attribution and self-efficacy and their interrelationship in the korean efl context

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Language Learning ISSN 0023-8333 Attribution and Self-Efficacy and Their Interrelationship in the Korean EFL Context Peggy Pei-Hsuan Hsieh The University of Texas Medical School at Houston Hyun-Sook Kang Illinois State University This study examined the interrelationships between learners’ attributions and self- efficacy and their achievements in learning English as a foreign language. Participants were 192 ninth-grade English learners in Korea who were asked to provide attribution and self-efficacy ratings upon receiving test grades. Results indicated that learners with different levels of self-efficacy ratings endorsed attributions differently for successful and unsuccessful outcomes. Learners with higher levels of self-efficacy attributed their test results to more internal and personal control factors than those who reported lower self-efficacy levels. For learners who were unsuccessful, those with higher self-efficacy made stronger personal control attributions than learners with lower self-efficacy. Keywords motivation; attribution; self-efficacy; learning English as a foreign language; achievement Introduction For students in Korea, the acquisition of English competence is often regarded as the key factor in getting ahead in school and in Korean society. Given the importance placed on learning English as a foreign language (EFL), it comes as no surprise that a growing number of studies have addressed the achievement issues surrounding EFL learning in Korea (e.g., Bong, 2001; Kang, 2000; Lee, 2007; Lee & Lee, 2001). Over the past two decades, researchers have been increasingly fond of the examination of students’ motivation in predicting and improving academic Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Peggy Hsieh, The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, 6431 Fannin St. JJL 302, Houston, TX 77030. Internet: [email protected] Language Learning 60:3, September 2010, pp. 606–627 606 C 2010 Language Learning Research Club, University of Michigan DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9922.2010.00570.x

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Page 1: Attribution and Self-Efficacy and Their Interrelationship in the Korean EFL Context

Language Learning ISSN 0023-8333

Attribution and Self-Efficacy and Their

Interrelationship in the Korean EFL Context

Peggy Pei-Hsuan Hsieh

The University of Texas Medical School at Houston

Hyun-Sook Kang

Illinois State University

This study examined the interrelationships between learners’ attributions and self-efficacy and their achievements in learning English as a foreign language. Participantswere 192 ninth-grade English learners in Korea who were asked to provide attributionand self-efficacy ratings upon receiving test grades. Results indicated that learners withdifferent levels of self-efficacy ratings endorsed attributions differently for successfuland unsuccessful outcomes. Learners with higher levels of self-efficacy attributed theirtest results to more internal and personal control factors than those who reported lowerself-efficacy levels. For learners who were unsuccessful, those with higher self-efficacymade stronger personal control attributions than learners with lower self-efficacy.

Keywords motivation; attribution; self-efficacy; learning English as a foreign language;achievement

Introduction

For students in Korea, the acquisition of English competence is often regardedas the key factor in getting ahead in school and in Korean society. Given theimportance placed on learning English as a foreign language (EFL), it comes asno surprise that a growing number of studies have addressed the achievementissues surrounding EFL learning in Korea (e.g., Bong, 2001; Kang, 2000; Lee,2007; Lee & Lee, 2001).

Over the past two decades, researchers have been increasingly fond of theexamination of students’ motivation in predicting and improving academic

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Peggy Hsieh, The University

of Texas Medical School at Houston, 6431 Fannin St. JJL 302, Houston, TX 77030. Internet:

[email protected]

Language Learning 60:3, September 2010, pp. 606–627 606C© 2010 Language Learning Research Club, University of MichiganDOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9922.2010.00570.x

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Hsieh and Kang Korean EFL Learners’ Belief

performance because it has been suggested to be related to students’ initiationof a task, the amount of effort that they expend on a task, and their persistencein the face of challenge (Brophy, 1988; Wigfield, 1994). As a result of itssignificance in explaining achievement, foreign language motivation researchhas grown to be a prolific area of study (Dornyei, 2005).

Motivation is a multifaceted construct in that it bears a reciprocal relation tobeliefs, expectations, learning, and achievement (Pintrich, 2003). In cognitivelearning theories, the existence of cognitive structuring processes in general haslong been demonstrated to be related to students’ psychological and behavioralconsequences, and in recent research, it has become more evident that studentssimultaneously build up a network of beliefs about their capabilities and aboutreasons for success and failure. By seeking explanations for successes andfailures and believing that one is capable of being successful, one can predictand control the events that affect outcomes and continue working, with thehope of succeeding again and again. Bandura’s (1977) self-efficacy theory(about the belief that individuals have about their capabilities to complete aspecific task successfully) and Weiner’s (1976) attribution theory (about thereasons individuals give for their successes and failures) represent two theoriesthat have contributed substantially to an understanding of students’ beliefs andexplanations of their achievement. These theorists suggest the important rolestudents’ beliefs play in their actions, motivation, and achievement (Bandura,1977; Schunk, 1991; Weiner, 1985). Therefore, in an effort to understandthe factors that influence foreign language learners’ achievement, this studyuses two prominent cognitive motivation theories to learning (self-efficacy andattribution) to examine how they respectively and collectively relate to Koreansecondary-level learners’ EFL achievements.

