I. Table of Contents

1. Introduction 3

2. Self-efficacy 4

3. Academic studying 7

4. Applicability of self-efficacy on academic learning 9

5. Conclusion 11

II. Bibliography

Declaration

1. Introduction

In the last years self-efficacy has emerged as a highly effective predictor of student´s motivation and learning . In contrast to other motivational constructs self-efficacy is performance based. Especially individual performance is thought to be highly influenced by self-efficacy , to find out what the exact effects and what the limits of this theory are, the main focus will be on the theory of self-efficacy itself. Due to these facts this piece work will deal with the question to what extent Albert Banduras theory of self-efficacy is applicable to academic studying. The main resources used are books by Bandrua himself and colleges he worked with. Since Bandura mainly worked with children there are some secondary sources which have a focus on students. Because there are three main aspects to this topic the main body consists of three chapters. Firstly the facts and features of the self-efficacy theory will be explained to understand what the rest will be based upon. The third chapter then gives a short definition about academic learning in order to find the main aspects of it.
Chapter four is devoted to the link between chapter two and three. For a better understanding there will also be a distinction between self-efficacy and other related constructs.

2. The Facts and Features of Self-efficacy

The concept of self-efficacy was first introduced by Albert Bandura in 1977. In his books he defines self-efficacy as “a person’s belief in his capability to organize an execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments” .
There are four major processes through which efficacy belief regulates human functioning .
The first ones are the cognitive processes. These processes regulate different aspects like goal setting and what kind of anticipatory scenarios people construct .
Efficacy beliefs are also an important factor regarding motivational processes .
Through selective processes they determine peoples coping abilities . Lastly there are also affective processes which determine how much stress and depressions persons recognize in taxing situations . These processes evolve into various aspects of human behavior.
They influence the course of action people choose and the amount of effort they put into achieving that certain course. Also they influence the time persons persevere in front of obstacles and their resilience to adversity. Another important factor is the nature of their though patterns, thus if they are self-hindering or self-aiding. Moreover these processes determine the level of stress people experience and the amount of accomplishment they realize . Normally these processes work together and not separate. In short, these processes generate beliefs that are determinants of how people feel, think and behave .

Knowing that it is possible to define the characteristics of efficacious people.
Efficacious people are fast to take advantage of opportunities and view challenging problems as tasks to be mastered. Moreover they develop a deeper interest for activities in which they participate and form a stronger from of commitment towards them.
Besides that they also recover quickly from disappointments .
To understand self-efficacy thoroughly it is important to know how it is generated.
In his book “Self-efficacy – the exercise of control” Bandura develops four mayor sources of self-efficacy, which differ in their importance .
Enactive mastery experience or past performance is seen as the most important source. If a person masters a difficult task successfully a strong and robust efficacy belief can be build. Since enactive mastery is a direct, or personal, experience it is considered to be the best way to gain self efficacy. To build a persistent sense of efficacy through this way there have to be obstacles to overcome, otherwise people would learn to expect only easy success and therefore will be discouraged by failure easily. However the other way around personal failure is also the easiest way to undermine self-efficacy beliefs .
Vicarious experience, also called social modeling, refers to the fact that watching others completing a task is thought to be nurturing self-efficacy beliefs too. Nevertheless it is crucial that the observing person considers the “modeling” person as similar in abilities to himself .
Verbal persuasion is another source contributing to self-efficacy and is especially important while a person faces difficulties. Persuading persons verbally that they are able to master given tasks or stressful situations can increase their effort and lessen their self-doubts. In order to avoid disappointments, which would lead to a decrease, it is necessary to keep appraisals in realistic frames . The most famous example for this would be Barak Obama’s slogan “Yes we can” during his elections campaign. The last sources are the physiological and affective states. As the reason for this, Bandura states that peoples physical reactions enhance their believes. So if a person feels nervous in a certain situation the body will enhance this by producing negative physical reactions. People usually judge their negative physical reactions as debility. Nonetheless it is not only about the strength of the reactions but also about how they are interpreted. People with high efficacy beliefs will rather judge physical reactions as catalyst for good work .
To understand self-efficacy properly it is vital to know that it is not concerned with what kind of skill a person has but with what a person thinks what he can achieve with them .
Furthermore a high sense of self-efficacy in one area does not imply a high self-efficacy belief in other areas .
At bottom it can be said that success can increase self-efficacy beliefs whereas failure might decrease it.

