My language ability could have been better or worse: Examining how upward and downward counterfactual thinking predict self-efficacy and language performance

Abstract

Counterfactual beliefs are ideas about how one’s past could have been better (upward counterfactuals) and worse (downward counterfactuals). In this study, we investigated how language learners’ upward and downward counterfactual beliefs about their language ability were related to their self-efficacy and performance. In so doing, we examined the mediating role of learners’ different sources of self-efficacy. The study sample included 320 Iranian intermediate level language learners (190 males and 130 females) at a language institute in Isfahan, Iran. The results of the study indicated that upward counterfactual thinking was negatively related to self-efficacy and language performance, while downward counterfactual thinking positively predicted self-efficacy. Moreover, the results showed that upward counterfactual thinking predicted self-efficacy indirectly via the mediation of four sources of self-efficacy (mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and emotional and physiological states) and language performance through the mediation of vicarious experiences and verbal persuasion. In addition, downward counterfactual thinking indirectly predicted self-efficacy through the mediation of vicarious experiences and emotional and physiological states, as well as language performance via the mediation of vicarious experiences.