
and interactions encompassed within their immediate surroundings such as the

family, school, neighborhood and day care center. Whether or not other

individuals within that environment are supportive can determine whether parent-

child relationships enhance or undermine a child’s development. For instance,

when a couple are mutually supportive in their parenting roles, they parent their

child more effectively. In contrast, marital conflict is associated with inconsistent

discipline and hostile reactions towards offspring and the children suffer.

The second level in a child’s environment, according to ecological systems

theory, is the mesosystem, which consists of the connections between the

different microsystems that influence development within a child’s life. For

example, a parent’s involvement in the child’s school environment helps to

promote the child’s academic progress. The number of relationships between

microsystems, particularly ones of respect and support, are important to a child’s

resilience.

The exosystem consists of the wider social settings in which the child

does not participate, yet which affect the child’s experiences (Bronfenbrenner,

1979). These could include health and welfare services or the parent’s work

place and social networks. For example, flexible work schedules, paid

maternity/paternity, and leave for parents whose children are ill will aid parents in

their parenting roles and indirectly enhance the development of children. On the

other hand, isolated families tend to have increased rates of conflict and child

abuse .

26
 The outermost level, the macrosystem, is not a specific context, but rather

consists of cultural values, laws, customs, and resources that influence the other

levels of a child’s surroundings (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). The value placed on

children’s needs by the macrosystem significantly influences the amount of

support they receive at the inner levels of their environment. The overarching

chronosystem represents the temporal changes of a child, his or her

experiences, and his or her environments. These changes could arise from within

the child such as the physiological changes that occur with the growth of a child,

or be imposed externally such as the timing of a parent’s death. The

chronosystem, representing dynamic environmental transitions such as

milestones and turning points, produces new conditions that affect the

development of the child. Both research and clinical practice in the area of child

abuse supports Bronfenbrenner’s theory on the beneficial influence of

relationships within a child’s ecological system (Fenske, 2005).

Support of Parents, Teachers, and School that affect Self-Efficacy.

The support of teachers is also very important for enhancing the perceived

self-efficacy, especially for students lacking the support of parents. Students with

no support from parents but benefiting from teachers support also register a high

probability of more efficacious beliefs. The importance of parents and teachers

support for perceived academic self-efficacy is demonstrated by the fact that our

results show that students lacking both types of support have significant less

efficacious beliefs. In addition to the support of parents and teachers, specific

features of the school environment can be conducive for academic self-efficacy.

27
We found evidences that the quality of school infrastructure, extracurricular

activities, and the opportunity for personal abilities and talents development are

positively associated with more efficacious beliefs. Activities and approaches that

provide students with satisfactory experiences at school are those that can

support self-efficacy. Such school environments enhance the self-confidence and

satisfaction of students, improving self-efficacy, which will lead subsequently to

better academic performances. (Mocanu & Zamfir, 2020)

Self-Efficacy Coming to other People

Self-efficacy beliefs are also influenced by the verbal messages and social

persuasions individuals receive from others, whether these are intentional or

accidental. These messages can help one to exert the extra effort and

persistence required to succeed, resulting in the continued development of skills

and of personal efficacy. Or they can be powerfully disheartening. Persuaders

play an important part in the development of an individual's self-efficacy beliefs.

But social persuasions should not be confused with knee-jerk praise or empty

inspirational homilies. Effective persuaders must cultivate people's beliefs in their

capabilities while at the same time ensuring that the envisioned success is

attainable. And, just as positive persuasions may work to encourage and

empower, negative persuasions can work to defeat and weaken self-efficacy

beliefs. In fact, it is usually easier to weaken self-efficacy beliefs through negative

appraisals than to strengthen such beliefs through positive encouragement

(Anderman & Anderman, 2009).

28
 Witnessing other people successfully completing a task is another

important source of self-efficacy. According to Bandura, "Seeing people similar to

oneself succeed by sustained effort raises observers' beliefs that they too

possess the capabilities to master comparable activities to succeed."

People could be persuaded to believe that they have the skills and

capabilities to succeed. Consider a time when someone said something positive

and encouraging that helped you achieve a goal. Getting verbal encouragement

from others helps people overcome self-doubt and instead focus on giving their

best effort to the task at hand (Cherry, 2020).

Our own responses and emotional reactions to situations also play an

important role in self-efficacy. Moods, emotional states, physical reactions, and

stress levels can all impact how a person feels about their personal abilities in a

particular situation. A person who becomes extremely nervous before speaking

in public may develop a weak sense of self-efficacy in these situations. Cherry

(2020), also notes "it is not the sheer intensity of emotional and physical

reactions that is important but rather how they are perceived and interpreted."

Creativity in Adolescence

The strong desire for social belonging during adolescents can result in

young people conforming their behavior to the behavior of individuals with whom

they (want to) identify themselves. This can have consequences for their creative

identity development. For instance, reports on the effects peers and instructors

have on creativity in a group of undergraduate students (M age = 19.8 years),

29
which is just above the commonly used age limit of adolescence. They found that

peer support—and not instructors’ support for students’ participation and ideas—

positively influenced students’ creative self-efficacy and attitude toward creativity.

It appeared that peer expectations and support to express ideas was more

important than instructors’ encouragement in shaping students’ attitudes and

beliefs about creativity. However, the extent to which individuals are susceptible

to their social environment likely differs across people and settings. As suggested

we can expect variations in the influence of environmental factors on people.

Particular factors can be significant for some individuals whereas they may be

perceived as less important by others. (J. A. C. van der Zanden et al., 2020).

Learning environment on self-efficacy

Significant correlations were found between PE-teachers’ ratings of

classroom climate and students’ ratings in the total sample of how they perceive

their general school self-efficacy, PE specific self-efficacy and their aptitude to

participate in PE. It indicates that PE-teachers’ ratings of a social environmental

factor such as the classroom climate, may serve as an indicator of how students

experience their learning environment. For students with disabilities the impact of

classroom climate is more obvious in PE-related self-efficacy. Based on a

research study, by providing a positive learning environment for students with

disabilities, meaningful learning experiences can occur. One way would be to

consciously consider the composition of classmates at transitions to ensure a

supportive PE environment (Bertills et al., 2018).

