Revisiting the Concept of Self-
Efficacy as a Language Learning
Enhancer1

Revisando el Concepto de Autoeficacia como un
Potenciador del Aprendizaje de Idiomas

Carol Andrea García Gutiérrez
and Norma Constanza Durán Narváez2*

Universidad del Tolima, Colombia

“ If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire
the capacity to do it even If may not have it at the beginning”

Mahatma Gandhi

Abstract
Individuals’ self-efficacy beliefs determine the ways they perform in any
domain, since they reflect the extent to which people feel capable to achieve
certain accomplishments Bandura (1997). This paper describes how a group
of intermediate school students’constant failure in the exams, demotivating
attitudes, apathy and reluctance to learn English as a foreign language, relate
with their perceived capability, self-perception and their prior experiences as
language learners. This descriptive and exploratory case study was developed
in a private language centre and involved 11 participants. The goal of the study
was to understand the causes of the students’ demotivation and reluctance to the
language. For this purpose, autobiographies become a springboard to examine
students’ language learning experiences. This information was analysed based
on the grounded theory approach proposed by Freeman(1998), and findings
reveal that the inadequate teachers’ discourse, classroom environment, rapport
and feedback strategies influenced students’ perceived capability to perform
in the English class. In addition, the data showed that the supportive role of
parents and relatives, encouraged learners to adopt a resilient attitude with
respect to the difficulties while learning the language.

1 Received: August 29th 2017/ Accepted: November 21st 2017
2 carolgarciagutierrez@outlook.com; ncduran@ut.edu.co

GARCÍA & DURANGist Education and Learning Research Journal. ISSN 1692-5777.
No.15. (July - December) 2017. pp. 68-95.

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Keywords: Self- efficacy beliefs, Students’ reluctance, autobiographies,
teachers’role, EFL context.

Resumen
Las creencias de los individuos acerca de su autoeficacia determina la manera
en la que se desempeñan en cualquier escenario, puesto que éstas reflejan la
manera en la que las personas se consideran capaces de alcanzar ciertos logros.
Bandura (1997). Este artículo, describe la forma en la que la continua pérdida,
la desmotivación, la apatía y el rechazo hacia el aprendizaje de la lengua
extranjera de un grupo de estudiantes de nivel intermedio, se relacionan con
su autoeficacia, su auto percepción y experiencias como aprendices de Inglés
como lengua extranjera. Debido a su carácter cualitativo y exploratorio, este
estudio de caso fue llevado a cabo en un centro de idiomas de carácter privado
y comprendió la participación de once estudiantes. El propósito del estudio
se enmarcó en la comprensión de las causas por las cuales dichos estudiantes
mostraron desmotivación y rechazo al idioma. Por ello, las autobiografías
se convierten en una herramienta para indagar acerca de las experiencias
de aprendizaje en lengua extranjera de los estudiantes . La información fue
analizada a través del análisis temático propuesto por Freeman (1998), y
los resultados revelan que un inadecuado discurso por parte del docente, el
ambiente de clase, la falta de empatía con los estudiantes y las estrategias de
retroalimentación utilizadas, influyeron en la autoeficacia de los estudiantes
para desempeñarse en la clase de Inglés. Por otra parte, la información mostró
que el apoyo que los estudiantes recibieron de sus padres y familiares, los
motivó a adoptar una actitud resiliente con respecto a sus dificultades durante
el aprendizaje del Inglés.

Palabras clave: Creencias sobre la autoeficacia, rechazo de los
estudiantes al idioma, autobiografías, Contexto de aprendizaje del Inglés
como Lengua Extranjera.

Resumo
As crenças dos indivíduos acerca da sua autoeficácia determinam a maneira
na que se desempenhem em qualquer cenário, posto que as mesmas
refletem a maneira na que as pessoas se consideram capazes de alcançar
certos aproveitamentos. Bandura (1997). Este artigo, descreve a forma na
que a contínua perda, a falta de motivação, a apatia e a rejeição em relação
à aprendizagem da língua estrangeira de um grupo de estudantes de nível
intermédio, relacionam-se com a sua autoeficácia, a sua auto percepção e
experiências como aprendizes de inglês como língua estrangeira. Devido ao
seu caráter qualitativo e exploratório, este estudo de caso foi realizado em um
centro de idiomas de caráter privado e compreendeu a participação de onze
estudantes. O propósito do estudo se delimitou na compreensão das causas
pelas quais os referidos estudantes mostraram falta de motivação e rejeição
ao idioma. Por isso, as autobiografias se convertem em uma ferramenta para
indagar acerca das experiências de aprendizagem em língua estrangeira dos

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estudantes. A informação foi analisada através da análise temática proposta
por Freeman (1998), e os resultados revelam que um inadequado discurso por
parte do docente, o ambiente de classe, a falta de empatia com os estudantes
e as estratégias de retroalimentação utilizadas, influíram na autoeficácia dos
estudantes para desempenhar-se na aula de inglês. Por outro lado, a informação
mostrou que o apoio que os estudantes receberam dos seus padres e familiares,
motivou-os a adotar uma atitude resiliente com relação a suas dificuldades
durante a aprendizagem do inglês.

