Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
For making an active adaptation to social development, the ultimate goal ofeducation is to cultivate all-round intellectuals who are initiative and creative.Unquestionably, students are seeds and backbones of those talented people. Schoolsare main place for their full-time education. However, in Chinese classroom, students’subjectivity has been ignored due to traditional educational theory and practice (Pei,2000). For the past decades, the dominant role of teachers, imparting knowledge onlearners and single teaching method have been the mirror of traditional Englishteaching model in China. Under such circumstance, students cannot be realparticipants or feel sense of self-determination in the learning process. Moreover, theyhave been accustomed to be the passive recipients of knowledge. With economicglobalization and China’s integration into the world, English has become more andmore important. As a worldwide communicative tool, the main objective of Englishlearning has not been only for completion of learning task or passing examinations,but also for communication with others from the rest of the world. Consequently, theChinese New English Curriculum Reform underlines the importance of students’subjectivity and active participation. It requires that teachers should build a favorablelanguage learning environment and create plenty of opportunities for students toparticipate actively in English class. At the same time, teachers should be concernedwith students’ individual differences and stimulate their interests in English learning.
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1.2 Aims of the Study
Since numerous studies have indicated that students’ self-efficacy makes asignificant impact on students’ choice of activities, effort, persistence andachievement, the primary objective of current study is to examine the influence ofstudents’ self-efficacy beliefs on their participation behavior in English classroom. Italso aims to get a concrete view of the level of senior high school students’self-efficacy and characteristics displayed of their participation.While a number of studies have been undertaken on students’ self-efficacy andparticipation respectively, scant studies concerned the relationship between the twoimportant variables. A large number of research on these two fields was conducted inother learning courses, for example, mathematics and writing, the relevant studies inEFL context were hardly explored. Thus, the study aims to expand our presentunderstanding of the correlation between senior high students’ self-efficacy andparticipation in English classroom, both of which have great influence on students’English achievements.
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Chapter Two Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
Chapter Two will present the related theories and studies on self-efficacy andstudents’ participation. Definition, sources and empirical studies of self-efficacy willbe firstly presented, which will be followed by concept of students’ participation andrelevant studies at home and abroad. Through the detailed introduction and discussionof previous studies, this chapter will report a research gap, which regarded as focus ofthe current study.
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2.2 Introduction and Description of Self-efficacy Theory
Bandura (1986) has proposed the social cognitive theory, also called as “ humanagency in triadic reciprocal causation” (Bandura, 1999, p. 6), which suggests thatthere is a triadic reciprocal relation or interplay among personal, behavioral andenvironment influences, which assumes that human actions are determined by theinteractions of personal, behavioral and environmental factors. This unified causalsystem structure describes behavioral effects by means of interactions ofsocial-cultural and psychological mechanisms. A tripartite model presented as Figure2.1 created by interrelated, inter-decisive of individuals’ cognitive, affective, andbiological process, behavior orientation, and environmental events in a bidirectionalmanner.To be more specific, the person-behavior causation is concerned with theinterplayed role between individuals’ thoughts, emotions and behaviors. Namely,humans’ feelings, beliefs and thoughts affect their actions, in turn, their actionsdetermine their thought patterns and emotional reactions. The person-environmentcausation reflects a interactive relation between personal characteristics andenvironmental influences. Individuals’ thoughts, emotions and expectations areinfluenced by social environment through modeling, instruction and social persuasion.In turn, people were activated different reactions to environment. Thebehavior-environment relation represents that “in the transactions of everyday life,behavior alters environmental conditions, and behavior is, in turn, altered by the veryconditions it create”( Bandura, 1999, p. 8).
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Chapter Three Methodology .....24
3.1 Introduction.....24
3.2 Research Questions .....24
3.3 Participants......243.4 Instruments......25
3.5 Data Collection .....28
3.6 Data Analysis ........30
3.7 Summary .........30
Chapter Four Results and Discussion .........32
4.1 Introduction.....32
4.2 Findings of Senior Students’ English Self-efficacy.....32
4.3 Findings of Senior Students’ Participation in English Class .........36
4.4 Findings of the Relationship among Students’ English Self-efficacy......39
4.5 Discussions of the Interviews........51
4.6 Summary .........56
Chapter Five Conclusion.....58
5.1 Introduction.....58
5.2 Summary of the Major Findings .........58
5.3 Pedagogical Implications for English Language Teaching and Learning .......59
5.4 Limitations of the Study....61
5.5 Suggestions for Further Research .......62
Chapter Four Results and Discussion
4.1 Introduction
This chapter will report a series of results and findings achieved by SPSS,followed by detailed elucidation for these findings. That is to say, the researchquestion proposed in previous chapter will be explained elaborately one by one, andthe possible underlying reseasons for those results is going to be revealed . First of all,a general description of English learners’ self-efficacy and participation will bepresented. Secondly, the correlation between learners’ English self-efficacy andclassroom participation will be identified. All of research evidence supporting thisstudy will be presented in order to illustrate the relationship between Englishachievement with learners’ English self-efficacy as well as students’ participation.
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Conclusion
This chapter is going to summarize the key findings of the present research.Subsequently, it presents pedagogical implications for teachers and institutions for thesake of improving the level of students’ self-efficacy and participation conducive totheir English achievement. Finally, the limitations of the present study will be pointedout, as well as recommendations for further study. The primary aim of the present research was to examine the relationship betweensenior students’ English self-efficacy and participation in a second languageclassroom. The secondary aim is to probe into the role of self-efficacy andparticipation play in students’ English achievement. By means of statistical analysisfrom questionnaires and interviews, the major findings are presented as follows:A preliminary finding is that the overall situation of senior students’ Englishself-efficacy is at a moderate level. The subjects are reported to have a stronger senseof perceived control compared with perceived basic competence. There is aremarkable significant difference between male students and female students inEnglish self-efficacy. Female students exhibit much stronger English self-efficacybeliefs than male students. Females’ perceived control also superiorly better thanmales.
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Reference (omitted)