30
Self-efficacy and Student Satisfaction in Online Learning

The focus of this study has shown that online learning with an emphasis

on student social presence and online learning self-efficacy will result in higher

student satisfaction. These results should encourage instructional designers and

instructors in online learning to foster social presence and enhance online

learning self-efficacy. In addition, they should encourage decision makers at the

university to create a plan to enhance these variables, improving the quality of

online learning and increasing student satisfaction (Jaradat & Ajlouni, 2020).

Learning Environment

Factors like environment is a factor that is very important in helping

students grow and thrive. An environment that is mean is the environment of

learning, in which the environment of learning are all things that surround

students when doing activities to learn, and that has a meaning and effect of

certain of the individual (Mirzawati, Neviyarni & Rusdinal, 2020).

It is also explained that the educational climate, in this case, is that the

learning environment influences student achievement, satisfaction, and success

in learning. It is important to get feedback from students regarding the student

learning environment so that the information got will provide a useful basis for

strategic planning and resource utilization. A positive learning environment must

be maintenance and maintaining. In a supportive learning environment, it also

31
asks teachers are also to encourage students to be independent in learning,

introduce critical thinking, introduce students 'freedom to explore students'

abilities especially in learning and teach students to accept differences between

students in solving problems (Mirzawati, Neviyarni & Rusdinal, 2020).

Researches also emphasizes that a positive learning environment is when

students feel that they are support and valued in whatever students do so that

learning can be mastery easily (Mirzawati, Neviyarni & Rusdinal, 2020). Also, all

students with exceptional personal challenges can study very well if students get

full support and motivation. This emphasizes that creating a positive learning

environment can stimulate student learning, and this applies to the development

of student self-directed learning.

The learning environment influences the way individuals think and live.

From these statements, we can interpret it that the learning environment is an

important component in the success of individuals both in daily life and the

success of students in learning. That way, to improve self-directed learning

students need to improve the learning environment to be better.

Self-Efficacy in Students

In the school context, self-efficacy is one of the strongest predictors of

student’s academic performance. It is a belief that he or she can accomplish

whatever that individual is doing. Self-efficacy is the process from person to

behavior to outcome. Moreover, students’ self-efficacy beliefs influence the

choices they make and the effort they put in their performance (Dullas, 2018).

32
 Also, self-efficacy plays an important role in a student’s engagement in the

classroom. When facing need, students with high self-efficacy tend to manifest

high help seeking behavior; whereas students with low self-efficacy are more

reluctant to seek help. Students who have positive and relatively high self-

efficacy beliefs will more likely engage in the classroom in terms of their

behavior, cognition, and motivation; and that the higher academic self-efficacy

the students have, the higher their metacognitive awareness. In addition, self-

efficacious students have higher academic performance for they regulate and

monitor their impulses effectively in facing academic challenges. Moreover, in

predicting desirable educational outcome, academic self-efficacy has greater

effect or influence on students’ ability than academic self-concept (Dullas, 2018).

Self-efficacy and English competence.

Study shows that students with low self-efficacy tend to be pessimistic

about learning autonomy and learning motivation. English learning efficacy

includes three aspects: self-efficacy, behavioral efficacy, and ability efficacy. It

can be clearly seen that students with good English performance scored higher

in self-efficacy, and there are significant differences in self- efficacy scores in

terms of English performance factor.(Chen, 2020)

Self-efficacy in School Satisfaction

The feeling of belonging to a peer group, being part of a community, and

experiencing a sense of shared social identity, have a significant impact on

33
learning, health, and well-being. Somewhat unexpectedly, general and academic

self-efficacy were found to be insignificant mediators of school satisfaction.

However, in addition to the strong association between affective identification

with high-school and school satisfaction, the results showed that there was a

significant association between academic self-efficacy and affective identification

with high-school. Consequently, the effect of self-efficacy, had to be looked into

more closely. Based on the SEM-results, the working model of the study

therefore had to be altered (Simonsen & Rundmo, 2020).

Factors influencing self-efficacy in online learning

Self-efficacy perceptions can and do change as a result of environmental,

cognitive, and behavioral effects that a person experiences in the course of

everyday life. The result of Bates and Khasawneh reported that previous online

learning, instructor-acquired skill, instructor feedback, and online-learning system

anxiety influenced students’ self-efficacy in the context of online learning. These

factors are consistent with the sources of self-efficacy introduced by Bandura

which states that self-efficacy expectations are based on four major sources of

information: enactive mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal

persuasion as well as physiological and affective states. Findings are described

on this topic as a set of categories which follow. (Peechapol et al., 2018)

Online Communication and Interactions Affects Self-Efficacy

34
 Cho and Cho found that online-learner interaction with learner, content,

and teacher are likely to demonstrate higher self-efficacy for learning and

satisfaction with the course. They also found the effect of learner-learner

interaction on the computer and academic self-efficacy. Meanwhile, academic

self-efficacy and computer self-efficacy were affected by content quality and

system quality. Based on the community of inquiry framework, they investigated

the relationship among forms of presence, self-efficacy, and training. The results

showed that the teaching presence has a positive prediction on social presence,

self-efficacy, and cognitive presence. (Peechapol et al., 2018)

Self-efficacy in E-learning

Self-efficacy, as a sub-dimension of e-learning readiness, was not

predictive on academic achievement in terms of Internet, computer, and online

self-efficacy. In student-centered learning, students are expected to have

competencies such as controlling learning, defining learning needs, determining

learning strategies, and interest in and attitudes toward their own learning. This

concept, expressed as readiness for learning, constitutes an important dimension

of online learning environments. However, due to the online learning context

involved in distance education, other student readiness structures gain

importance in e-learning environments, such as computer, Internet, and online-

communication self-efficacy. Today, social networks play an important role in

student communication, and it can be said that social networks are more

advanced in terms of interaction, increasing student motivation in e-learning, and

35
enriching online communication. Therefore, the effect of social network usage in

e-learning can be tested to measure the online communication self-efficacy sub-

dimension of e-readiness (Torun, 2020).

