The Effect of Self-Efficacy, Learner Autonomy and Motivation on Pakistani Students’ Second Language Learning

Abstract

            The present study was an attempt to find any correlation between self-efficacy, learner autonomy and motivation in second language learning. It was also undertaken to check whether there is any impact of self-efficacy, learner autonomy and motivation on the learning of a second language which in our case is English language. A concurrent triangulation mixed methods research approach was used. The data was collected from the undergraduate students of purposively selected Pakistani public and private sector universities through an adapted questionnaire. An achievement test based on the revised Bloom’s taxonomy (Mark, 2011) was also used to check the impact of self-efficacy, learner autonomy and motivation in second language learning. This test was duly piloted tested, verified and validated by the experts of the field. 15 semi-structured interviews of English language university teachers were also conducted to know their perceptions and importance of these constructs. This study used Bandura’s self-efficacy (1977, 1986, 1997), Little’s learner autonomy (2007) and Dornyei’s motivational L2 self-system theories as the framework of the study.

            The collected data was analyzed by using S.P.S.S software. Cronbach Alpha test was used to check the reliability of the adapted questionnaire. Other different tests like independent separate T-test, ANOVA, Chi-square and descriptive statistics were used to check the correlation and impact of self-efficacy, learner autonomy and motivation in second language learning on the undergraduate students of Pakistani universities.

            The results of the study indicated that there is a strong correlation between self-efficacy, learner autonomy and motivation in second language learning. However, the impact of these variables in English language learning varied. The impact of self-efficacy in English language learning was moderate and was good in learner autonomy but was excellent in the case of motivation. Among these three variables, motivation remained at the top in its effect in learning English as a second language.