Self-EfficacyMany researchers have attempted to uncover what distinguishes successfulforeign language learners from less successful ones. It has been suggestedthat self-efficacy has a powerful influence on learners’ effort, tenacity, andachievement (Bandura, 1986a; Pajares, 2003; Pajares & Miller, 1995; Zajacova,Lynch, & Espenshade, 2005). There is prolific research that examines therelationship between self-efficacy and general academic achievement (e.g.,Pajares, 2003; Pajares & Kranzler, 1995; Pintrich & De Groot, 1990; Schunk,1984), and the relationship has consistently been found to be a positive one.

In the context of learning EFL in Hungary, Clement, Dornyei, and Noels(1994) investigated the role of self-confidence in influencing English pro-ficiency both directly and indirectly through learners’ attitudes toward and

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efforts invested in learning English. In spite of its similarities to self-efficacy,self-confidence is a socially defined construct (Dornyei, 2005) that “reflectsmore global beliefs that one can cope with almost any task” (McCollum, 2003,p. 21), whereas self-efficacy reflects beliefs about one’s capabilities to com-plete a specific task successfully, referred to as self-perceptions of competence(Bandura, 1986a). Taking into account the limitations regarding the sociallydefined construct of self-confidence, there is a need to turn to more cognitivelydefined constructs such as self-efficacy in the context of learning EFL.

Yang (1999) investigated the relationship between Taiwanese English learn-ers’ beliefs and strategy use and reported a strong correlation between self-efficacy and functional practice strategies. Although Yang was one of the fewto investigate the relationship between self-efficacy and strategy use, items usedto measure self-efficacy were more related to learners’ emotion, not to personalbeliefs about their own capabilities. For example, sample items for self-efficacyused in Yang’s study included “I feel timid speaking English with other people”and “People from my country are not good at learning foreign languages.” Morerecently, Mills, Pajares, and Herron’s (2007) study indicated that self-efficacyfor self-regulation was a stronger predictor of college students’ achievement inintermediate-level French than were self-efficacy to receive grades in Frenchclass, anxiety in reading the target language, and French learning self-concept.Students who perceived themselves as capable of using effective metacognitivestrategies to monitor their academic work time efficiently were more likely toreach success in intermediate-level French. However, the fact that one third ofthe participants in this study were taking French classes as an elective coursefor their higher education at selective American universities limits the general-izability of the findings to other learner populations and to other instructionalcontexts, such as societies in which learning English is compulsory and inwhich a high level of proficiency in English helps students to get ahead in theiracademic and professional careers.

As one of the few studies on self-efficacy in the Korean EFL context,Lee and Lee (2001) found that self-efficacy was strongly correlated with thegoal to strive to develop skills and abilities (mastery goal orientation) andmoderately correlated with performance-approach goals orientation (strivingto document superior ability). Expanding the design of the aforementionedresearch, Bong (2001) examined the relationship among self-efficacy, per-ceived value of English, and goals for learning among middle and high schoolKorean EFL learners. Results indicated that performance-avoidance goalswere negatively correlated with both self-efficacy and the value placed onEnglish.

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The level of one’s self-efficacy can be influenced by the learner’s pastexperiences, verbal persuasion (i.e., verbal feedback and encouragement ordiscouragement), vicarious experiences, and physiological cues, as suggestedby Schunk (1984). However, these are not the only factors that influence thedevelopment of one’s self-efficacy. How capable learners feel about completinga task successfully can also be shaped by the way they interpret the reasons fortheir success or failure, for which Weiner (1977) coined the term attribution.

AttributionWeiner (2000) maintained that learners’ attributions can influence their ex-pectancy for future success, their beliefs about their own competence, theamount of effort they invest, their motivation, and, ultimately, their level ofachievement. Extensive research has been done on attributions and achieve-ment indicating that success is more likely to be attributed to internal factorssuch as ability and effort than is failure and that ability attribution is a strongpredictor of achievement (Bempechat, Ginsburg, Nakkula, & Wu, 1996; Frieze& Weiner, 1971; Hsieh & Schallert, 2008; Pintrich & Schunk, 2002). Muchempirical evidence has indicated that attributions will influence a student’sexpectations for future success and motivation, and vice versa. For example,Schunk (1983) found that students who were given ability attributional feedback(such as telling students they are smart or have high ability/talent) demonstratedthe highest skill in a task and had higher self-efficacy than their counterpartswho received no feedback from their teachers on how they did. One explanationfor this is that as students receive the feedback that they have the capability todo well, they develop a sense of efficacy to sustain their motivation. Provid-ing attributional feedback helps to support their self-perceptions of progressand validates their sense of competency (Schunk, 1982). Williams and Burden(1999) took a qualitative approach through the use of interviews and foundthat students tended to attribute success to external factors such as teacher ap-proval more than internal factors such as their learning skills. Learners hardlymentioned intelligence or effort for their success. Limitations of the study in-cluded the small sample size of 36 participants and the fact that interviewswere conducted to assess general attributions for both success and failure aboutthe French class rather than specific attributions for students’ actual success orfailure on a test. It should be noted that the more specific the event, the more ac-curate the attribution. As a follow-up to the previous study, Williams, Burden,Poulet, and Maun (2004) examined attribution patterns reported by Britishsecondary-level students for their perceived successes and failures in learninga foreign language. They reported the frequency of each attribution and found

