Ellen L. Usher

Sources of Self-Efficacy in School: Critical Review of the Literature and Future Directions

The purpose of this review was threefold. First, the theorized sources of self-efficacy beliefs proposed by A. Bandura (1986) are described and explained, including how they are typically assessed and analyzed. Second, findings from investigations of these sources in academic contexts are reviewed and critiqued, and problems and oversights in current research and in conceptualizations of the sources are identified. Although mastery experience is typically the most influential source of self-efficacy, the strength and influence of the sources differ as a function of contextual factors such as gender, ethnicity, academic ability, and academic domain. Finally, suggestions are offered to help guide researchers investigating the psychological mechanisms at work in the formation of self-efficacy beliefs in academic contexts.

Sources of Middle School Students’ Self-Efficacy in Mathematics: A Qualitative Investigation

According to A. Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive theory, individuals form their self-efficacy beliefs by interpreting information from four sources: mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasions, and physiological or affective states. The purpose of this study was to examine the heuristics students use as they form their mathematics self-efficacy from these and other sources. Semistructured interviews were conducted with eight middle school students who reported either high or low self-efficacy and with students’ parents and mathematics teachers. Students relied on information from all four hypothesized sources, which were combined according to various heuristics. Teaching structures, course placement, and students’ self-regulated learning also emerged as important factors related to self-efficacy. Results refine and extend the tenets of social cognitive theory.

Teachers’ Collective Efficacy, Job Satisfaction, and Job Stress in Cross-Cultural Context

This study examines how teachers’ collective efficacy (TCE), job stress, and the cultural dimension of collectivism are associated with job satisfaction for 500 teachers from Canada, Korea (South Korea or Republic of Korea), and the United States. Multigroup path analysis revealed that TCE predicted job satisfaction across settings. Job stress was negatively related to job satisfaction for North American teachers (i.e., teachers from Canada and the United States), whereas the cultural dimension of collectivism was significantly related to job satisfaction for the Korean, but not for North American teachers. For motivation theorists, the results from this study provide evidence that cultural context influences how motivation beliefs are understood and expressed in diverse settings. For educators, this study underlines the importance of collective motivation as a source of individual job satisfaction.

Self-Efficacy for Self-Regulated Learning: A Validation Study

The psychometric properties and multigroup measurement invariance of scores on the Self-Efficacy for Self-Regulated Learning Scale taken from Banduras Childrens Self-Efficacy Scale were assessed in a sample of 3,760 students from Grades 4 to 11. Latent means differences were also examined by gender and school level. Results reveal a unidimensional construct with equivalent factor pattern coefficients for boys and girls and for students in elementary, middle, and high school. Elementary school students report higher self-efficacy for self-regulated learning than do students in middle and high school. The latent factor is related to self-efficacy, self-concept, task goal orientation, apprehension, and achievement.

Self-efficacy in educational settings: Recent research and emerging directions

For half a century, psychologist Albert Bandura has worked to advance a cognitive interactional model of human functioning that emphasizes the role of cognitive and symbolic representations as central processes in human adaptation and change. In his seminal 1977 publication, Bandura emphasized that these representations – visualized actions and outcomes stemming from reflective thought – form the basis from which individuals assess their personal efficacy. An efficacy belief, he contended, is the “conviction that one can successfully execute the behavior required to produce the outcomes” one desires (p. 193). Efficacy beliefs serve as the primary means by which people are able to exercise a measure of control over their lives. During the next two decades, Bandura (1986, 1997) advanced his social cognitive theory, in which people are viewed as self-organizing, proactive, self-reflecting, and self-regulating rather than as solely reactive organisms, products of environmental or concealed inner influences. From this agentic perspective, people are seen as contributors to their life circumstances, not just recipients of them. In this way, people are “partial architects of their own destinies” (Bandura, 1997, p. 8).

Preliminary Investigation of the Sources of Self-Efficacy Among Teachers of Students with Autism

Teacher self-efficacy refers to the beliefs teachers hold regarding their capability to bring about desired instructional outcomes and may be helpful for understanding and addressing critical issues such as teacher attrition and teacher use of research-supported practices. Educating students with autism likely presents teachers with some of the most significant instructional challenges. The self-efficacy of 35 special education teachers of students with autism between the ages of 3 to 9 years was evaluated. Teachers completed rating scales that represented self-efficacy and aspects of the following 3 of Bandura’s 4 sources of self-efficacy: (1) sense of mastery, (2) social persuasions, and (3) physiological/affective states. Significant associations were observed between physiological/affective states and self-efficacy, but no associations were observed for the other sources.