Online Learning Environment and the Current Situation in Philippines

With technological advancement, learners now want quality programs they

can access from anywhere and at any time. Because of these demands, online

education has become a viable, alluring option to business professionals, stay-at

home-parents, and other similar populations. In addition to flexibility and access,

multiple other face value benefits, including program choice and time efficiency,

have increased the attractiveness of distance learning (Paul & Jefferson, 2019).

First, prospective students want to be able to receive a quality education

without having to sacrifice work time, family time, and travel expense. Instead of

having to be at a specific location at a specific time, online educational students

have the freedom to communicate with instructors, address classmates, study

materials, and complete assignments from any Internet-accessible point (Paul &

Jefferson, 2019). This type of flexibility grants students much-needed mobility

and, in turn, helps make the educational process more enticing.

Moreover, more study time can lead to better class performance—more

chapters read, better quality papers, and more group project time. Studies on the

relationship between study time and performance are limited; however, it is often

assumed the online student will use any surplus time to improve grades

(Bigelow, 2009). It is crucial to mention the link between flexibility and student

36
performance as grades are the lone performance indicator of this research (Paul

& Jefferson, 2019).

Here in the Philippines, several institutions also resorted to online

measures to keep classes running while the lockdown was implemented. Online

platforms such as Google Classroom, Google Hangouts, Skype, Facebook

Groups, Messenger and Zoom were only some of the most used applications for

conducting classes in the country. The Department of Education (DepEd) aims to

continue distance learning in the next academic year; however, the marginalized

will be at a disadvantage (Cuisia-Villanueva & Nuñez, 2020).

Though the intention is good, many countries admit that they will face

many struggles in implementing distance learning, and the most apparent among

these issues will be access to technology. The problem lies in the larger social

problem of digital inequality –only the privileged can continue their education

without being compromised. As an example, there is a term coined “homework

gap” in the United States which describes the barriers students face in their

education when there is no access to a high-speed connection at their homes

(Cuisia-Villanueva & Nuñez, 2020).

Teacher and Teacher’s Competence

One of the most important teacher competencies in helping students

achieve the optimal learning achievement is professional competence. In line

with the opinion of Tilaar, which stated that “the professional competence that

must be possessed by each teacher, among others: the ability to develop the

37
personality of learners, especially their intellectual ability, and bring learners into

members of the unified Indonesian society based on Pancasila”. Inspired by

Tilaar opinion, the professional competence of teachers is the ability possessed

by the teacher, it is the result of cognitive work to carry out the task so that the

students obtain an optimal learning achievement, so that is the creation of quality

or quality of education (Andriani, Asriati & Syahrudin, 2018).

To improve the success of students in learning, the role and

responsibilities of teachers in the future will be more complex. Knowing the

characteristics of students such as self-efficacy becomes very important for

teachers to be considered, as one of the factors that influence the success of

students in learning. The individual's thoughts of self- efficacy determine how

much effort will be shed and how long the individual will persist in facing an

obstacle or an unpleasant experience. Self-efficacy is not a measurement of

skills, but it is trusting that it is done in a variety of situation, so that the high self-

efficacy of students is related to the optimism of students on completing the tasks

assigned by the teacher (Andriani, Asriati & Syahrudin, 2018).

Socioeconomic Status, Self-Efficacy and Academic

Historically, theorists have proposed that a relationship exist between

motivational processes and academic success and failure. One type of

motivational process refers to self-efficacy, which are a person’s beliefs that he

or she could achieve certain tasks. In essence, the central axiom of self-efficacy

is belief systems. In an educational capacity, self-efficacy refers to a student’s

beliefs that he or she could complete successfully academic tasks. Academic

38
self-efficacy is crucial to understanding attrition because these self-efficacy

beliefs influence effort, persistence, and resilience– all characteristics needed to

complete successfully a doctoral program.

Socioeconomic Status (SES) appears to be an important component of

academic self-efficacy. Opined those demographic variables influence the beliefs

of students concerning his or her abilities to perform in certain situations.

Although there are few studies on the relationship between academic self-

efficacy and SES, research has suggested a positive correlation between

academic self-efficacy and SES variables such as parents’ educational

attainment and parents’ occupation (Falconer & Djokic, 2019).

Other researchers have argued that lower SES students lack a sense of

belongingness within the university’s culture and within the academic fields. The

sense of mismatch experienced by low SES students stems from negative

stereotypes leading to lower self-esteem and intelligence (Falconer & Djokic,

2019).

Technological Resources

The availability of resources will have a significant impact on the students’

distance learning journey and will widen the education gap. Some students from

low-income households or remote areas do not have internet access and

gadgets; and as per Albay Rep. Joey Salceda shared, only 17% of Filipino

students have internet access at home and only 3.74% have mobile phones

Being in a third-world country, even middle-class citizens struggle with resources

39
or may require extra support, depending on how near they are the poverty line

(Cuisia-Villanueva & Nuñez, 2020).

Self-Efficacy Sources

Individuals form their self-efficacy beliefs by interpreting information

primarily from four sources: mastery experience, vicarious experience, social

persuasions, and physiological reactions (Anderman & Anderman, 2009). For

most people, the most influential source is the interpreted result of one's own

performance, or mastery experience. Simply put, individuals gauge the effects of

their actions, and their interpretations of these effects help create their efficacy

beliefs. Success raises self-efficacy; failure lowers it. Students who perform well

on mathematics tests and earn high grades in mathematics classes develop

confidence in their mathematics capabilities. This sense of efficacy helps ensure

that they will enroll in subsequent mathematics-related classes, approach

mathematics tasks with serenity, and increase their efforts when a difficulty

arises.

