The Relationship between Self-Efficacy and Writing Achievement among English as a Foreign Language Learners at the University of Jeddah

Abstract

The present study investigated the relationship between writing self-efficacy and writing achievement among undergraduate EFL female learners studying a Technical Communication Writing Course in their first year in the Computer Science and Engineering Technology Department at The University of Jeddah. Forty-four learners participated in this study by completing a writing task and filling out an online survey. Learners’ writings and responses to the questionnaire were then analyzed to determine the correlation between their self-efficacy level and their writing performance. Results indicate that the perceptions students have of their writing self-efficacy have a significant moderate positive correlation with their overall writing performance score (r=0.464; p< 0.05) and their grammar accuracy (r= 0.367; p< 0.05). However, no significant correlation was detected as far as the specific writing ability aspects under investigation are concerned.