Song of MyselfSelf-Efficacy and the Suspension Student

Courtney BrayCathe NutterTexas Tech University

Self-Efficacy – definition

A person’s belief in his/her ability to perform a particular task or activity.

It is NOT self-esteem; it is NOT ego.

It is confidence in one’s ability or understanding.

Self-Efficacy – where does it come from?

Four sources of information:

Performance accomplishment

Vicarious experiences

Verbal persuasion

Physiological states

Performance accomplishments show far stronger

results than other sources of self-efficacy. Performance

accomplishments key on personal mastery, making it

extremely influential in perceived ability. Success breeds

success; failure, failure. As important, repeated success

limits the impact of any subsequent failure. A student’s

success in a particular activity will produce positive

consequences that help the student overcome any setback.

Vicarious experience, a form of observational

learning, can increase a person’s belief in self

performance, thereby providing some improvement in

performance. Observed behaviors must show

consequences to be effective in self-efficacy of the

observer.

Verbal persuasion produces results, although these

results are weaker than those gained from performance

accomplishments because persuasion does not provide

an experiential awareness. However, “people who are

socially persuaded that they possess the capabilities to

master difficult situations and are provided with

provisional aids for effective action are likely to mobilize

greater effort than those who receive only performance

aids.”

Physiological states linked to emotional arousal relate

to anxiety. People tend to link anxiety to low

performance. By focusing on thoughts concerning a

previous lack of adequate performance, people can

increase their anxiety levels far above the actual

performance situation.

In other words, people can think a situation worse than it

actually was. Anxiety arousal can be virtually eliminated

through experienced mastery or successful performance.

Self-efficacy – why does it matter?Students with stronger self-efficacy perform better and persist longer

in a variety of academic behaviors and activities (DeWitz, Woolsey,

and Walsh, 2009).

In other words, college students, even those with a history of

academic failure, persist longer, are retained longer, if they believe

in their ability to succeed, to graduate.

Self-efficacy beliefs shape a myriad of choices people make,

including academic choices.

Self-efficacy – where does it show?

Cognitive – what I know

Motivational – why I want to do something

Affective – what I do

Selection – how and why I choose.

Self-efficacy -- how do we assess?Erlich and Russ-Eft (2011) identify ways self-efficacy constructs can be applied to academic advising interactions.

Advising through observational learning, guided mastery, and cognitive modeling teaches students how to address academic questions through all of Bandura’s four sources and “could help students understand how to handle future decisions, moving them toward greater self-regulation in applying more complex academic-planning strategies” (p.10).

Self-efficacy -- how do we assess?

By actively incorporating the four sources of self-efficacy

into advising programs and activities, advisors could

create an academic plan for guiding students to higher

self-belief while encouraging students to practice

forethought, performance, and self-reflection (Erlich &

Russ-Eft, 2011).

Self-efficacy scales…Self-efficacy measures perceived capabilities and should therefore be phrased as “can do” rather than “will do.”

Questions should center around a student’s judgment of capability, not self-esteem or locus of control.

Self-efficacy focuses on ability to execute a given performance, and should be differentiated from performance outcome expectation.

A 100-point scale divided into increments of 10 will allow for measurable changes in measurement but will also help maintain reliability and sensitivity of the scores.

Self-efficacy statement, an example

“Please rate how certain you are that you can learn to use study skills.”

The item measures perceived ability and ignores performance

indicators, locus of control language, and directive or judgmental

language such as “will” or “should.”

Reframe

Reframe

Of the solutions you identified above, rate your confidence in your ability to complete each one.

Self-Efficacy of Solutions

Solution: My belief in my ability to perform:

 I believe I can use the Learning Center for math tutoring.

1 4 7 10

 I believe I can tell my friends no. 

 I believe I can learn to use a planner.  

 I believe I can learn note-taking strategies.  

   

Self-efficacy

Self-efficacy scales should measure what they purport to

measure, namely the ability to perform a particular task. But they should also have discriminative and predictive validity.

People who score high on perceived self-efficacy should

differ in distinct ways from those who score low. That

means we should see a difference between those with

high self-efficacy and others. This difference becomes

the basis of future research and literature.

Self-efficacy, a goal for advising

Academic advisors who manage efficacy-based retention

programs for the previously suspended will have research data,

hypotheses, and valuable information for the advising profession

with a well-constructed, well researched efficacy scale.

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