In addition to interpreting the results of their mastery experiences, young

people form their efficacy beliefs through the vicarious experience of observing

others perform tasks. Observing the successes and failures of peers perceived

as similar in capability contributes to beliefs one's own capabilities (i.e., “If he can

do it, so can I!”). Although this source of information is usually weaker than is

mastery experience, when adolescents are uncertain about their own abilities or

have limited previous experience, they become especially sensitive to it. If there

40
is one finding that is incontrovertible in education and psychology, it is that young

people learn from the actions of models, and so this is a prominent area of

research in the study of self-efficacy. Vicarious experience also involves the

social comparisons that individuals make with each other. These comparisons,

along with peer modeling, can be powerful influences on self-efficacy beliefs. In

situations in which young people have little experience with which to form a

judgment of their competence in a particular area, peer models are especially

useful.

Physiological and emotional states such as anxiety and stress, along with

one's mood, provide information about efficacy beliefs. Typically, optimism or a

positive mood enhances self-efficacy, whereas depression, despair, or a sense

of despondency diminishes it. As with the other sources, it is not the intensity of

the physical indicator or mood state itself that is important, but the individual's

interpretation of it. Adolescents with strong self-efficacy will view the emotional

state as energizing, whereas those beset by self-doubt may regard it as

debilitating (Anderman & Anderman, 2009).

How Self-Efficacy affects Students’ Performance

The self-efficacy beliefs affect students' performance by influencing the

choices made, the effort spent and the perseverance and anxiety felt in the face

of distress. If the individual has low self- efficacy belief, he/she may feel

insufficient in the relevant work or activity. Therefore, students’ self-efficacy

beliefs need to be nurtured. Some suggestions to the teachers in order to

41
strengthen their students' self-efficacy perceptions. These are teaching in such a

way as to meet the individual needs of students, conducting various activities so

that each student can get engaged in, using cooperation-based teaching

approaches and avoiding approaches based on the comparison of students.

Some suggestions are made to improve self-efficacy. Some of them are general

and some others are directly related to writing. These are, feedback, setting goal,

modeling, strategy use, assigning challenging tasks, positive high expectations,

teaching methods, successful learning experiences, right to choose and teacher

attitude (Bulut, 2017).

Writing, and Concept Mapping and Brainstorming

Writing is an important skill by which students improve and perform their

knowledge. The ability to define individual's thoughts effectively in writing is

based on the individual's feeling of efficacy towards the skill which he/she

acquires in his/her learning. However, writing is the most popular means by

which teachers evaluate students' knowledge; it is not a skill to be learned easily.

It is a complex task that needs a number of processes to be performed.

Undoubtedly, expository writing is the genre that is needed in education and

work. In the middle grades and beyond, writing becomes the backbone and

expression of academic growth. As children move from the stage of learning to

read to the stage of reading to learn, expository writing helps them to organize

and express their thinking. Writing is both cognitive and emotional activities, so it

has a useful effect on all phases of writing process. investigated the effect of

42
brainstorming on developing writing skill. The findings of this study revealed that

students who have been trained in brainstorming strategy outperformed the other

group of students who did not receive any instruction. Also, the attitudinal part of

the survey indicated that students who used brainstorming had a positive idea

about the effectiveness of the brainstorming technique. So, it is of paramount

importance to invent activities before asking students to compose an essay.

There has been great body of research on the effect of concept mapping in

education in the first language. However, there has been limited number of

researches in the second language area (Nobahar, Tabrizi, & Shaghaghi, 2013).

Concept mapping has been applied as a pre-writing strategy. However,

there has been limited number of researches in this field. Researchers studied

the effect of computer-based concept mapping as a pre-writing strategy for

middle school students. In this study, the researcher compared the computer-

based concept mapping as a pre-writing strategy with paper-and-pencil concept

mapping. According to the findings of the study, computer-based concept

mapping was effective in enhancing idea generation and the total quality of the

students' pre-writing concept maps in preparation for a persuasive writing task.

(Nobahar, Tabrizi, & Shaghaghi, 2013).

Academic and Professional Writing

Academic writing will take up most of your assignments. However, when it

comes time to graduate, you may find it’s time to sharpen those professional

writing skills. One of the biggest differences is that academic writing is done

43
mostly to showcase your research and expertise in a specific area or topic of

interest, while professional writing is often done to influence or convince

someone of something. Usually, a professional document in a business setting to

project an idea to colleagues or propose a project. Academic writing is done for

academia: professors, fellow students, researchers, and industry experts such as

scientists or historians. Professional writing is targeted to colleagues, business

people, managers, and sometimes clients. Professional documents can be

written in a different tone than academic works because you have a little more

wiggle room to present your ideas. For example, most academic papers are

written in third person narrative, while professional writing can sometimes be

written in first person depending on the specific situation or context. Academic

paper will often be written for someone who has more time on their hands to go

through and read your arguments. Therefore, your sentences can be longer and

use passive voice for these documents. However, for most professional

documents, your audience likely has many other reports or papers to read and

will skim through for the main points. This means that your sentences should be

shorter, more to the point, and in the active voice (Taylor, 2015).

Predicting Power of Self-Efficacy in Students’ Writing Quality

First, students’ self-efficacy on writing conventions best predicts their

argumentative writing quality. It means that the students’ perception on their

ability to express ideas in an appropriate rule of written expression including its

spelling, punctuation, and also correct sentence structure would best reflect their

44
written product quality. Therefore, EFL teachers should still consider providing

intensive assistance on writing conventions for their students, because students

would rely more on the rules of written expression to be able to produce a high-

quality writing. Second, the change in students’ self-efficacy for self-regulation

also has a significant contribution for students argumentative writing quality.

Beside the importance on writing convention, the predicting power of students’

self-efficacy on self-regulation in writing should also be managed seriously. This

aspect is the key success of a writer, because this would help the students in

generating productive ideas, and also managing anxieties and emotions through

the process of writing (Hum & Choi, 2020).

The connection of self-efficacy in writing.

