Academic oral presentation self-efficacy: a cross-sectional interdisciplinary comparative study

Despite the significant role of oral presentation in the academic context, many university students evade opportunities for participation due to low self-efficacy. The present study has been conducted to compare oral presentation self-efficacy of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners with undergraduates and postgraduates of Non-EFL majors, and to investigate the relationship of this construct with their teaching and prior academic oral presentation experiences as two modes of Bandura’s (1995). Exercise of personal and collective efficacy in changing societies. In A. Bandura (Ed.), Self-efficacy in changing societies (pp. 1–45). New York: Cambridge University Press mastery experience. Extracting the oral presentation sub-skills from the literature, an oral presentation self-efficacy questionnaire with 38 five-Likert scale items was constructed. A two-way between-group ANOVA was run on the responses of a total 48 postgraduates (25 EFL and 23 Non-EFL) and 63 undergraduates (28 EFL and 35 Non-EFL) selected randomly from two of the universities in Iran. The results indicated no difference between EFL and Non-EFL students, whether at undergraduate or postgraduate level, in terms of their oral presentation self-efficacy. Spearman’s correlation coefficient, however, showed a strong positive correlation between the two modes of mastery experience and oral presentation self-efficacy (r = .44, n = 111, P < .01; r = .42, n = 111, P < .01). With no difference in oral presentation self-efficacy of university students at various academic disciplines and levels, it seems that oral courses in the EFL curriculum have not contributed to the benefit of EFL students’ oral presentation self-efficacy. Teaching and academic experiences, however, have played a key role in enhancing self-efficacy particularly in EFL postgraduate students who have a higher chance of gaining teaching experience. The results suggest the need for curriculum developers and lecturers to introduce more courses on oral presentation skills at universities.