3. Characterization of Academic Studying
In order to know to which extend self-efficacy is applicable to academic studying it is crucial to understand what academic studying itself means. There a several different approaches to define academic studying. This piece of work will mainly deal with the attempts Werner Seisnik and Erwin Wagner made. Seisnik points out that academic studying should advocate a person’s ability to develop theories. The most important aspect for that is to make own thoughts regarding himself and the own position.
Moreover a person has to be aware of the aim of objectiveness in order define the link between a person’s own thoughts and reality. Another necessity is the ability to understand the ideas of other instead of just accepting the results .According to Wagner academic studying aims for basic concepts on which other knowledge should be build upon. These basic concepts are thought to help with the second aim of studying which are theoretical approaches. These factors then lead to the last aim of studying which are exams . In addition there are certain forms of learning appearing in studying, the most common one being lectures. Lectures are defined as a speech or read being delivered to students . However students have to deepen the given information themselves. A similar form are seminars which differ through the fact that students actively participate instead of just listening .
Except for the grades given for the final exams at the end of every semester there is a little feedback for the students. Relying on that fact students have to gain motivation through themselves .Students do not only have to manage their own motivation but also their time and their stress in order to be able to study academically . All in all academic studying can be defined as an abstract way of learning in which students learn through secondary sources like lecturers and books instead of own experience.

4. Applicability of Self-efficacy on academic studying

There are several studies investigating the correlation between self-efficacy beliefs and academic performance in general. For this purpose a specific term called academic self-efficacy was introduced. Academic self-efficacy is a person’s belief in his abilities to perform successfully regarding academic tasks or a specific academic goals .
Especially important is the fact that self-efficacy is not linked to a single domain while studying, thus efficacy beliefs might vary for different subjects . Self-efficacy has proven to be a crucial motive to learn. There is evidence that self-efficacy beliefs play a key role in certain aspects of academic motivation which is, as mentioned in chapter three, something students have to be able to generate themselves. These aspects are choice of activities, level of persistence, effort and emotional reactions . Choice of activities is referring to the fact that self-efficious students are more willing to take part in challenging activities .
Another part of academic studying to which self-efficacy contributes is the amount of stress students feel. According to this a high level of efficacy decreases the stress level .
During studies efficacious students showed to be better at managing their time, as well as being more eager to use learning strategies than students with equal abilities but lower efficacy beliefs . Learning environments which do not offer a lot of feedback can decrease efficacy beliefs especially when a student has low beliefs from the beginning on. Regarding academic studying, where not much feedback is given, this may be a source of problems .
Even though self-efficacy is proved to be an important part of how well students can work academically, there are other constructs, like self-concept, which are important components for success as well. To distinguish between these two concepts different questions can be asked. Barry J. Zimmerman suggests to ask “How good are is a person at a certain topic” if somebody wants to measure self-concepts and “How certain are is a person that you can solve this specific question” for self-efficacy . Self-concept is about self-esteem reactions and thus is more general .

Conclusion

The goal of this assignment was to find out to what extent self-efficacy is applicable on academic studying. There is evidence that students which have high self-efficacy beliefs in a certain topic will perform better regarding it.It strongly influences the aspects motivation, level of stress and time management. But since there is not much feedback given to students they might not achieve as much as they could. “Of all the `self-constructs´, self-efficacy may be the most important and powerful for predicting and explaining specific behavior and outcomes” .However, there are other related constructs, such as self-concept, which also commit to the overall aspect of successful academic studying.
All in all it can be said that self-efficacy is important for academic studying but not the only factor contributing to it.