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effort to be the factor that most successful students attribute success to andteacher to be the most frequent factor for unsuccessful students. Although it isof interest to examine which attributions are prevalent among these foreign lan-guage learners, it is of greater importance to understand how these attributionsrelate to academic achievement when combined with self-efficacy.

Reciprocal Relationship Between Self-Efficacy and AttributionThe two motivational constructs of self-efficacy and attribution used to explainacademic achievement have each been studied independently in great depth inareas such as math (e.g., Bempechat et al., 1996; Pajares & Miller, 1995; Spence& Usher, 2007), writing (e.g., Linnenbrink & Pintrich, 2003; Pajares, 2003;Pajares, Britner, & Valiante, 2000), and sports (e.g., Greenlees, Lane, Thelwell,Holder, & Hobson, 2005; Holder, 1997; Martin-Krumm, Sarrazin, Peterson, &Famose, 2003). Although both theories involve learners’ beliefs and influenceachievement (Pintrich & Schunk, 2002), they have rarely been connected andexamined in a foreign language learning context (Hsieh & Schallert, 2008). AsHorwitz (1988) argued, an understanding of learner expectations and beliefsis important because it is these beliefs about language learning that influencelearners’ achievement.

The relationship between attribution and self-efficacy is twofold. As an in-dividual’s self-efficacy can be influenced by how he/she explains the outcomeof a test, one’s attributions for an outcome can also be affected by the level ofconfidence one has for a given task (Bandura, 1986b). This topic is exploredin a study by Schunk (1982) that outlined the reciprocal relationship betweenself-efficacy and attribution in relation to children’s problem-solving abilities.When given positive attributional feedback, children’s attributions of their owneffort and ability increase and self-efficacy is accordingly amplified, whereas at-tributing failure to lack of ability yields a drop in self-efficacy. Silver, Mitchell,and Gist (1995) also investigated this reciprocal relationship, suggesting thathigh or low self-efficacy beliefs lead to corresponding performance attribu-tions, which, in turn, affect one’s perceptions of self-efficacy and create a cyclebetween the two. When success is attributed to internal factors, self-efficacy in-creases, but when failure is attributed to internal and stable causes, self-efficacybeliefs decrease. Taking this interaction into a foreign language learning con-text, Graham (2006) examined British students’ self-efficacy and attributionsthrough interviews. Results indicated that students with low self-efficacy tendedto believe they had no control over the learning outcome, whereas students withhigh self-efficacy believed that failure was due to insufficient effort. Despitethe practical implications for language practitioners on learner attributions for

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their successes and failures, it was pointed out that future research in this areashould employ more fine-tuned research tools with a larger sample size, forwhich a quantitative study would be more appropriate. In a quantitative study,Hsieh and Schallert (2008) found that students who attributed failure to lack ofeffort had higher self-efficacy than students who believed that effort does notplay a significant part in the test outcome. This may suggest that students’ self-efficacy suffers when they do not feel that outcomes are within their volitionalcontrol.

Despite the addition of the refined motivational measures in foreign lan-guage learning, the investigation of how Korean students learn English is ofparticular interest because most of the studies in the area of foreign languagemotivation have been conducted with learners in North America and Europe.The direct application of the results to a foreign language learning context, suchas the Korean EFL context, is necessary in order understand the full picture ofhow foreign language motivation and achievement are acquired.

This study attempts to elucidate the contributions of self-efficacy and attri-butions to the learning of EFL in South Korea. English is one of the requiredschool subjects across the nation and often serves as a key to academic andprofessional success in Korean society. The results of this study and the re-sulting suggestions may provide researchers with a new perspective on Koreanlearners’ beliefs about learning EFL and may provide ways for educators tohelp students to achieve competence in English.

In attempting to disentangle the motivational variables embedded in theEFL context and to examine the interrelationships between learners’ motivationand performance on classroom-based achievement tests, the following researchquestions were developed for this study:

1. How do learners’ self-efficacy and attributions relate to language achieve-ment, and how well do they predict language achievement?

2. Do learners’ attributions for the achievement outcomes vary between suc-cessful and unsuccessful EFL learners?

3. Do learners’ attributions differ between those who report having high self-efficacy and those who report having low self-efficacy?

