Exploring EFL Learners’ Self-Efficacy in Academic Writing Based on Process-Genre Approach

Ying Zhang

doi:10.5539/elt.v11n6p115

Abstract

This study explores the change of EFL learners’ level of self-efficacy in process-genre academic writing instruction. The teaching experiment was conducted for 14 weeks. A total of 59 graduate students participated in the experiment. Before the experiment, the results showed that the general level of EFL graduates’ self-efficacy in academic writing was relatively low. After 14 weeks of academic writing instruction conducted by the process-genre approach, participants’ self-efficacy improved significantly. In the interview, participants also reported an increasing level of confidence in academic writing. Based on the findings, implications of academic writing instruction to improve students’ self-efficacy are discussed in the paper.

Highlights

English is a universal language in today’s scientific world, and it plays a significant role in the world's best academic publications
This study explores the change of EFL learners’ level of self-efficacy in process-genre academic writing instruction
After 14 weeks of academic writing instruction conducted by the process-genre approach, participants’ self-efficacy improved significantly

Summary

Introduction

English is a universal language in today’s scientific world, and it plays a significant role in the world's best academic publications. With “Double-First Class” initiative which aims to establish world first class universities and disciplines in China and strive for making China an international higher education power, there is an urgent need for Chinese EFL learners to improve their academic English competence in academic exchanges For graduate students, they are expected to keep up with the cutting edge of the latest development in their discipline from international journals. In other words, writing is regarded as a grammatical tool but not a primary medium to satisfy communicative needs, so EFL learners usually have difficulties developing their awareness of the important relationship between text features and the communicative purpose in different contexts. These make many graduates feel lack of support and confidence in writing academic papers in English and their academic writing proficiency is low

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion