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Understanding Sources of Self-Efficacy of Chinese Students Learning English in an American Institution

  • Huifang Zuo and Chuang Wang EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: September 5, 2014
Multicultural Learning and Teaching
From the journal Multicultural Learning and Teaching Volume 11 Issue 1

Abstract

This qualitative study explores the sources of the self-efficacy development of five Chinese doctoral students’ use of English as a second language in a southeastern university in the United Sates. Although individual differences were reported, common themes were also recognized. Consistent with the self-efficacy theory and previous studies in this field, the major factors that influenced the participants’ self-efficacy beliefs to use English are (1) past performance, (2) peers’ and advisors’ influence, (3) social persuasions, (4) emotional and physiological states, (5) self-awareness of English proficiency, (6) familiarity with and the difficulty level of the tasks, and (7) interest. The uniqueness of this study is that western individualism and Chinese collectivism were considered in the discussion of self-efficacy development. In order to improve Chinese students’ self-efficacy beliefs in learning English as well as to enhance their academic attainments and professional performance, it is necessary to explicitly understand which factors and components play significant roles in the development of their self-efficacy beliefs.

Keywords: self-efficacy; English as a second language; graduate students

Appendix

Interview guide

Warm up and introduction questions:

  1. How long have you been in the U.S.? What are your major and your age? And what reasons make you pursue a degree in an American institution?

  2. Besides Chinese and English, do you know other languages?

  3. When did you start to learn English and could you talk about your learning English process in China?

  4. Do your parents speak English or other languages?

  5. Do you think you are gifted in your native language (i.e. Chinese)?

  6. What do you feel is your personality? Introvert or extravert?

  7. Do you live by yourself or do you live with roommates? If you live with roommates, then are your roommates Americans, Chinese, or others internationals?

  8. Are your advisors or supervisors American, Chinese, or other internationals?

  9. How often do you talk to people in English? Every day, two or three days or seldom in one week?

  10. If every day, how often do you feel you speak English? Very frequently, medium, or seldom?

  11. Generally, to whom and where do you speak more English?

Deep digging out questions:

  1. Do you have any plans or schedules to learn English on your own initiative?

  2. If so, do you think it easy or hard to carry out your plans? If hard, what makes you feel hard?

  3. In what settings (e.g. people, time, and topics) can you comfortably speak English? Why do you feel comfortable in such settings?

  4. Could you describe the most difficult situation you feel when speaking English? In such situations, do you give up or persist? If you choose to give up, what are your subsequent feelings after you give up? If you persist, how do you adjust yourself or what strategies do you adopt to make yourself confident to overcome these uncomfortable feelings?

  5. Do you have interests to learn English or other languages? No matter if you are interested or not, do you feel you are proactive in English? What strategies do you use in this proactive process?

  6. How do you define the importance of English in your life? How do you make connections between your academic and daily life with learning English?

  7. Do you speak English more in work/study related situations or in some other situations (e.g. entertainment)?

  8. What do you think of others’ influence on your English learning process? I mean advisors, professors, supervisors, parents, and peers? How they influenced you?

  9. Could you describe differences in learning English in the Chinese context and in the U.S. context? What do you feel learning English in China support your learning English in the United States?

  10. Could you talk about the best and worst feelings in your English language learning process and how do you cope with others’ responses and judgments?

  11. Do you think you work very hard or put a lot of time and effort to learn English?

  12. Do you think your English improved a great deal now in comparison with your English when first came to the United States?

  13. How do you rate your English proficiency from 1 (worst) to 10 (best)?

  14. What do you feel about your English proficiency compared to your peers?

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Published Online: 2014-9-5
Published in Print: 2016-3-1

©2016 by De Gruyter

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Executive Editors’ Comment
  3. Editors’ Comments: Lighting Multicultural Candles through Lifelong Learning
  4. Ethnic Identity, Multiculturalism, and Their Interrelationships: Differences between Jewish and Arab Students
  5. Immigration Reform and Education: Demystifying Mythologies about Latina/o Students
  6. Validation of Assessment Vignettes and Scoring Rubric of Multicultural and International Competency in Faculty Teaching
  7. Understanding Sources of Self-Efficacy of Chinese Students Learning English in an American Institution
  8. Culture, Leadership, and Activism: Translating Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning into Pedagogical Practice
  9. Service Learning for At-Risk Student Populations: The Contextual Dynamism of Implementation
https://doi.org/10.1515/mlt-2014-0005
Keywords for this article
self-efficacy; English as a second language; graduate students

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Executive Editors’ Comment
  3. Editors’ Comments: Lighting Multicultural Candles through Lifelong Learning
  4. Ethnic Identity, Multiculturalism, and Their Interrelationships: Differences between Jewish and Arab Students
  5. Immigration Reform and Education: Demystifying Mythologies about Latina/o Students
  6. Validation of Assessment Vignettes and Scoring Rubric of Multicultural and International Competency in Faculty Teaching
  7. Understanding Sources of Self-Efficacy of Chinese Students Learning English in an American Institution
  8. Culture, Leadership, and Activism: Translating Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning into Pedagogical Practice
  9. Service Learning for At-Risk Student Populations: The Contextual Dynamism of Implementation
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