Our main hypotheses were as follows: (a) Self-efficacy would be posi-tively related to language achievement; (b) successful students would attributelearning outcomes to internal and personal, controllable factors, whereas un-successful students would attribute failure to external factors; and (c) studentswith higher self-efficacy would attribute learning outcomes to more personal,controllable factors than students with lower self-efficacy.

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Table 1 Participants’ information

Girls Boys All participantsM (SD) M (SD) M (SD)

Number of yearsstudied EFL

7.10 (1.58) 6.34 (1.81) 6.78 (1.72)

Number of hours/weekspent on studyingEnglish

5.56 (3.24) 4.84 (2.61) 5.23 (2.98)

Grade received ineighth grade

76.47% (20.47%) 70.30% (22.39%) 73.63% (21.54%)

Method

ParticipantsParticipants were 192 ninth-grade students from two schools in Korea: 92 (48%)participants from an all-boys’ school and 100 (52%) participants from an all-girls’ school. Both groups of learners in the two public schools were of lowermiddle-class socioeconomic backgrounds. All participants learned English asa required school subject for at least 6 years in school and reported that theEnglish instruction they had received focused primarily on English grammarrather than on communications skills. Ninety-six percent of the participantsreported not having visited any English-speaking country. Table 1 presents anin-depth breakdown of the means and standard deviations of how many yearslearners have studied English, the average number of hours per week they spentstudying English, and the average grade they received in eighth grade.

MeasuresAttributionLearners’ attributions were measured using two scales: the Causal DimensionScale II (CDS II) developed by McAuley, Duncan, and Russell (1992) andthe Language Achievement Attribution Scale (LAAS) developed by Hsieh andSchallert (2008). The CDS II contained 12 items that measured the dimensionsof causal attributions. The dimensions included locus of causality (internalcontrol), stability, personal control, and external control, each scored on a 9-point Likert scale (e.g., “The grade you received is due to something over whichyou have power,” “The grade you received is due to something over which othershave control”). The internal consistency values for the four subscales in thisstudy were as follows: locus of causality, .65; stability, .26; personal control,

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.78; external, .80. Due to the low internal consistency for the stability measure,it was excluded from the analyses.

Two attribution scales were used because we wished to not only examinethe dimensions of the attributions but also to understand what specific reasonslearners gave for their successes and failures. The LAAS included eight ques-tions in which learners were asked to report the grade they had received onthe test and how satisfied they were with the result. Learners then rated thedegree to which they believed the result of their test was due to their ability(e.g., “My grade on this test is what it is because of my ability in learning thelanguage”), effort, the difficulty of the test, their mood, the teacher, and luck,common examples provided by Weiner (1985). These reasons were measuredon a 6-point Likert scale, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree(Hsieh & Schallert, 2008).

Self-EfficacyThe self-efficacy instrument asked students to rate on a scale of 0 to100 (0 =very uncertain and 100 = very certain) their confidence of earning 10 possiblescores on their next test. This procedure of measuring self-efficacy has beenused in many studies and has been found to be a good measure of self-efficacy(e.g., Bandura, 1984; Stajkovic & Sommer, 2000; Wood & Locke, 1987). ACronbach’s α coefficient of .85 was obtained in this study.

Language AchievementStudents’ self-reported scores on the language tests were used as a measure ofachievement. Although self-reports of test scores can be seen as a limitation tothis study, this way of obtaining sensitive data assures that revealing of students’scores was voluntary. The language achievement measure was used to examinethe predictive power of learners’ self-efficacy and attributions. The mean andstandard deviation for the test scores are reported in Table 2.

ProceduresQuestionnaires were distributed and completed during class meetings in mid-May. Learners were assured that their identities and responses would be keptconfidential. It was agreed with the teachers that learners would complete thedemographic, attribution, and self-efficacy questionnaires at the time the learn-ers’ first test was returned to them so that they could evaluate whether theyperceived their scores to be a success or failure. Learners filled out the ques-tionnaires immediately before any verbal feedback was given by the teacher,thus ensuring that the attributions for the test results were the learners’ own

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Tab

le2

Inte

rcor

rela

tion

sam

ong

test

scor

e,at

trib

utio

nra

ting

s,an

dse

lf-e

ffica

cy

MSD

12

34

56

78

910

1112

1Te

st1

71.5

723

.19

scor

es2

Test

277

.38

28.2

4.5

92∗∗

scor

es3

Abi

lity

3.98

1.36

−.03

6−.

073

4E

ffor

t3.

491.

46.1

30.0

91.2

02∗∗

5D

iffi

cult

y3.

321.

44.1

61∗

.076

−.04

3.0

376

Moo

d2.

461.

25−.

003

.076

−.11

7.0

13.1

407

Luc

k2.

481.

28.1

03.0

36−.

069

.113

.149

∗.3

03∗∗

8Te

ache

r2.

071.

19−.

186∗∗

−.06

3−.

091

−.05

4.0

78.2

58∗∗

.343

∗∗

9In

tern

al6.

281.

54.2

72∗∗

.294

∗∗.3

15∗∗

.233

∗∗−.

044

−.05

6−.

064

−.10

710

Ext

erna

l3.

101.

80−.

248∗∗

−.18

4∗−.

064

.040

.041

.179

∗.1

82∗

.370

∗∗−.

282∗∗

11S

tabl

e5.

251.

48.2

05∗∗

.199

∗.2

11∗∗

.240

∗∗.0

54−.

072

.113

.052

.441

∗∗.0

4412

Pers

onal

6.61

1.81

.478

∗∗.4

89∗∗

.219

∗∗.1

16.0

27−.

018

−.11

7−.

129

.556

∗∗−.

311∗∗

.330

∗∗

13S

elf-

65.6

427

.42

.499

∗∗.4

37∗∗

−.02

0.0

82.0

32−.

098

−.05

3−.

186∗

.284

∗∗−.

242∗∗

.242

∗∗.4

34∗∗

effi

cacy

∗ p<

.05.

∗∗p

<.0

1.

Language Learning 60:3, September 2010, pp. 606–627 614

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Hsieh and Kang Korean EFL Learners’ Belief

explanations. Learners’ second test scores were gathered upon receiving theirsecond test result.

Data AnalysisTo analyze the data, learners were grouped first by whether they perceived theirtest scores as a success or failure, then by their self-efficacy level. Learnerswere categorized into successful and unsuccessful groups not based on theirtest grades but rather according to their perceptions of whether their grade wasa success or a failure. This was a suggested approach because most learnersmay view 90% on a test as a successful grade, whereas learners with highexpectations of themselves may view the same score as a failure (Hsieh &Schallert, 2008).

Results

First, to examine the predictive power of EFL learners’ self-efficacy beliefs andattributions on their achievements in the EFL classroom, correlation analyseswere conducted. Means, standard deviations, and zero-order correlations forall variables in the study are presented in Table 2. The analyses revealed thatboth classroom-based achievement measures were significantly correlated withself-efficacy scores and with internal and personal control attributions, rangingfrom r = .27 to r = .50. From the correlation analysis, we find that languageachievement is negatively related to “external attribution,” meaning that stu-dents who do not believe they have control over the learning outcome are alsothe ones who do not perform well. In the same way, those who do not performwell make external attributions for this outcome.

To test whether learners’ self-efficacy and attribution would predict theirachievement in English, multiple regression analysis was conducted. This anal-ysis was used because we wanted to examine the effects of self-efficacy onachievement, as it has been identified as the key motivational construct inpredicting achievement in other areas of learning. We also wanted to add tothe literature on how learners’ attributions predict achievement, thus we addedattributions to the model to see if this would add additional variance to theprediction of achievement in English.

In the first regression analysis model, learners’ English test score at time 2was the dependent variable, whereas the predictor variable was self-efficacy.Results indicated that self-efficacy was significantly related to achievement,R2 = .24, F(1, 186) = 58.67, p < .001. In the second model, all attributionswere added to the analysis, controlling for self-efficacy, and were found to be

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significantly related to achievement, R2 = .33, F(9, 177) = 2.78, p < .01, with asignificant increase in R2 (R2 change = .30). Of the attribution factors, personalcontrol was most strongly related to test score. Supporting this conclusionis the strength of the bivariate correlation, which was .47, p < .001. In thethird model, only the personal control variable was added to the analysis. Thisvariable predicted significantly over and above the other variables, R2 change =.37, F(1, 176) = 20.09, p < .001. With the addition of this variable, we see asignificant improvement in the prediction of achievement. Results are shownin Table 3.

This finding reaffirms that self-efficacy is a good predictor of academicachievement, as suggested by other researchers (e.g., Bong, 2005; Mills et al.,2007; Multon, Brown, & Lent, 1991; Zimmerman & Bandura, 1994), andcomplements previous findings in that the addition of attributions at the second

Table 3 Hierarchical multiple regression analyses: Using self-efficacy and attributionsto predict achievement (N = 162)

Standardized ZeroModel Predictors coefficient β t Significance order Partial Part

1 Self-efficacy .49 7.66 .00 .49 .49 .492 Self-efficacy .39 5.74 .00 .49 .40 .35

Internal .12 1.52 .13 .26 .11 .09External −.11 −1.58 .12 −.24 −.12 −.10Ability −.09 −1.31 .19 −.03 −.10 −.08Effort .04 0.55 .58 .11 .04 .03Difficulty .13 2.10 .04 .16 .16 .13Mood .01 0.16 .88 −.02 .01 .01Luck .17 2.39 .02 .12 .18 .15Teacher −.14 −1.90 .06 −.19 −.14 −.12

3 Self-efficacy .30 4.36 .00 .49 .31 .25Internal −.01 −0.08 .94 .26 −.01 −.01External −.06 −0.88 .38 −.24 −.07 −.05Ability −.12 −1.83 .07 −.03 −.14 −.11Effort .04 0.71 .48 .11 .05 .04Difficulty .12 1.94 .05 .16 .15 .11Mood −.02 −0.28 .78 −.02 −.02 −.02Luck .20 3.02 .01 .12 .22 .18Teacher −.14 −2.12 .04 −.19 −.16 −.13Personal control .35 4.48 .00 .47 .32 .26

Note. Adjusted R2 = .24 for Model 1; �R2 = .30 for Model 2; �R2 = .37 for Model 3.

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level significantly increased the variance explained in test scores in the contextof learning EFL. Previously, Kang (2000) reported that Korean middle-schoolEFL learners with low instrumental-knowledge orientation tended to attributetheir success or failure to variables beyond their control. The current study alsodemonstrated that attributing test outcomes to factors over which learners havecontrol was strongly related to their achievement in the EFL classroom. Thismay suggest that learners who assume greater responsibilities for their learningoutcomes (those who attribute outcomes to factors within their control) dobetter than those who do not assert personal control in the learning of EFL.

To address the second research question of whether successful and unsuc-cessful EFL learners and learners with varying levels of self-efficacy differ intheir endorsement of attributions, a MANOVA was conducted. The two setsof attributions (the CDS II and the LAAS) served as dependent variables,whereas learners’ groups, based on their perceived success or failure in lan-guage achievement and their high or low self-efficacy, were the independentvariables.

Attributions of Successful and Unsuccessful LearnersMultivariate F tests indicated significant differences between successful andunsuccessful learners in terms of attributions, Wilks’s λ = .74, F(9, 176) =6.89, p < .001, partial η2 = .26. ANOVAs on each dependent variable (CDS II,including “internal,” “external,” and “personal” factors, and LAAS, including“ability,” “effort,” “difficulty of the test,” “mood,” “the teacher,” and “luck”variables) were conducted as follow-up tests to the MANOVA. Results showedthat successful learners tended to endorse internal attributions more strongly(M = 6.69, SD = 1.28) than unsuccessful learners (M = 6.05, SD = 1.61),F(1, 184) = 7.54, p < .01, MSe = 16.47, partial η2 = .04. In addition, learnersin the successful group also tended to attribute their success to personal controlfactors (M = 7.17, SD = 1.30) more than those in the unsuccessful group (M =6.35, SD = 1.96), F(1,184) = 9.62, p < .01, MSe = 26.71, partial η2 = .05.

Significant differences between successful and unsuccessful learners werealso found in the actual reasons for learners’ believed success and failure.Specifically, learners in the successful group attributed test outcomes to ability(M = 4.95, SD = 1.18) more than did unsuccessful learners (M = 3.69, SD =1.44), F(1, 184) = 5.33, p < .05, MSe = 9.40, partial η2 = .03. This indicatesthat successful learners attributed test outcomes to their high level of ability,whereas unsuccessful learners did not feel that ability was the reason for theirfailure. Similarly, successful learners tended to rate test outcomes according tothe amount of effort they put into studying (M = 5.31, SD = 0.99) more than

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Table 4 Mean (standard deviations) attribution scores for successful and unsuccessfullearners

Successful Unsuccessful DifferenceAttribution M (SD) M (SD) between two groups F Significance

Internal 6.69 (1.28) 6.05 (1.61) 0.64 7.54 p < .01External 3.04 (1.96) 3.13 (1.70) 0.09 0.54 n.s.Stable 4.89 (1.46) 4.90 (1.34) 0.01 0.37 n.s.Personal 7.17 (1.30) 6.35 (1.96) 0.82 9.62 p < .01Ability 4.95 (1.18) 3.69 (1.44) 1.26 5.33 p < .05Effort 5.31 (.99) 3.44 (1.45) 1.87 20.30 p < .001Difficulty 3.61 (1.48) 3.19 (1.40) 0.42 1.65 n.s.Mood 2.21 (1.05) 2.57 (1.30) 0.36 2.99 n.s.Luck 2.90 (1.44) 2.56 (1.13) 0.34 2.60 n.s.Teacher 2.01 (1.39) 2.12 (1.07) 0.11 0.03 n.s.

did learners in the unsuccessful group (M = 3.44, SD = 1.45), F(1, 184) =20.30, p < .001, MSe = 38.36, partial η2 = .10. The means and standarddeviations for specific attributions are presented in Table 4.

These are remarkable results because it is conducive to learning and aca-demic achievement for learners to view success as a result of internal factorsand factors within their control, such as some of their attributes or actions,as indicated by the internal and personal ratings on the CDS II scale andsupported by the LAAS results of learners’ strong endorsement of ability andeffort attributions. From the results gathered here, it can be suggested that theselearners make adaptive attributions for success, such that successful learnersbelieved that success was due to high ability, which is highly associated withhigh self-confidence (Tremblay & Gardner, 1995). The attributions of failureto lack of ability would be maladaptive because they are associated with alack of volitional control. However, unsuccessful learners in this study did notbelieve lack of ability was the reason for their failing grade. As suggestedby many attributional retraining theorists such as Dweck (1975), Foersterling(1985), and Robertson (2000), learners’ motivation can be influenced by thetypes of attributions that they make. Attributions can influence students’ mo-tivations, behaviors, emotional reactions, and expectations for future success(Weiner, 1979, 2000). Stable factors influence expectation of success, whereascontrollable factors lead to feelings of control. Students who believe that theyhave control over academic outcomes hold higher expectations for success andtend to be more highly motivated. Thus, findings suggest that the Korean EFL

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Table 5 Mean (standard deviations) attribution scores for learners with high or lowself-efficacy

High self- Low self- Differenceefficacy efficacy between

Attribution M (SD) M (SD) two groups F Significance

Internal 6.64 (1.43) 6.10 (1.58) 0.54 5.35 p < .05External 2.74 (1.81) 3.59 (1.71) 0.85 9.12 p < .01Personal 7.22 (1.54) 6.29 (1.87) 0.93 12.39 p < .001Stable 5.38 (1.45) 5.02 (1.37) 0.36 4.13 n.s.

learners in this study have demonstrated healthy attributions for their learningoutcomes.

Attributions of Learners with High and Low Self-EfficacyResults of the MANOVA indicated that learners with different levels of self-efficacy endorsed attributions differently, Wilks’s λ = .88, F(9, 176) = 2.63,p < .01, partial η2 = .12. Learners with higher self-efficacy tended to attributetest outcomes more strongly to internal control factors, F(1, 184) = 5.35, p <

.05, MSe = 11.69, partial η2 = .03, and personal control factors, F(1, 184) =12.39, p < .001, MSe = 34.41, partial η2 = .06, than those with lower self-efficacy. On the other hand, learners with lower self-efficacy tended to attributetest outcomes more strongly to external factors, F(1, 184) = 9.12, p < .01,MSe = 28.39, partial η2 = .05, than those with higher self-efficacy (seeTable 5 for means and standard deviations). Results suggest that learners withhigher self-efficacy tended to view test outcomes as a result of something aboutthem and thus indicated having more confidence to perform well in the EFLclass. Conversely, learners with lower self-efficacy reported that test outcomesresulted from some external factors beyond their control, thus creating an inabil-ity to foresee positive future outcomes and leading to low expectations of futuresuccess. Having such a belief could possibly lead to learned helplessness.

Interaction EffectsFurther analysis (2 × 2 MANOVA) demonstrated a significant interaction be-tween successful or unsuccessful language achievement groups and high orlow self-efficacy levels, Wilks’s λ = .90, F(9, 176) = 2.63, p < .01, partialη2 = .12. A follow-up test using the ANOVA indicated that significant inter-action effects were only found in personal control factors, F(1, 184) = 3.75,p <.05, MSe = 10.41, partial η2 = .02. Specifically, among learners who per-ceived the test outcome as unsuccessful, those who reported having higher

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Table 6 Mean (standard deviations) personal control attribution scores for learners withhigh or low self-efficacy

High Self- Low self- Differenceefficacy efficacy between

Group M (SD) M (SD) two groups F Significance

Unsuccessful 7.07 (1.66) 5.64 (1.95) 1.43 3.74 p < .05Successful 7.37 (1.36) 6.96 (1.18) 0.41 1.83 n.s.

5

5.5

6

6.5

7

7.5

Low Self-Efficacy High Self-Efficacy

Pers

onal

Con

trol

Unsuccessful

Successful

Figure 1 Mean personal control scores for successful and unsuccessful students withhigh or low self-efficacy.

self-efficacy assumed greater personal control for the learning outcome (M =7.07, SD = 1.66) than those who reported lower self-efficacy (M = 5.64,SD = 1.95); see Table 6. On the other hand, no significant interaction ef-fects were found for successful learners, indicating that these learners had ahigh sense of personal control over the learning outcome regardless of theirself-efficacy level. The pattern of the interaction is shown in Figure 1.

Although perceptions of achievement levels may be similarly low (as inthis case when learners see themselves as being unsuccessful), learners withdifferent levels of self-efficacy had different perceptions of personal controlover the learning outcome. This is worth noting because whether a personattributes failure to controllable or uncontrollable factors will likely influencethe person’s future behaviors. Whereas unsuccessful learners with high self-efficacy reported high levels of personal control over the learning outcome,unsuccessful learners with low self-efficacy tended to believe they had littlecontrol over the failure. Although it is promising to see that unsuccessfulKorean EFL learners who had higher self-efficacy took responsibility for their

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perceived low achievement, those with low self-efficacy may feel discouraged,develop low expectations for future success, and pull away from future tasks,which can then lead to lower achievement and motivation (Bandura, 1986b;Licht & Kistner, 1986; Schunk & Zimmerman, 2006).