Palavras chave: Crenças sobre a autoeficácia, rejeição dos estudantes
ao idioma, autobiografias, Contexto de aprendizagem do inglês como
Língua Estrangeira

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Introduction

The concept of self-efficacy, entails to what extent individuals believe they are capable of accomplishing something under several circumstances Bandura (1997). This construct becomes
an eye opener at the time of understanding the myriad of reasons that
interfered with the students’ performance in the language learning
classroom. This qualitative study aimed at exploring the correlation
between the high school learners’ prior language learning experiences
and their recurrent failure of the English courses, that led them feel
demotivated, and have a poor perception of their own potential as
language learners and their ability to overcome difficulties. This ten
- month research was carried out with a group of 11 students from
a private school , who took classes in a private language institute in
Ibague.

To accomplish the aim of this research, autobiographies became a
powerful source to dig into the students’ language learning experiences.
With respect to this, Coffey & Street (2008), assert that “the analysis
of first -person accounts of the language learning process has gained
legitimacy as a qualitative method of inquiry giving voice to the
learner’s own view of factors both predisposing and sustaining different
trajectories of language learning.” (p.452).

Furthermore, Barkhuizen, Benson, & Chik (2014) assert that
“autobiographical accounts tend to bring the emotional dimensions of
language teaching and learning, which are often suppressed by other
research approaches, to the fore.” (p.12). This helped us to understand
the relevance of this type of instrument at the time of inquiring into
students’ experiences, and made us aware of the importance of narrative
inquiry as a useful approach to make sense of the learners’ experiences
and the way they represent them to others Barkhuizen et al., (2014).
The reasons above, guided the following research question: How are
the relationships between students’ language learning experiences
and their perceived capability evident in learners’ narratives?
which has to do with the role of autobiographies in informing about
students’ previous experiences, and their relationship with their sense
of capability or self-efficacy to learn and be successful in the language
learning.

The decision of inquiring into students’ language learning
experiences by means of autobiographies uncovered a range of
complexities of human behavior that may not be explored through other
sources. Moreover, the results of this study revealed the importance of
revisiting the concept of self-efficacy in the language learning processes,

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since it can be a foremost alternative to expand the view of teachers
with respect to the need of creating safer learning environments and
opportunities for students´ improvement, and the decisive role of the
educators in students’ willingness or unwillingness to learn.

As researchers, we strongly believe that exploring new avenues
to understand how emotional competence unfolds becomes at the core
of language teaching and learning scenarios. Consequently, this study
shows how the concept of self-efficacy regains relevance, and becomes
a magnifying glass to see teaching and learning through a new lens.

The oncoming sections of this article will discuss the methodology
followed, the different categories that emerged from the analysis of the
students’ autobiographies in relation to their self-efficacy as language
learners and lastly, we present the findings and the conclusions.

Literature Review

This study is supported on a body of constructs and related
research that illuminated our path to explore and find answers to
our inquiry. We begin by clearing the ground on the notion of self-
efficacy, the sources that nourish individuals’ self-efficacy beliefs and
then present some research that has been undertaken in the field of
language teaching. Finally, we conceptualize the autobiographies and
inform about some studies in which they have been used to inquire into
individuals’ experiences.

Revisiting the concept of Self-efficacy

To conduct this study, we took largely into consideration the
definition of self-efficacy coined by Bandura (1997), since he started
to do some research on the field, which has enriched the scope of the
topic in studies done by some psychologists and educators, as well as
encouraged new researchers to expand knowledge in the direction of
learners’ perceived capability.

Bandura (1997), states that self-efficacy is related to how capable
individuals believe they are at the moment of carrying out a specific task
in any domain. According to this author, the individuals’ self-efficacy
influence their thought processes, level of persistency, motivation
and affective states. That is, the individuals’ self-efficacy determines
the performance of individuals increasing or diminishing their beliefs
concerning their capability to do something; therefore, we can say that
people also build some self-efficacy beliefs. To understand this concept

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more deeply, it is necessary to elaborate on the notion of beliefs as
follows.

