The Correlation Between Students’ Self-Efficacy and Their English Learning Achievement: A Study of Eighth-Grade Students at SMPN 3 Lingsar

This study aimed to determine the correlation between students’ self-efficacy and their English learning achievement among eighth-grade students at SMPN 3 Lingsar. Although previous studies have examined this relationship, most focused on senior high school or university learners in urban settings and often addressed a single language skill; research on junior high school students in non-urban Indonesian schools remains limited. This study addresses that gap by examining overall English achievement in a non-urban junior high school context. A quantitative correlational design was employed. The sample consisted of 34 eighth-grade students selected through cluster random sampling. Self-efficacy was measured using a six-item questionnaire adapted from the Questionnaire of Self-Efficacy in Learning a Foreign Language (QSLL) developed by Kutuk et al. (2023), and English learning achievement was obtained from first-semester report card scores. Data were analyzed using Pearson Product-Moment correlation in SPSS. Most students had a moderate level of self-efficacy and moderate English learning achievement. A moderate, positive, and significant correlation was found between self-efficacy and English achievement (r = 0.496, p = 0.003), with self-efficacy explaining about 24.6% of the variance. These results suggest that students with higher self-efficacy tend to achieve higher English learning achievement. The study contributes a context-specific perspective from a non-urban junior high school and supports the theoretical view that self-efficacy beliefs are associated with EFL achievement. English teachers are encouraged to build students’ self-efficacy through achievable tasks, constructive feedback, and a supportive classroom atmosphere.