CHARTING LANGUAGE HORIZONS: INVESTIGATING THE DYNAMIC ROLE OF SELF-EFFICACY ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING AMONG HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS– A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35631/IJEPC.1162091Keywords:
Academic Achievement, Foreign Language Learning, Higher Education, Self-Efficacy, Systematic ReviewAbstract
How significantly does a student’s belief in their success determine their actual performance in a foreign language? What are the key factors that moderate this relationship? To address these questions, this systematic review evaluated research published between 2018 and 2024, utilising Bandura’s self-efficacy framework to analyse the relationship between self-belief and foreign language performance in higher education settings. From the initial 769 articles sourced from Scopus, Google Scholar, and Research Gate, 26 met the criteria required to examine the diverse linguistic landscapes of modern students. The meta-analysis underscores a consistent finding: higher self-efficacy correlates with superior language learning outcomes, yielding a small-to-moderate effect size. Perhaps more revealing, however, is the role of moderators—a complex web of individual (gender and grade level), psychological (anxiety), and instructional factors (teaching methods and vicarious experiences)–that actively shape the learner’s foreign language performance. Environmental contexts, such as study abroad experiences, also play pivotal roles. Ultimately, this review argues that self-efficacy is not merely a psychological byproduct but a critical engine of linguistic success. Consequently, it recommends that teacher training and curricula move beyond rote instruction to incorporate "efficacy-boosting" tools—positive feedback and mastery-based tasks—to cultivate a more supportive and high-achieving learning environment.
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