Investigating EFL Students’ Speaking Self-Efficacy and Self-Regulated Learning Strategies

Investigating EFL Students’ Speaking Self-Efficacy and Self-Regulated Learning Strategies

Learning strategies are crucial for university students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) or English for academic purposes (EAP). The employment of language learning strategies facilitates attainment and assists learners in different ways. This study investigated college students’ self-efficacy and self-regulated learning strategies in L2 acquisition. As speaking is the most difficult skill for Mongolian learners to acquire, they have reason to design strategies for speaking when learning English. 252 EFL college students in Mongolia were given the Questionnaire of English Speaking Self-Efficacy (QESSE) to estimate their self-efficacy, and the Questionnaire of English Speaking Self-Regulated Learning Strategies (QESSRLS) was administrated to evaluate their use of specific learning strategies. The results showed that the students reported overall a moderate level of self-efficacy and self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies in L2 speaking. This study discovered that the students were the most positive about student-centered methods. The dominant English classroom instruction pedagogy in Mongolia is still teacher-centered; students follow teachers’ words and commands. Students are not encouraged to develop their own learning strategies and focus on content knowledge. The current study allows EFL/EAP teachers to determine their students’ profiles, and design strategies to improve students’ L2 speaking outcomes. Moreover, it provides teachers with insights about how to organize suitable approaches for teaching EFL/EAP.