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Volume 12. Issue 2
Article 7

Title
An Empirical Study of Reading Self-efficacy and the Use
of Reading Strategies in the Chinese EFL Context

Authors
Yusheng Li
Binzhou University, P. R. China

Chuang Wang
University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA

Bio Data:
Yu-sheng Li is an assistant professor at Binzhou University in China. His research interests include foreign language learning strategies, self-efficacy, and reading instruction.

Chuang Wang is an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in the United Sates. His research interests include self-efficacy beliefs and self-regulated learning strategies.

Abstract
This empirical study was based on the background of reading instruction and research in the Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. The study integrated reading self-efficacy from a motivational perspective with reading strategies from a cognitive perspective and explored the relationship between reading self-efficacy and the use of reading strategies. One hundred and eighty two sophomore English majors in a university in China participated in this study. The results showed that reading self-efficacy was significantly positively related to the use of reading strategies in general and the use of three subcategories of reading strategies: metacognitive strategies; cognitive strategies; and social/affective strategies, in particular. Highly self-efficacious readers reported significantly more use of reading strategies than those with low self-efficacy. This study suggests the importance of nurturing English language learners’ reading self-efficacy beliefs and the use of reading strategies and incorporating the cultivation of learners’ reading self-efficacy into reading strategy instruction.

Keywords: reading self-efficacy; reading strategies; reading instruction

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