This study investigated the influence of a read-aloud activity on the changes of students’ self-efficacy beliefs in learning English, particularly regarding oral skills. The results reveal a significant increase in the students’ self-efficacy beliefs regarding their English listening, reading, and writing skills, but not speaking skill, during the time of the experiment. The increases determined in reading and writing self-efficacy beliefs may have resulted from the classroom instruction, as well as from the news content and read aloud activity, during the experiment. This study was conducted in a freshman English course that addressed reading and writing skills. Students might have more confidence in these two language skills after learning
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However, the results do not indicate that the students had confidence in exchanges such as introducing themselves, explaining where they attended school, or participating in a basic conversation in English. Wang et al. (2013) found similar results when examining changes in the self-efficacy beliefs of South Korean university students when learning English; speaking, as a productive skill, demands the ability not only to decode and comprehend a message (i.e., listening skills) but also to correctly assemble the learned linguistic knowledge and interact with others in a socially appropriate manner. To enhance their speaking self-efficacy beliefs, students should be exposed to a supportive environment where they learn and practice exchanging information with various communication strategies. Instruction on learning strategies and feedback from peers and experienced others benefits the growth of language efficacy (Graham, 2007). However, the current study provided students with opportunities to listen to and imitate the pronunciation and intonation of native speakers, but not to exchange their ideas with others. They learned the ability to recognize spoken words that could further assist the comprehension of the content of the materials but not the ability to make their meaning across. In addition, as shared in the interviews, most students considered that such practice provided them with more courage and willingness to speak in English in public. Such confidence should not be interpreted as the confidence required in message-exchange contexts. Therefore, instead of communication skills, the read-aloud activity assisted the students in improving their abilities in pronunciation and intonation, which constitute the initial stage for developing successful
However, the results do not indicate that the students had confidence in exchanges such as introducing themselves, explaining where they attended school, or participating in a basic conversation in English. Wang et al. (2013) found similar results when examining changes in the self-efficacy beliefs of South Korean university students when learning English; speaking, as a productive skill, demands the ability not only to decode and comprehend a message (i.e., listening skills) but also to correctly assemble the learned linguistic knowledge and interact with others in a socially appropriate manner. To enhance their speaking self-efficacy beliefs, students should be exposed to a supportive environment where they learn and practice exchanging information with various communication strategies. Instruction on learning strategies and feedback from peers and experienced others benefits the growth of language efficacy (Graham, 2007). However, the current study provided students with opportunities to listen to and imitate the pronunciation and intonation of native speakers, but not to exchange their ideas with others. They learned the ability to recognize spoken words that could further assist the comprehension of the content of the materials but not the ability to make their meaning across. In addition, as shared in the interviews, most students considered that such practice provided them with more courage and willingness to speak in English in public. Such confidence should not be interpreted as the confidence required in message-exchange contexts. Therefore, instead of communication skills, the read-aloud activity assisted the students in improving their abilities in pronunciation and intonation, which constitute the initial stage for developing successful