Are Self-Efficacy, Language Learning Strategies, and Foreign Language Ability Interrelated?

Abstract

This study investigated the interrelationships among three variables: self-efficacy, language learning strategies, and language ability. The study participants were thirty-seven college students studying French at a midwestern, medium-size, university located a large metropolitan area. All the students were at the intermediate level of proficiency in French. The students’ self-efficacy was measured through a forty-item questionnaire in which they expressed their levels of certainty that they could perform learning tasks at desired levels of proficiency. Their use of language learning strategies was also measured through a forty-item questionnaire that was an adaptation of Oxford’s (1990) Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). Their language ability in French was measured through a sixty-item cloze test. The results of the study revealed the existence of positive and statistically significant relationships among the three variables. Recommendations for second language students, programs, and instructors were suggested to help students achieve higher communicative competence.