Essay: Theories of career self-efficacy and career exploration

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES
This chapter reviews the literature that described the theories and concepts of career self-efficacy and career exploration. Since these literatures are important, the following concepts would give a further explanation about the study.
RELATED LITERATURE
Writing
As cited by Salem and Dyiar (2014), Salem (2013) said that writing is one of the four basic language skills that is given an utmost degree of importance. Majority of research were conducted to investigate certain aspects of the writing skills. Therefore, it has become so clear that writing is important whether for academic or occupational purposes. Writing helps people to express their ideas, emotions and feelings. Writing also helps them to promote the sense of ownership. Therefore, writing is considered to be the commonest way of assessing students’ performance in English. Writing is so important as to be included in foreign language syllabus for many reasons; one of these reasons is that people need writing to communicate with each other. Also, writing helps students learn effectively. According to Salem (2008), writing ameliorates students’ grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary. In addition, writing helps students to be adventurous in using the language. It provides students a challenging opportunity to go deep beyond what they have directly learned to say. It is worth noting that writing helps students to become deeply involved with the new language. Al-Saleem views that writing is one of the most important
elements of the activities that take place within the classroom. It is of great aid for students to practice grammatical structures and vocabulary. Writing in his point of view represents an excellent means for expressing their ideas and thoughts without being obliged to be in a face-to-face interaction. Developing English writing skills depends mainly of designing instructions that address students’ needs and objectives. Writing represents one of the main devices for people to express their ideas, thoughts and feelings. The written form of a language remains forever, unless it is destroyed by people or by the effect of time. In spite of its ultimate importance, writing skills may be impeded from being enhanced and developed because of writing anxiety . Foreign language anxiety is a construct that can be touched in all classes.
Writing Apprehension
Writing anxiety may derive from experiencing failure in the past or it may be ordinary fear of failure. As cited by Salem and Dyiar (2014), Horwitz et al. (1986, p. 127), refer to ‘a type of performance anxiety stemming from a fear of failure’. The fear of failing a test pervades every school environment and is the prevailing cause of writing apprehension in L2 writing situations. Many studies in the area of English writing instruction have highlighted that writing anxiety is an important factor that affects the quality as well as perception of writing amongst students. Therefore, due to all the challenges students face in writing, many L2 students may feel strained or discouraged and this will eventually cause them to stop even trying to write due to this anxiety. Writing anxiety relates with the relation between writing and reading skills. The more students read, the more they are able to write easily without being afraid of the writing tasks. Therefore, there are two main reasons of writing anxiety: Insufficient acquisition of the code, and misunderstanding of the composing process, the false belief that good writers get it right on the first draft.
Both L1 and L2 student writers attempt writing tasks. They also encounter difficulties and get stuck gazing at the blank sheet of paper and cannot begin writing and when they do they do it uncomfortably. This is a common psychological phenomenon that has been known in the literature under different terms as writing apprehension , block , anxiety , and fear , though apprehension and anxiety are the two most frequently used terms to describe this problem. The phenomenon of writing apprehension has received much scholarly effort because of the importance assigned to it by many educators and writing specialists.
Salem and Dyiar (2014) said that The writing center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill puts forth the following strategies for handling writing apprehension. These are as follows:
Getting support from a person i.e. a family member, a classmate, a teacher, a colleague or a writing center tutor you trust to encourage you in writing life, identifying one’s strengths, recognizing that writing is a complex process, think of yourself as an apprentice, try new tactics when you get stuck and celebrate your success.
Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy refers to one’s belief that he or she is able to successfully complete a task. A strong sense of self-efficacy is established through mastery experiences, vicarious experiences observing a model, verbal reinforcement, and one’s psychological and affective states. Individuals with higher self-efficacy for a given task are more likely to engage in that task and persevere when faced with difficulty.
