The Cultivation of Student Self-Efficacy in Reading and Writing

Understanding motivation and particularly self-efficacy can helpteachersengage students in literacy activities. Students who are efficacious are more likely to work hard, to persist, and to seek help so they can complete challenging tasks. Those students who are efficacious achieve their goals. This success motivates them to engage in more literacy activities, which, in turn, increases their reading and writing performance. This article summarizes the major points of the other authors about self-efficacy and proposes instructional responses teachers can employ to raise self-efficacy. Self-efficacy refers to people's specific judgments and beliefs about their abilities like reading a book, writing a poem, etc. In fact, self-efficacy often refers to specific situations within a learning environment based on learner goals. Rather than a singular response, this article delineates various instructional procedures that can enhance self-efficacy increasing motivation and achievement. When students think of themselves as readers and writers, they actively engage in learning. By giving choice, teaching literacy strategies, creating self-evaluations and changing the assessment context, teachers can lead students to experience positive self-efficacy during challenging tasks.