Abstract
The study aimed at identifying the association between Bandura’s four hypothesized self-efficacy sources and reading comprehension by employing reading self-efficacy beliefs as a mediating variable. A correlational research design was used. A total of 351 Saudi EFL learners were selected from eight public universities of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by employing proportionate stratified random sampling. Two questionnaires including ‘questionnaire for sources of reading self-efficacy’, and ‘reading self-efficacy beliefs questionnaire’, and an IELTS reading comprehension test were used to collect the data. Path analysis by AMOS 23 was utilised in order to test the hypotheses. Findings provided support for the proposed conceptual framework, disclosing that all the four self-efficacy sources were significantly associated with reading self-efficacy beliefs. Also, reading self-efficacy beliefs were significantly associated with reading comprehension. Lastly, reading self-efficacy beliefs mediated the association between self-efficacy sources and reading comprehension. This study offered several theoretical and practical implications for EFL learners, instructors, and educational policymakers on the need of inculcating self-efficacy beliefs among learners to facilitate them in English reading comprehension . Keywords: Self-efficacy sources; reading self-efficacy beliefs; reading comprehension; path analysis; Saudi EFL learners
Highlights
Academic achievement largely depends on the reading comprehension skills of the students (Grabe 1991; Johns 1981)
The findings of the first research objective indicated that three out of four reading selfefficacy sources, i.e., ‘mastery experience’, ‘vicarious experience’, and ‘verbal persuasion’ were significantly associated with ‘reading self-efficacy beliefs’
‘physiological state’ was negatively and significantly associated with ‘reading self-efficacy beliefs’
Summary
Academic achievement largely depends on the reading comprehension skills of the students (Grabe 1991; Johns 1981). In higher education, reading comprehension is considered as one of the most indispensable skills (Meniado 2016). It is utterly essential for the students to comprehend what they read in order to cope with the demanding subjects offered at a university level (Meniado 2016). Out of nine bands, average bands acquired by the Saudi students in reading skills were 5.05, i.e., the third lowest in the world and 3.90, i.e., the lowest in the world in academic and general IELTS categories respectively. From a global perspective, the previous research indicated that EFL students faced hurdles in reading comprehension
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