Discussion

The primary goal of this study was to investigate how Korean EFL learnersattribute successes and failures in their language classes. This study stressesthe importance of the identification and alteration of learners’ unhealthy attri-butions, which may lead to low self-efficacy and low motivation. We examinedhow well self-efficacy and attributions would predict learners’ achievementlevels in authentic EFL classes. As Bandura (1997) stated, self-efficacy, ex-pectations of success, and achievement are related. Students who have highself-efficacy tend to have positive outcome expectations and, in turn, to vali-date self-efficacy as they experience success (Schunk & Pajares, 2005). Thepositive correlation between self-efficacy and language achievement found inthis study should not discount the potential importance of foreign languagelearners’ attributions. Although many researchers suggest that self-efficacyalone is predictive of academic success (e.g., Bandura, 1986b; Schunk, 1984),this study has identified that successful academic outcomes are also signif-icantly related to feelings of personal control over the learning task, whichcomplements Schunk and Pajares’s (2005) findings. When students feel in con-trol of the learning situation, they tend to put in more effort and persist in theface of challenges (Weiner, 2000). On the other hand, students who attributenegative outcomes to uncontrollable factors like lack of ability or teacher bias(some examples of maladaptive attributions) may develop learned helplessness(Peterson, Maier, & Seligman, 1993). Our results support the important rolethat both self-efficacy and attribution play in language achievement.

This study also reveals that successful English language learners tend toascribe their success to internal and personal factors more than unsuccessfullearners, contrary to the findings of Williams and Burden (1999), in whichBritish students explained their successes in learning French by external fac-tors. Using the LAAS, we are able to pinpoint the exact attribution learnersendorsed for their achievement. Successful learners more strongly endorsedability and effort attributions for their test outcomes than did unsuccessfullearners. Whereas learners with lower self-efficacy tended to attribute test re-sults more to external factors and felt they had less personal control for pooroutcomes, higher self-efficacy learners attributed low scores to factors under

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their control. It is promising to know that high self-efficacy learners take re-sponsibility for their failures.

Results of the findings give precedence to the importance of teachers’ rolesin monitoring students’ beliefs. Although the study only looked at Korean En-glish language learners, the assessment of students’ beliefs and reasons forsuccess and failure should be carried out for all students. Foreign languageteachers should identify students’ unhealthy attributions, such as believing thatthey have no volitional control over future learning outcomes. These attri-butions can discourage the investment of time and effort, leading to learnedhelplessness and poor future test performance (Bandura, 1986b; Schunk &Zimmerman, 2006; Weiner, 2000). Attributing failure to factors within learn-ers’ personal control, such as lack of effort, inadequate preparation, or misuseof strategies, can lead to higher expectations of success if study habits arechanged. Thus, learners will be more likely to invest effort in future tasksperceived as worthwhile. This type of adaptive attribution should be taught sothat learners take responsibility for their learning outcomes, which may leadto higher expectations of future successes and achievement (Horner & Gaither,2004; Robertson, 2000). As attributions and self-efficacy are strongly relatedto future effort, persistence, motivation, and expectations of future success,foreign language teachers should pay special attention to learners’ cognitivebeliefs, not just focus on learners’ performance.

The interrelationship between attribution and self-efficacy is clearly demon-strated in this study. This relationship is important in the field of foreign lan-guage because beliefs about personal and external locus of causality are closelyrelated to a student’s sense of his or her ability to learn a foreign language. AsHorwitz (1988) has reported, many language learners make presumptions ofwho can succeed in language learning based on their previous learning experi-ences and cultural backgrounds, and these beliefs can influence their ultimateperformance.

Educators and administrators who work closely with language learners needto understand how they can help learners develop a strong sense of self-efficacyand make appropriate, healthy attributions for success or failure. Through thisstudy, it can be suggested that by helping students develop awareness of theirown cognition, motivation, and behaviors, they might be able to attain futurelanguage success. Foreign language teachers can help students develop a senseof efficacy through attribution retraining, which would involve specific teacherfeedback confirming learners’ adequate abilities and emphasizing the effortand perseverance required to complete a given task successfully.

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As with all empirical studies, implications should be interpreted with theknowledge of its limitations. First, as in all self-reporting questionnaire data,there may be a chance that participants of this study may have misinterpreteditems on the questionnaires or represented themselves inaccurately. In addi-tion, our sample consisted of students studying English at two different Koreanhigh schools and teachers’ achievement scores might have been assessed dif-ferently. However, because there is a specific English curriculum standard thatall ninth graders must meet in order to enter college, we reason that achieve-ment scores for the two schools are comparable. Although similarities existbetween the schools, it must be taken into consideration that results generatedmay not generalize to all students in Korea. Further research should evaluatethe relationships among students’ self-efficacy, attribution, and achievementin different cultures. A study of how students of different cultures attributesuccesses and failures and how they develop their sense of capabilities to learna foreign language would be of great importance.

Revised version accepted 29 April 2009

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