Bandura (1994) stated in his theory that perceived self-efficacy is defined as people’s beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. Self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave. Such beliefs produce these diverse effects through four major processes. They include cognitive, motivational, affective and selection processes.A strong sense of efficacy enhances human accomplishment and personal well-being in many ways. People with high assurance in their capabilities approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered rather than as threats to be avoided. Such an efficacious outlook fosters intrinsic interest and deep engrossment in activities. They set themselves challenging goals and maintain strong commitment to them. They heighten and sustain their efforts in the face of failure. They quickly recover their sense of efficacy after failures or setbacks. They attribute failure to insufficient effort or deficient knowledge and skills which are acquirable. They approach threatening situations with assurance that they can exercise control over them. Such an efficacious outlook produces personal accomplishments, reduces stress and lowers vulnerability to depression. In contrast, people who doubt their capabilities shy away from difficult tasks which they view as personal threats. They have low aspirations and weak commitment to the goals they choose to pursue. When faced with difficult tasks, they dwell on their personal deficiencies, on the obstacles they will encounter, and all kinds of adverse outcomes rather than concentrate on how to perform successfully. They slacken their efforts and give up quickly in the face of difficulties. They are slow to recover their sense of efficacy following failure or setbacks. Because they view insufficient performance as deficient aptitude it does not require much failure for them to lose faith in their capabilities. They fall easy victim to stress and depression.
Self-efficacy beliefs
Pajares (2009) believed that psychologist Albert Bandura painted a portrait of human behavior and motivation in which individuals’ self-beliefs are critical elements. Of all the beliefs that people hold about themselves and that affect their day-today functioning, and standing at the core of social cognitive theory, are self-efficacy beliefs, which can be defined as the judgments that individuals hold about their capabilities to learn or to perform courses of action at designated levels. In essence, self-efficacy beliefs are the self-perceptions that individuals hold about their capabilities. According to social cognitive theory, self-efficacy beliefs provide the foundation for human motivation, well-being, and personal accomplishment: Unless people believe that their actions can produce the outcomes they desire, they have little incentive to act or to persevere in the face of difficulties. These self-perceptions touch virtually every aspect of people’s lives’whether they think productively, self-debilitatingly, pessimistically or optimistically; how well they motivate themselves and persevere in the face of adversities; their vulnerability to stress and depression; and the life choices they make. Self-efficacy is also a critical determinant of the self-regulatory practices in which individuals engage as they go about the important task of self-correcting their actions and cognitions. Self-efficacy beliefs should not be confused with outcome expectations, which are people’s judgments of the consequences that their behavior will produce. Typically, self-efficacy beliefs help foster the outcome one expects.
Confident individuals anticipate successful outcomes. Students confident in their social skills anticipate successful social encounters. Those confident in their academic skills expect high marks on exams and expect the quality of their work to reap academic benefits. The opposite is true of those who lack confidence. People who doubt their social skills often envision rejection or ridicule even before they establish social contact. Students who lack confidence in their academic skills envision a low grade even before they begin an exam or enroll in a course. The expected results of these imagined performances will be differently envisioned: social success or greater career options for the former, social isolation or curtailed academic possibilities for the latter. When self-efficacy belief and outcome expectation differ, the self-efficacy belief is more likely to determine the behavior. Students may well realize that strong academic skills are essential for obtaining a good SAT score and being admitted to the college of their choice, and this, in turn, may ensure a comfortable future lifestyle. But if students lack confidence in their academic capabilities, they may well shy away from challenging courses, will approach the SAT with apprehension and self-doubt, and may not even consider college attendance. In the social interaction, individuals may realize that pleasing manners and physical attractiveness are essential for attracting the attention of others, which is the first step toward building long-lasting relationships. If, however, they have low confidence in their social skills and doubt their physical attractiveness, they may hesitate to make contact and hence miss potentially promising opportunities. Because individuals operate collectively as well as individually, self-efficacy is both a personal and a social construct. Collective systems develop a sense of collective efficacy’a group’s shared belief in its capability to attain goals and accomplish desired tasks. For example, schools develop collective beliefs about the capability of their students to learn, of their teachers to teach and otherwise enhance the lives of their students, and of their administrators and policy makers to create environments conducive to these tasks. Organizations with a strong sense of collective efficacy exercise empowering and vitalizing influences on their constituents, and these effects are palpable and evident.
