1. Why are college foreign language
student’s selfefficacy, attitude, and motivation
Presenter: Yin-Jin Lin
so different?
Advisor: Dr. Pi-Ying Hsu
October 14, 2013
1

2. Citation
Hsieh, P. (2008). Why are college
foreign language student’s selfefficacy, attitude, and motivation so
different? ProQuest Education
Journals, 38(1), 76-94.
2

3. Contents
Introduction
Literature Review
Methodology
Results
Discussion
Reflection
3

4. Introduction
• Among several motivational constructs within
the area of learners’ beliefs, self-efficacy has
contributed substantially to our understanding
of students motivation and achievement.
4

5. Introduction
• Students’ motivation can be seen through
their cognitive, behavioral, and emotional
engagement on academic tasks.
(Fredicks, Bluemenfeld & Paris, 2004)
5

6. Introduction
AMTB= Attitude/Motivation Test Battery
interest
attitude
motivation
integrative
orientation
anxiety
instrumental
orientation
6

7. Background
As foreign language learning is
considered a challenge subject where
many learners fail to do well, learner’s
motivation in language is therefore
especially important to examine.
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8. Research Questions
I
How well do foreign language student’s selfefficacy, interest, attitude, motivation, and anxiety predict
their foreign language achievement?
II
Do successful and unsuccessful foreign language students
and students with varying levels of self-efficacy differ in their
endorsement of the different AMTB variables?
III
What is the interaction between heritage connection and
group status on student’s endorsement of the different
AMTB variables?
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9. There are at least three basic indicators of
learner motivation:
(1) learner’s effort
(2) learner’s desire to learn the language
(3) learner’s satisfaction with learning
(Gardner, 1985)
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10. • Instumental
• Ex: To get a good job
• Integrated
• Ex: To develop better
communicate skills
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11. Self-efficacy has contributed substantially
Theto our understanding ofself-efficacy beliefs
researchers supported that student
are proposed to influence student’s motivation and
motivation and achievement.
achievement are good predictors of success.
(Bandura, 1986)
(Multon, Brown, & Lent, 1991; Pajares, 1996, 1997;
Pajares & Urdan, 2006; Valentine, DuBois, &
Cooper, 2004)
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12. There are four leading sources for how
learners develop self-efficacy for a given
task, there are:
(1) Learner’s past performance
(2) Observations of how well others do
(3) Verbal persuation from others
(4) Physiological indexes.
(Schunk, 1991)
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13. Research Gap
Simply acknowledging the importance of
learner motivation and how motivation
relates to learners’ achievement does not
allow us to understand fully how students
develop motivation or how we can
motivate students and sustain their level of
motivation.
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14. Purpose
• The study was to examine the
relationship between educational
psychology theories (self-efficacy
beliefs) and foreign language
learning motivation.
14

15. Methodology
53%
male
249
students
47%
female
44%
Spanish
32%
German
24%
French
15

16. Methodology
successful
group
Classified by
students
themselves
unsuccessful
group
16

17. Methodology
Texas
1. 7-scores
questionnaire
2. AMTB
Median age of
20 year-old
During the Fall
semester
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18. Procedure
I
• Fall semester after received grades from
mid-term exam
II
• Completed two questionnaires during the
beginning of one class period
• of 7-scores questionnaire
1. A list Students asked to fill out some background
information
IIISelf-efficacy was measured by asking participants to
circle “yes” or “no”
• The instructors provided students’ final
Ex:
course
2. Attitude/Motivation Test Batteryof the semester
IV 1. Gender grades at the end (AMTB)
2. Do they had heritage connection to the language
Motivation, attitude, anxiety, instrumental
they were learning.
orientation, and integrative orientation
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19. Research Question 1
How well do foreign language student’s selfefficacy, interest, attitude, motivation, and
anxiety predict their foreign language
achievement?
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20. Research Question 1
AMTB
In addition to student’s self-efficacy beliefs, their attitude
and anxiety were also good predictors of language
achievement.
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21. Research Question 2
Do successful and unsuccessful foreign
language students and students with varying
levels of self-efficacy differ in their
endorsement of the different AMTB variables?
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22. Research Question 2
AMTB
Unsuccessful students
1. Instrumental orientation
2. Higher anxiety
3. Negative attitude
successful students
1. Integratied orientation
2. Higher self-efficacy
3. Higher interest in learning
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23. Research Question 3
What is the interaction between heritage
connection and group status on student’s
endorsement of the different AMTB variables?
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24. Research Question 3
AMTB
The two groups of heritage students reported having equally
high positive attitudes toward the language they were learning.
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25. Discussion
1. Higher self-efficacy can influence effort, persistence, and
achievement.
2. Successful students reported being more integratively
oriented and wanting to learn foreign language so as to
interact with individuals of target culture.
3. Unsuccessful students reported significantly more anxiety
toward foreign language class.
4. No difference in the endorsement of integrative
orientation between successful and unsuccessful nonheritage students.
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26. Future Study
November
Beginning Mid-term
AMTB Questionnaire
7-scores Questionnaire
December
Collecting Questionnaires
Data Analysis
December
Conducting the study
January
Proposal Defense
January
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