Bandura (1986, p. 391) defined self-efficacy as “people’s judgments of

their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain

designated types of performances”. In short, self-efficacy is a judgment of the

confidence that one has in one’s abilities, and the answers to the self-efficacy

questions such as “Can I write well” reveal whether one possesses high or low

confidence to accomplish the tasks or succeed at the activity. Further outlined

three dimensions which govern self-efficacy. The first dimension refers to the

level of task difficulty. It is also stated that “the magnitude of one’s self-efficacy

beliefs will differ upon how difficult he/she perceives a task to be; a task may be

perceived as easy resulting in high self-efficacy, whereas a task thought to be

difficult may lower self-efficacy”. The second dimension is the area or domain to

45
which one’s self- efficacy beliefs are applied. They also termed the second

dimension as generality. For example, through generality, learners may have

high self-efficacy for writing when they believe that writing is a necessary

component of their study. Thus, they will work hard, have high perseverance and

will succeed eventually. A learner with low writing self-efficacy may feel insecure

and not confident that he would be able to complete the writing task successfully.

The final dimension of one’s self-efficacy is strength (Jalaluddin et al., 2015).

The importance of analyzing writing self-efficacy.

Bandura’s theory of perceived self-efficacy overall predicts that a child’s

self-perception of writing self-efficacy will affect his/her subsequent writing

growth. It means that an individual who holds positive writer self-efficacy will

perhaps have the strength to continue writing despite all the challenges,

persevere and willing to maximize their effort to achieve the goal. Thus,

understanding why a learner perceives inability to perform or achieve will give

evidence to understanding how to correct writing problems. In this study, it may

help to contribute to understanding the importance of teacher’s assistance that

might affect the learners’ writing self-efficacy and writing skills in English.

Therefore, it is hoped that a connection can be established by having a detailed

analysis of how teacher’s assistance affects the rural learners’ writing skills and

writing self-efficacy. It is also hoped that information obtained from the writing

self-efficacy scale can be useful for monitoring individual learners. (Jalaluddin et

al., 2015)

46
Consistency between Writing Self-efficacy and Writing Performance.

In conclusion, both findings from the learners’ writing proficiency level and

writing self-efficacy level have given a new perspective in the teaching of writing

and also raised a few questions. Firstly, it seems that the participants’

performance depends on the topic discussed. It perhaps depends on whether the

topic relates to their sociocultural or requires them to write in vacuum namely

devoid of any social attachments or factors. Thus, it can be implied that this

factor determines how the participants in this study actually wrote. Secondly, the

writing performance among the three groups of writers also shows that one was

able to perform well as the self-efficacy getting higher, but not for the average

self-efficacy writers. This brings into the discussion that self-efficacy is actually

weak independent variable and perhaps cannot be generalized to all types of

writing or genre. (Jalaluddin et al., 2015)

Writing and Writing Self-Efficacy.

Writing an effective product requires successful decision making, problem-

solving, and considerable reflection upon one’s own writing capacity. These

requirements for successful writing have the power to move us forward or

paralyze us from progressing. The actions our students take at the point of

feeling uncertain or stuck in the midst of their writing process may be

characteristics that distinguish high and low self-efficacy writers. Writing self-

efficacy is defined as self-assessed ability to successfully implement writing in a

47
specific context. Albert Bandura’s (1997) theoretical discussions of self-efficacy

have stood the test of time and continue to play a role in educational research as

a motivational concept which drives human agency. Traditionally, writing

theorists identified that the writing process constitutes three recursive phases:

planning or preparation to write, translating or the act of composing, and

reviewing or revising (Flower & Hayes, 1977, 1981). The success of each of

these phases is dependent on a writer’s personal agency or ability to make

appropriate choices to take specific actions intended to improve a writing

product, all while facing competing distractions, anxiety, and emotional

fluctuations (Mitchell et al., 2019).

Writing Self-Efficacy and Writing Performance.

Self-efficacy is considered as a person's belief in the ability to perform

certain behaviors (Bandura, 2000). This states that individuals who judge

themselves as capable (efficacious) of performing certain tasks or activities are

more likely to be capable of doing the particular task. One of the essential factors

in this self-efficacy theory is the notion of self- referent. In fact, it is believed that

there are many forms of self-referents among which the individual’s opinion

about their own capability in dealing with the constant changes with the realities

of life is very important (Bandura, 2003). Accordingly, academic achievement of a

person can be influenced by the behavior which is itself affected by self- efficacy.

Many other studies supported the effect of self-efficacy on academic

achievement including writing achievement (e.g. Lane & Lane, 2001; Lane, Lane

48
& Kyprianou, 2004; Pajares, 2000; Pajares & Johnson, 1996; Pajares & Valiente,

2001). In writing, however, a strong sense of self-confidence in the writing task is

called writing self-efficacy. In other words, individuals may feel better to write

when they have self-belief or self-confidence in their ability to write. They may

also be more assertive and face with the difficulties with more perseverance

when doing a writing task. In the self-efficacy discussions, three degrees of

efficacy are mentioned: high, mid and low. Those who have a high confidence in

the writing ability are considered as people with high self-efficacy or having a

positive sense of self when it comes to writing. The definition for the other types

are in the same direction. So, the students with high self-efficacy consider the

hard writing task as a challenge to fulfill and try their best to accomplish the task

by making productive use of their cognitive strategies (Lavelle, 2006).