Writing self-efficacy
Teo (2013)said in his article that according to social cognitive theory, self-efficacy has been proved to be the most consistent and reliable predictor of students’ task performance (Bandura, 1997). Self-efficacy is an individual’s confidence in his/her ability to successfully perform a particular task. Self-efficacy is derived from four sources: mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasion and emotional state. In academic context, self-efficacy helps a student to determine how much effort, persistence and resilience to be put on a task. For example, in writing classes, highly self-efficacious students view difficulties as tasks to be mastered to form a stronger sense of commitment to their interests in the writing tasks; and recover quickly from difficulties and disappointments. Conversely, inefficacious students avoid challenging tasks; believe that difficult tasks and situations are beyond their capabilities; fall back on previous personal failures and negative outcomes; and quickly lose confidence in their personal abilities (Schunk, 1996). As self-efficacy beliefs directly influence subsequent behaviors, they have been attested to be a better predictor of performance than factors such as actual ability or previous accomplishments (Bandura, 1994).
RELATED STUDIES
The study of Singh and Rajalingam (2012) entitled ‘The Relationship of Writing Apprehension Level and Self-efficacy Beliefs on Writing Proficiency Level among Pre-university Students’purposed to determine the level of writing apprehension and how writing apprehension level and writing self-efficacy beliefs influences writing proficiency level among pre-university students. Participants were 320 pre-university students from a northern region college offering this programme. All the respondents were administered with three instruments measuring their writing apprehension levels and writing self-efficacy beliefs and their writing proficiency. The writing apprehension levels among these respondents were found to be average. Self-efficacy factors revealed an inverse relationship with writing apprehension level. The relationship between writing apprehension level and writing proficiency indicated that the higher the apprehension level the better the respondents performance. Students’ views with regard to their writing apprehension level are also presented. These findings are supported in the literature and discussions. Based on the findings, the study presents some recommendations to overcome this problem.
Their study is related to the previous study, as they studied students to determine the level of writing apprehension and how writing apprehension level and writing self-efficacy beliefs influences writing proficiency level among pre-university students. This study will not include the writing proficiency of the students, but only to the two factors which is the writing apprehension and writing self-efficacy beliefs of the students and the relationship of the two variables.
Shah, et.al (2011) conducted a study entitled ‘Self-Efficacy in the Writing of Malaysian ESL Learners’to examine English language learners’ self-efficacy in writing. Specifically, their study investigated the self-efficacy of Malaysian secondary school students learning English. The study also examined the relationship between the learners’ self-efficacy and their writing performance and competence. Two instruments were used to collect data. First, the participants were given writing assessments and their scores were reflected in their performance measurements. Second, the participants responded to the questionnaires on self-efficacy. The data were analysed using descriptive statistical techniques and a correlation analysis was also performed. Descriptive analysis showed that the respondents exhibited a medium level of self-efficacy in writing. Correlation analysis revealed that there was a significant positive relationship between self-efficacy and writing performance. This study contributes to the understanding of student self-efficacy; this enables teachers to develop useful teaching materials and train students in the use of effective writing strategies. This will help students develop a substantive knowledge of the writing process and increase their sense of self-efficacy surrounding writing, helping them go through a wonderful, though subconscious, lifelong learning experience.
A study entitled ‘The Significance of Language Exposure with Writing Self-Efficacy and Writing Apprehension of Filipino ESL Writers’ Parina and de Leon (2013) investigated the relationship of English language exposure, writing apprehension and writing self-efficacy of 64 college students taking up academic writing. Instruments used were the language exposure questionnaire, the writing apprehension test or WAT by Daly-Miller, which was used in the study of Erkan and Saban (2011), and the self-efficacy in writing scale questionnaire (SWS) by YaVuz’Erkan (2004, as cited in Erkan & Saban, 2011). Pearson r was utilized in the analysis of the relationship of the mentioned variables and results of the study show that first, exposure and self-efficacy are moderately correlated, which means that the respondents who have more access or exposure to the target language felt more confident in their writing outputs. Second, the exposure and self-apprehension are not correlated, which means that apprehension is possible despite high exposure to the language. Lastly, writing self-efficacy and writing apprehension are inversely correlated, which means that the higher the self-efficacy, the lower the apprehension and vice versa.
