Reading Self-Efficacy: Is There a Relationship between Progress and Psychological States

Abstract

Reading involves a complex process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through the reader’s interaction and involvement with written language. Readings is often a self-guided behavior, readers need self-efficacy as a key motivator for reading(McLean and Poulshock 2018). Self-efficacy in reading is conceived as readers’ belief in their abilities to accomplish desired outcomes (Ortlied & Schatz, 2020). Studies have shown that self-efficacy is significantly positively related to reading comprehension performance(Li and Wang 2010, Shehzad, Alghorbany et al. 2019). While correlational research on self-efficacy and reading comprehension has been plentiful, less abundant are studies exploring factors influencing readers’ self-efficacy. This study is done to explore factors that influence EFL reader self-efficacy. A total of 660 non-English major undergraduate students at a Chinese university participated the study. A 5 Likert scales questionnaire on reading self-efficacy was used as an instrument to collect data. The scale used are: 1- strongly disagree; 2-disagree; 3-undecided; 4-agree; 5-strongly agree. The questionnaire was adapted from the Reading Self-Efficacy Scale (RSES) by Kassem (2013). Two factors – progress (14 items) and psychological states (12 items) were the same as RSES. Findings revealed that there are correlations for progress and positive psychological states. Findings also showed that there are correlations for progress and negative psychological states. These findings bear implications in the teaching of reading among undergraduates so that readers’ self-efficacy can be improved to gain progress in their reading experience in universities.