Conversely, non-self-regulated students don’t get involved in learning process

and as a result they might be subjected to any kind of sophomoric knowledge

rather than deep knowledge which is needed for high academic achievement

(Zimmerman, 1986). (Khojasteh et al., 2016)

Academic Writing

Academic writing is one of the most important and complex competences

to achieve in higher education, especially within highly specialized disciplines. A

variable which has been related to writing performance and has shown to be an

excellent predictor of students’ academic success is self-efficacy. (Meza &

González, 2020)

49
Self-Efficacy and Writing.

According to Snyder and Lopez (2002), although self-efficacy is not a skill

that can be observed or perceived, it can be defined as the inner belief that the

individual has for his / her answer to the question of “what I can do in this

situation”. Based on these definitions, writing self-efficacy refers to the

individual’s perception of his / her own level of writing skill. Hidi & Boscolo (2006)

describe the self-efficacy of writing as a personal perception of one’s ability to

form texts; while Pajares, Hartley & Valiante (2001) defined it as that students’

beliefs about whether they can write articles that can be appropriate to their

academic level. The higher the self-efficacy that can be at different levels,

strengths and prevalence in each person, the higher the strength of struggle, the

sense of patience and the motivation. In other words, self-efficacy has a

significant impact on the success of individuals. Thus, the writing skill of

individuals is a condition associated with their ability to be successful in terms of

writing performance and a positive self-efficacy perception (Şengül, 2013, p. 82).

The student with the writing self-efficacy believes that he will succeed before he

starts writing and it is easy for him to continue the behavior as he / she starts with

a high level of motivation (Demir, 2013, p. 92). It is not difficult to predict that a

student with a lower self-efficacy is less involved in writing-related jobs or tasks

and has given up more quickly in the face of the difficulties they face (Pajares,

2007). Demir (2013) indicated that students with high writing self- efficacy also

usually have good creative writing skills. Şengül (2013) and Büyükikiz (2012)

50
developed a valid and reliable scale to measure writing self-efficacy. (Polatcan,

2019)

Writing Anxiety

In the past four or five decades, many researches have been conducted to

investigate the relationship between writing anxiety and writing performance

especially with native speakers of English. Daly and Miller (1975) state that

individuals who are very apprehensive lack motivation to achieve their goal and

are less willing to talk. Writing anxiety has been defined by Thompson (1980) as

“fear of writing process that outweighs the projected gain from ability to write” (p.

121). Philips (1968) defines this type of apprehensive individuals as the “person

for whom anxiety about communication outweighs his projection of gain from the

situation” (p. 40). According to Daly and Miller (1975), highly apprehensive

individuals avoid writing because they are afraid of being negatively evaluated

and even if they are obliged to write, they will experience deep anxiety.

Furthermore, highly apprehensive students in class usually fail writing because

they are not attending classes when writing is required (ibid). In a study

conducted by Daly (1978) to test the prediction that students with low anxiety

about writing should do better on writing test than highly apprehensive students.

A total of 3602 undergraduate students completed writing apprehension measure

and writing competency questionnaire. The results of the study show that highly

apprehensive students perform differently than low apprehensive students on

standardized writing tests, and ‘’low apprehensive scored significantly better on

51
comprehensive tests of grammar, mechanics, and larger concerns in writing

skills’’ (p. 10). (Soleimani et al., 2020)

Writing motivation

Cohen & Dornyei (2002) see language motivation as the primary learner

variable in doing everything and without it, pedagogical strategies can rarely

succeed. Gupta and Woldemariam’s (2011) study exploring the influence of

motivation and attitude on the writing strategies used by undergraduate EFL

students showed that highly motivated students used more writing strategies and

had higher perceived ability than did students who were less motivated. Bandura

(1986) maintains that people’s behavior can be predicted by their beliefs about

their own abilities rather than by their real abilities to do something. According to

Bandura (1994) people with a strong belief in their ability attempt difficult tasks

and take them as challenges to face rather than to avoid them. Pajares (2003)

states that students’ beliefs about their abilities are an important part of their

academic motivation, and this based on the assumption that the beliefs they hold

regarding their abilities play an important role in their success or failure.

(Soleimani et al., 2020)

Self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation for academic writing

Social aspects, specifically writing together and helping each other,

increased motivation for writing. Thus, it appears that there was a need for

relatedness, which is a positive incentive for intrinsic motivation (Ryan and Deci

52
2000a, 2000b). Rosenkranz, Wang, and Hu (2015) also found signs for a need

for relatedness. In their study, students mentioned that teamwork and a belief

that research contributes to scientific knowledge and practice boosted their

motivation for research. Teamwork also seemed to be a positive incentive for

motivation in the present study, but the value of contributing to scientific

knowledge and practice was not mentioned in the interviews. As with self-efficacy

for writing, a clear structure for collaboration appeared to boost intrinsic

motivation for writing. More specifically, a clear division of tasks and a structured,

stepwise approach to write decreased the workload and this reduced workload

increased the motivation to write. This indicates that there is a relation between

the organization of group work and intrinsic motivation. Negotiating clear and

structured collaboration methods can increase confidence in the ability to

successfully complete the task, which can increase the intrinsic motivation to do

such tasks. Taken together, the present findings suggest that self-efficacy beliefs

and intrinsic motivation for research can be promoted by offering students choice

and autonomy, promoting feelings of relatedness and stimulating positive social

interdependence. Motivation may increase further when students see their

research project as being relevant. (van Blankenstein et al., 2019)

The relationship between writing achievement goals and the self-efficacy.

The relationship between achievement goals and the self-efficacy

subscales differed in strength and direction. Performance approach goals were

positively related to the three self-efficacy measures and were most closely

53
related to self-efficacy for self-regulation. The same pattern was found for

performance avoidance goals, but here the relationships were all negative. We

would suggest students seeking performance goals in contrast to those seeking

mastery goals may be more concerned with maximizing desirable performance

or minimizing poor performance. As a result, individuals endorsing either of the

performance goals may focus on the task itself, striving to meet domain-specific

task requirements more closely linked to conventions and ideation. Mastery

goals, in contrast, showed a strong relationship with self-efficacy for self-

regulation, but not to either self-efficacy for conventions or ideation. Students

with mastery goals may focus on engagement rather than on maximizing

desirable or minimizing undesirable performance, suggesting that the behavioral

outcomes of writers who endorse mastery goals relies more on self- regulatory

behaviors than on either writing conventions or idea generation. In conclusion,

we highlight two findings from this study that we feel underscore the importance

of the interplay between the dimensions of writing self-efficacy, as well as the

need to further investigate the role achievement goals play in writing motivation.