Engagement with Mathematics Courseware in Traditional and Online Remedial Learning Environments: Relationship to Self-Efficacy and Achievement.

This research applied Banduras (1986) social cognitive theory to examine engagement with courseware in traditional and online remedial mathematics learning environments. The study investigated the relationship of courseware engagement to age, computer self-efficacy, computer playfulness, and self-efficacy for self-regulated mathematics learning. The study also analyzed mathematics achievement in terms of engagement, age, gender, mathematics grade self-efficacy, and self-efficacy for self regulated mathematics learning. Participants were 88 students in a traditional environment and 76 students in an online environment. The two groups differed significantly in age, mathematics grade self-efficacy, computer self-efficacy, computer playfulness, courseware engagement, and mathematics achievement. When controlled for age, all significant differences found between the two groups persisted. When controlled for mathematics self-efficacy, the groups no longer differed significantly in mathematics achievement, but all other significant differences remained. Computer self-efficacy and computer playfulness each had a significant association with courseware engagement in the online environment, but not in the traditional environment. Regression models revealed that course setting, age, and self-efficacy for self-regulation jointly predicted engagement with courseware. Both mathematics grade self-efficacy and age jointly predicted achievement. These findings support the views that mathematics self-efficacy is among the most significant predictors of mathematics achievement; computer self-efficacy and computer playfulness are associated with courseware engagement; and self-regulation is an important component of e-learning. Implications for researchers and educators are discussed.

Teaching Civic Topics in Four Societies: Examining National Context and Teacher Confidence.

The authors examined the confidence of teachers from Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, and the United States (N = 1,375) to address civic topics with their students. The authors also used differential item functioning models to examine responses to items from the Teacher Confidence Scale of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievements Civic Education Study (J. Torney-Purta, R. Lehmann, H. Oswald, & W. Schulz, 2001; J. Torney-Purta, J. Schwille, & J. Amadeo, 1999). National case-study data explained findings within each context. Results revealed that the confidence of teachers varied when they addressed civic topics. Furthermore, teacher confidence varied as a function of country of residence. Case studies supported quantitative findings. Society-based factors, school-based factors, and public discourse illuminated effects of national context on teacher confidence.

Cultural Differences in the Understanding of Modelling and Feedback as Sources of Self-Efficacy Information.

BACKGROUND The potential role of culture in the development and operation of self-efficacy has been acknowledged by researchers. Clearer understanding of this cultural impact will benefit from research that shows how the same efficacy information is evaluated across cultures. AIMS We tested whether two sources of self-efficacy information delivered by multiple social agents (i.e., vicarious experience and social persuasion) were weighed differently by adolescents in different cultures. SAMPLE Of 2,893 middle school students in Korea (n = 416), the Philippines (n = 522), and the United States (n = 1,955) who completed the survey, 400 students were randomly pooled from each country. METHODS Invariance of the measurement and of the latent means for self-efficacy and self-efficacy sources across the groups was tested by multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. Predictive utility of the self-efficacy sources was compared by multigroup structural equation modelling. RESULTS Compared to the students in the two collectivistic countries, the US students reported significantly higher mathematics self-efficacy. Whereas the efficacy beliefs of the Korean and the US students were predicted equally well by the vicarious experience from their teachers and the social persuasion by their family and peers, those of the Filipino adolescents were best predicted by the social persuasion from their peers. CONCLUSIONS This study provided empirical evidence that socially conveyed sources of self-efficacy information are construed and evaluated differently across cultures, depending on who delivered the efficacy-relevant information.

Assessing Mathematics Self-Efficacy: How Many Categories Do We Really Need?.

The present study tested whether a reduced number of categories is optimal for assessing mathematics self-efficacy among middle school students using a 6-point Likert-type format or a 0- to 100-point format. Two independent samples of middle school adolescents (N = 1,913) were administered a 24-item Middle School Mathematics Self-Efficacy Scale using either a 101-point or a 6-point response scale format. The findings suggest that the two different response scale formats were optimally represented by a 4-point scale and supported when samples were pooled. Results provide tentative evidence that middle school students make use of only 4 scale points and that the items on this scale are best matched with adolescents with average to below-average mathematics self-efficacy. Implications for the measurement of self-efficacy and related motivation constructs are discussed, and replications with a 4-point scale using category descriptors for each scale point are needed.