‘Does Writing Self-efficacy Correlate with and Predict Writing Performance’? by Adisa Teo (2012) This paper aims to investigate whether there is a relationship between writing self-efficacy and writing performance and to explore whether students’ overall writing self-efficacy predicts their overall writing performance. By means of a questionnaire for writing self-efficacy and a paragraph writing test, paragraph writing scores of 51 third-year English majors were collected. Then the data were computed using Pearson Correlation Coefficient and the Simple Linear Regression. The results reveal that there is a significant positive relationship between writing self-efficacy and writing performance both at the paragraph level and at the sub-skill level. Furthermore, the overall writing self-efficacy predicts the overall writing performance.
‘Relationship among Iranian EFL Learners’ Self-efficacy in Writing, Attitude towards Writing, Writing Apprehension and WritingPerformance’ byHoda Sarkhoush(2013) investigated whether writing performance in students of English as a foreign language (EFL) was related to self-efficacy in writing, writing apprehension, and attitude towards writing. Fifty IELTS students (30 females and 20 males) studying IELTS Writing participated in this study. In order to collect data, three instruments were used which were a writing apprehension test (WAT), a self-efficacy in writing scale (SWS), and a questionnaire on attitude towards writing (WAQ). In order to make the questionnaires more comprehensible, they were adapted to Iranian context. This study conducted in two phases. First, the questionnaires were administered in the fist hour. In the second phase participants were given 45 minutes to write an argumentative essay on a given topic. The compositions were scored according to IELTS Writing Band Descriptive for public version by two raters. The obtained marks were taken to indicate the students’ overall writing performance. The findings of the study suggested that, self-efficacy in writing and writing apprehension was negatively correlated. Moreover there was a positive correlation between selfefficacy and attitude towards writing. Besides, the results showed that self-efficacy and writing performance were positively correlated. The correlation between writing apprehension and attitude towards writing was negative. Finally there was a negative correlation between writing apprehension and writing performance. The results of a three-way ANOVA revealed that those learners with positive attitudes performed significantly better than those with negative attitudes on writing task. In terms of self-efficacy and apprehension levels no significant differences were found.
G??khan ??zt??rka and Deniz Saydam(2014) studied’Anxiety and Self-efficacy in Foreign Language Writing: The Case in Turkey’. The study investigates two affective factors, anxiety and self-efficacy, in foreign language writing in an EFL context. The participants included 240 students from eight universities in Turkey. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were utilized to examine the anxiety and self efficacy levels of participants. According to the findings, participants demonstrated a moderate level of foreign language writing anxiety and self-efficacy. These two phenomena were found to be negatively correlated in a moderate level. The qualitative data revealed that lack of vocabulary knowledge, inability to generate and organize ideas, fear of negative evaluation and topic unfamiliarity were the major sources of foreign language writing anxiety. It was also found that linguistic knowledge, writing competence and teachers were the determining factors in foreign language writing self-efficacy level of students.
The study of Al Sawalha, Abdulla Musa Salem and Chow, Thomas Voon Foo (2012)entitled ‘The Effects of Writing Apprehension in English on the Writing Process of Jordanian EFL Students at Yarmouk University’ investigated the effects of writing apprehension on the writing process of Jordanian EFL students at Yarmouk University in Jordan. The sampling of this study consisted of sixty third year students studying B.A English Language and Literature at Yarmouk University in Jordan for the academic year 2010/ 2011. The instruments used in this study were Adapted Daly and Miller’s Writing Apprehension Test (WAT) by Gungle and Taylor to measure writing apprehension and the writing strategy questionnaire which was adapted from the questionnaire used by Petric and Cz??rl. The results of this study showed that majority of the Jordanian EFL students at Yarmouk University in Jordan experienced high level of writing apprehension. Furthermore, There were a significant differences among high, mid, low in the frequency use across the three writing stages .These statistics suggested writing apprehension level of students had affected the frequency of strategy use and type of strategy use. English Language and Literature students at Yarmouk University in Jordan of different writing apprehension levels had preference over different and frequency of strategy use.