First, achievement goals differentially related to self- efficacy dimensions, with

mastery goals predicting only self- efficacy for self-regulation, while the two

performance goals predicted all three dimensions of self-efficacy. (Soylu et al.,

2017)

Writing Self-Efficacy and Self-Regulatory Behaviors in Writing

54
 The students who we want seeking help, those with lower writing self-

efficacy and higher anxiety, are the ones seeking help which is similar to the

finding reported in William and Takaku (2011) based on their sample of writing

centre students. On the surface, this is contrary to theories of writing self-efficacy

and help seeking which hypothesize that high self-efficacy students are the ones

most likely to seek help (Jones, 2008; Feltham & Sharen, 2015; Pajares &

Valiante, 2006). However, the writing self-efficacy levels in the help seeking

students could more accurately be described as moderate than low. High self-

efficacy students require less help because they have developed problem solving

strategies over time and are self-sufficient, use reflection as a problem-solving

strategy, or they were able to address their needs with a quick conversation with

an instructor and did not require other sources of help. Students who only used

their instructors as sources of help would have recorded a help seeking count of

zero sources in this study. In order to seek help, students require some degree of

awareness that seeking help will generate a positive change in their writing

outcome. In order to believe that seeking help will result in a positive change in

writing ability, some degree of writing self-efficacy is required (Bandura, 1991).

The moderate levels of writing self-efficacy reported by the help seeking students

may have been sufficiently high enough to motivate seeking help. Writing self-

efficacy patterns also emerged with respect to student response to their

feedback. Asking students if their emotional response to their writing feedback

was positive or negative unsurprisingly sorted low self-efficacy, high anxiety,

students into the negative feelings category. This result held when using both the

55
SESAW and PSWSES scales. This single question is a proxy measure for the

social persuasion source of writing self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997) which identifies

that feedback from significant qualified others in the writer’s life will influence their

writing self-beliefs. In addition, patterns emerged with respect to whether

students applied their feedback to future assignments or if they did not know

what to do with that feedback. Higher writing self-efficacy students were more

likely to report attempting to apply their feedback and this pattern held for both

writing self-efficacy instruments applied during this study. Ekholm et al. (2015)

reported that positive responses to feedback were associated with positive

perceptions of writing ability. Weaver (2006) suggested that it was unknown if low

self-efficacy begets a negative response to feedback or if a negative response to

feedback contributes to low self-efficacy. Likely there is a degree of reciprocity in

these experiences. (Mitchell et al., 2019)

Interest and Self-Efficacy in the Reading and Writing of Students

Self-efficacy inventory and fMRI connectivity with amygdala (third

methodological approach) found that more of the individual items on the writing

survey were correlated significantly with brain connectivity with amygdala than

were the individual items on the reading survey. Observed correlations were both

positive and negative suggesting both approach and avoidance, respectively,

and involved connectivity with left or right or bilateral amygdala, suggesting both

positive and negative affect. These findings were based on an fMRI word-specific

spelling task, which at a behavioral level has been shown to underlie word

56
reading as well as word spelling (Bowers, & Wolf, 1993). To summarize, during

middle childhood and adolescence, the relationships between interest and self-

efficacy for reading and writing may contrast in interesting and important ways.

Underlying components may capture those relationships for reading, whereas

individual items do for writing, at least for transcription skills (handwriting and

spelling), both at the behavioral level and the brain levels of analysis. For

example, whether or not a developing writer has the necessary skills to produce

letters legibly and quickly and spell words so that others can recognize them may

affect whether he or she finds writing interesting and/or develops a sense of self-

efficacy for ability to express thoughts in writing to communicate with others. In

contrast, a developing reader may be interested in reading if he or she can

accurately translate real written words into spoken pronunciations (i.e., identify

written words), but self-efficacy is related to the accuracy and rate of decoding

pronounceable written words without meaning, rate of pronouncing real words,

and reading comprehension of sentences/text. (Abbott, 2017)

Self-efficacy and Its Relation to ESL Writing

A study was conducted and the results showed that the participants were

moderately to highly confident about their ability in ESL writing. Within ESL

context of Malaysia, the participants ‘self-efficacy indices about writing ranged

from 30 to 99. The overall means score, was 69 on a scale with a range from 0 to

100. However, it should be noted that students showed lower levels of self-

efficacy in writing grammatical sentences, and writing a well-organized essay

57
compared to their self-efficacy in writing a one-page text without spelling errors or

writing a letter to their friends. The reported high level of self-efficacy may have

resulted from the effects of the writing course. Students in the writing course

received explicit instruction concerning writing development and essay writing.

Teachers and language mentors have a great role in shaping student’s self-

efficacy beliefs. Instructors’ behavior directly affects students’ confidence in

writing; as one of the important factors which affect the self-efficacy is modeling

(Bandura 1997). (Raoofi et al., 2017)

L2 Writing Anxiety, Self-efficacy and Motivation

Writing anxiety has a negative correlation with writing performance and if it

is a predictor of learners’ competence in the writing skill, then teachers should do

their best to minimize writing anxiety through different activities promoting writing

skill development by focusing on writing as a process way of teaching in which

learners have the opportunity of brainstorming, drafting reviewing and so on.

