Developing Self-Efficacy: A Strong Predictor of Success in Language Learners

Believe you can and you’re halfway there.

-Theodore Roosevelt ⏱ Reading time: 4 minutes Emily, whose story is featured in this article, credits her experiences learning Arabic as seminal in developing strong self-efficacy, despite feeling like she didn’t have much self-confidence. So, what’s the difference? Self-efficacy is a belief in oneself and one’s ability to accomplish specific tasks or goals. It’s looking at a daunting list of new vocabulary words in your target language and believing that you can master it. Self-confidence is a broader concept rooted in overall self-belief and self-worth. Although self-confidence is important, in this article, we’ll take a closer look at self-efficacy, which anyone can develop. Why is it so key in language learning, and how can you develop it?

Decades of educational research on self-efficacy, or an individual’s beliefs in his/her ability to perform a designated task or complete an activity, have shown that students’ self-efficacy more consistently predicts academic performance over and above other motivational constructs (Graham & Weiner, 1996). Recent research has demonstrated the power of self-efficacy in foreign language (FL) learning and its relationship to a variety of key factors including student proficiency, FL achievement, FL anxiety, and language learning strategy use (Graham, 2006, 2007; Hsieh & Kang, 2010; Mills, 2014; Mills et al, 2006, 2007, 2009).

(excerpt from Mills, Nicole and Belnap, R. Kirk. 2017. Beliefs, motivation, and engagement: What every teacher of Arabic should know about self-efficacy. In Z. Taha, L. England and K. Wahba (eds.), A Handbook for Arabic Language Teaching Professionals in the 21st Century II, 62-76. New York, NY: Routledge.)

Albert Bandura, the psychologist who first coined the term “self-efficacy,” puts forth four major sources thereof:

1. Mastery experiences
2. Vicarious experiences
3. Verbal persuasion
4. Emotional states

Below we’ll explain each of these four sources. As you read, think about what steps you can take to foster each of these and further develop your self-efficacy. 1. Mastery Experiences This source of self-efficacy might seem daunting at first. It doesn’t mean you have to completely master a challenging aspect of one language to have the self-efficacy to master something similar in another. Instead, this is about the art of celebrating the little victories. These little victories are meant to be just that, little. They can be as specific and focused as you want to celebrate, for example: successfully ordering a meal, nailing the pronunciation of a tricky word, getting through a short conversation without switching to your native language, catching a word you recently learned when a native speaker uses it, and so on. 2. Vicarious Experiences The best speaker in her cohort of more than 50 students who studied Arabic intensively in Alexandria, Egypt reported that a significant factor in her success was a teaching assistant she had in a first-year Arabic class. She said to herself at that time: “If he can do it, I can do it. This student found a  “near-peer” role model in that person and was able to tap into this source of self-efficacy by learning from his success. Look for encouraging examples. 3. Verbal Persuasion Well-deserved encouragement from instructors, near-peer role models, and other trusted sources increases one’s sense of self-efficacy. In a study of 52 students, we found that: The most positively rated survey item was “encouraging words from language teachers.” As one student observed, “I think the most important thing which helped me really progress in my language learning is the constant encouragement and confidence given to me by my teachers. A positive, encouraging environment is invaluable.” Another student also commented: the most effective thing as far as motivating me to keep going was hearing positive feedback from teachers. It always gives such a boost of confidence to hear the people who have been teaching me and working with me one on one confirm that I am improving. …Atticus [a pseudonym], one of the program’s best speakers and later a member of the Project Perseverance team, shared an experience by email during the analysis of the exit survey data in which he reported on his experience with a TA and verbal persuasion and how it gave him added motivation: However, I do remember an experience in an interview with [TA2] that was insightful. He started talking to me about the OPI and what I expected to get. The OPI didn’t really mean much to me because I wasn’t planning to use it in applying for a job or anything. Also, I really didn’t think that I was that good at Arabic, but when I told [TA2] that I thought Advanced Low was probably what I was pushing for he told me that he thought I could get Advanced High or Superior. Now, I got Advanced Mid but his belief in me and encouragement really took me back and then motivated me to keep trying because he obviously thought I was succeeding. Or in other words he was perceiving my success as greater than what I saw it as which, coming from a leader like [TA2], was very encouraging to keep going. (3 April 2013) (excerpt from Project Perseverance: Helping students become self-regulating learners (Kirk Belnap, Jennifer Bown, Dan Dewey, Linnea Belnap, and Parick Steffen). In Peter MacIntyre, Tammy Gregersen, and Sarah Mercer (eds.), Positive Psychology in SLA, 282-301, Multilingual Matters, Bristol, UK, 2016.) 4. Emotional States As we’ve mentioned in previous articles, our own mind has the potential to be our worst enemy in language learning. Check out these articles for tips on how to “Mind Your Head” and regulate the emotions that often come with learning a new language. By minding your head and coping with stress in healthy ways, you can prevent it from lowering your belief in yourself. Journaling is one effective way to keep tabs on your emotions and document the little victories along the way too. Click here for a glimpse into how Kylie persevered through difficult moments and celebrated little victories as she shares a few journal entries from her time learning Arabic on a study abroad.