However, both writing self-efficacy and writing motivation are facilitative and

contributing factors in writing skill. Nevertheless, the findings of this study are

supportive of just the motivation to be a significant predictor of writing

performance. Therefore, although writing self-efficacy was not seen to be a

significant predictor of global L2 writing performance, the role of this affective

variable affecting any other cognitive variable is undeniable and writing trainers

are recommended to work on this variable too. (Soleimani et al., 2020)

58
Writing Anxiety, Motivation, and Self-Efficacy on Writing Performance

Writing is perceived as both cognitive and an emotional activity; therefore,

it is strongly associated with these affective factors: anxiety, self-efficacy, and

motivation. The findings of this study emphasize that the affective factors of EFL

learning must be nurtured. This study suggests that beliefs of learners regarding

their writing capabilities should be fostered by providing positive feedback from

teachers and peers to minimize anxiety in writing to a certain extent. In this

respect, a study conducted by Atay and Kurt (2006) reported that the peer review

process has a good and positive effect on ESL learners’ writing anxiety. Thus,

language teachers at tertiary level need to reduce their students’ writing anxiety

by supporting the peer review process. The findings of this study indicated that

the Iraqi EFL students, who recorded the high level of writing self-efficacy,

showed unsatisfactory writing performance. The social cognitive theory of

Bandura (1986), however, states that the self- efficacy factor operates as a

significant and positive predictor of students’ academic performance. Bandura

(1997) reported that self-efficacy beliefs are mainly established by enactive

attainment and individuals can gain confidence upon attempting and completing

tasks. Thus, the ability to attain success eventually increases self-confidence,

which frequently drives to a positive achievement, whereas self-confidence is

vastly reduced by failure. (Sabti et al., 2019)

59
Critical Skill in Reading

Reading is the most essential skill that a human being must acquire in

order to comprehend and to figure out their own terminologies that helps improve

understanding. Reading covers two aspects: listening and understanding.

Scholars hold the view that reading widely can improve the learners’ writing

abilities, and in the process of writing, the logical thinking abilities will be

enhanced. According to the study of Jaca et al., (2019) stresses that interest-

based independent reading has occurred most often as an operative approach in

helping poor readers grow in their reading development phase.

Intrinsic reading motivation and self-efficacy.

Bearing in mind the potential issues associated with the scale reliability of

the intrinsic reading motivation and reading self-efficacy constructs, this present

study indicates a strong and positive role of reading self-efficacy in reading

achievement, which is consistent with the literature (Fives 2016; Schiefele et al.

2012). Theories and empirical studies suggest that intrinsic motivation

contributes positively to the development of learning and reading (Deci and Ryan

2000; Froiland et al. 2012; Wigfield and Guthrie 1997). Mullis et al. (2012)

conclude from the PIRLS 2011 international data that, on average, students with

high positive attitudes to reading have higher average reading achievement than

those with lower attitudes to reading. While the high level of intrinsic reading

60
motivation reported by Abu Dhabi’s 4th graders may be explained from a

developmental perspective as young children tend to overrate their reading

beliefs and competence (Coddington and Guthrie 2009; Guay et al. 2003; Hum-

phrey 2004), a positive link between intrinsic motivation and reading achievement

is missing in Abu Dhabi. Elsewhere, Law (2009) and Logan et al. (2011) also did

not find a unique role of intrinsic reading motivation. Logan et al. (2011) revealed

that intrinsic reading motivation may not explain significant additional variance in

reading skill with all readers when cognitive ability is accounted for. (Yang et al.,

2018)

How Students’ Self-Efficacy affects in Reading

Based on the fact, the students had problems and difficulties in

comprehending their English reading texts. The problems were: some of the

students got difficulties to identify topic sentence, they were not able to find out

main idea, they did not understand if self-efficacy would affect their reading

comprehension, they were not confidence enough to read a text with the correct

pronunciation, etc. Self-efficacy is defined as people judgments of their

capabilities to organize and execute of action required to attain designates types

of performances. Students’ self-efficacy is used to believe they are capable to

comprehend the material that what they read. Based on the explanation above,

the researcher concludes that self-efficacy and reading has positive correlation

because both of them has dependence each. Finally, the researcher concluded

that the use of Student Team Achievement Division had positive effect toward

61
students’ self-efficacy in reading and has positive correlation between self-

efficacy and reading. (Asnan, 2018)

Reading Interest, Self-Efficacy, and Competency

When the students are interested and confident to read both the

descriptive and recount texts, then, it has relation to their reading competency in

finding the main idea, specific information, textual references, and word

meanings, it means that the students’ reading interest, reading self-efficacy, and

their reading competency are positively and significantly related. (Handayani et

al., 2020)

Self-efficacy and Reading Test

Research conducted using quantitative correlational at Senior High School

at 11 Bandung shows a close relationship between self-efficacy and student

reading results. From the results obtained, there are several implications for

learning. First, non-cognitive factors have the same important role as cognitive

factors in the success of learning. Second, it is evident that the correlation

between self-efficacy and reading scores is directly proportional, for it is essential

to improve students' self-efficacy so that they have confidence in learning

English, which will impact good learning outcomes. Third, one way to improve

students' self-efficacy is to provide constructive feedback continuously. Fourth,

with the increase in self-efficacy, students will have the ability to apply self-

regulating strategies. This research reveals many implications that are very

62
beneficial for the development of education. However, it also has some

limitations in terms of the length of study and data collection. After finding out that

self-efficacy has a close correlation with student reading results, follow-up

research in implementing ways to improve student self-efficacy will be beneficial

for increasing student self-efficacy. Second, the study results found that there are

students who are at a low level of self-efficacy. Thus, further research can be

carried out with other research data collection such as questionnaires or

interviews to explore the factors that cause their low self-efficacy and then look

for efforts to improve it. (Lestari et al., 2020)

Struggle in Reading and Writing of Senior High Students

Reading and Writing curriculum and instructional exercises or practices in

the classroom are in a straight line pretentious in the educative process and

much more in language guidelines. Senior High School (SHS) students

confronted struggles in writing essays which need to be addressed by

Instructional Supervisor and Teachers in order to equip the students with skills

and competence in order to be ready in journeying higher education and such for

individual ingesting. Findings of the study discusses that the Grade 11 (SHS)

students in the Schools Division of Laoag City students have difficulties in writing

academic essays such as lack of diversity of concepts as to the topic and

thoughts, deficiency in organization of ideas, inappropriate term or phrase and

the selection of vocabulary words, hard up sentence structures, the usage of

first-person pronoun in relation of conventionalism and impartiality, the absence

63
of documents in standing referencing. Furthermore, it states that the general

excellence of the students’ academic essays arrays from poor to fair (Jaca et al.,

2019).

64