In line with Pajares (1992), beliefs represent a subject of inquiry
in different fields, which makes them feasible to be explored through
the appropriate methodologies and designs. In addition, Sigel (1985)
described that beliefs are “mental constructions of experience- often
condensed and integrated into schemata or concepts” (p.351).

Sigel’s definition is complementary to the one provided by
Rokeack (1968), since he considers that beliefs have two additional
components apart from the one that represents the mental constructions
of experience: the affective and behavioural. The affective component
incites emotion and the behavioural one is activated when certain
actions require it. This implies beliefs are a representation of what a
person thinks about certain situations in relation to their emotions and
the different settings that demand a specific behaviour from their part.

These components are distinctive features of the individuals’
self-efficacy beliefs, which can be weak or strong. With respect to this,
Bandura (1997) states:

People who doubt their capabilities in particular domains of
activity shy away from difficult tasks in those domains. They
find it hard to motivate themselves or increase their confidence to
carry out a task since they slacken3 their efforts or give up quickly
in the face of obstacles. (p. 39).

On the contrary, people whose self-efficacy beliefs are strong
can overcome difficult situations easily because they conceive
them as challenges instead of threats to avoid. Additionally, they
set challenging goals and are consistent to achieve them in spite of
failures or setbacks, which they surpass quickly. These outcomes make
individuals have successful orientations towards the accomplishment
of certain performances, and confirms that self-efficacy beliefs are
“active producers instead of merely foretellers of attainments, which
makes them the unique dispositional make up of efficaciousness of any
person”(Bandura,1997, p.42).

Due to the characteristics already mentioned, self-efficacy beliefs
form part of the big term called self-efficacy which was defined above
and is related to factors such as self-regulation and motivation, and
operates as a key factor in a generative system of human competence
or performances.

3 To become less productive or fail.

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It’s important to say that according to Bandura (1997), people
build their self-efficacy beliefs selecting, interpreting and integrating
the different information they receive. To do so, there are four main
sources where they get this information, which correspond to enactive
mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion and
physiological and affective states.

Enactive Mastery Experiences: this is related to the different
successful or unsuccessful experiences an individual has had. In turn,
these appear closely connected to the cognitive, behavioural and self-
regulatory tools people use to face and overcome different kinds of
circumstances without diminishing their self-efficacy beliefs.

Vicarious experiences: Bandura (1997) claimed that “Social
comparison operates as a primary factor in the self-appraisal of
capabilities” (p.87). This social comparison, refers to the vicarious
experiences a person can have, that is, the second-hand experiences
that model people’s level of perceived self-efficacy, in the sense that the
performance of others are useful to make them conscious of their own
capabilities to succeed and get the same or even, better results; this way
their self-efficacy beliefs can be increased.

Verbal persuasion: this source refers to the encouragement
given by others to recognize one’s capabilities and efforts to do certain
attainments. In line with Bandura (1997), people who are persuaded
verbally regarding their capabilities to do something successfully,
are more able to mobilize great effort and sustain it even in harder
circumstances. Thus, self-efficacy beliefs can be encouraged through
verbal persuasion.

Physiological and affective states: it refers to the way people
judge their capabilities by getting information from the somatic
indicators they show when facing situations of vulnerability or aversive
arousal for them. Hence, as teachers, to help students get the right
information from this source we are expected to “(…) enhance physical
status, reduce the stress levels and negative emotional proclivities, and
correct misinterpretations of bodily states” (Bandura & Cioffi, 1997,
p.106)

These sources constitute a way to understand the origin of the
students’ perceived capability. In the case of this study, the sources
mentioned showed how the students’ self-efficacy was influenced by the
different experiences they lived in the English classroom, which made
them have a good or a poor attitude towards the language learning.

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Self-efficacy and English language teaching

Previous studies have reported interesting research in the field of
self-efficacy, English language teaching and learning and other domains
of knowledge. Although the investigations undertaken don’t represent a
considerable number, some important contributions are acknowledged
below.

Shi (2017), an assistant professor of the China University, presents
a review with respect to self-efficacy, based on previous research done
in the SLA field, specifically in the motivation area. According to the
writer, the term self-efficacy is part of a paradigm called the expectancy
value theory, which proposes that learners’ motivation is influenced
greatly by their expected success in a task and the value they give it.

Some of the studies this professor presents, refer to the research
done by Teng (2005), Tilfalioglu and Cinkara (2009), Rahimi and
Abedini (2009), Naseri and Zaferanieh (2012), and Idrus and Sivapalan
(2010). These authors whose studies were conducted in Taiwan, Turkey
and Iran, found a correlation between the participants’ self-efficacy
and their self-directed learning, as well as their reading and listening
comprehension skills. Besides, the researchers also pointed that the
individuals’proficiency level, their writing and speaking performance
and the ability to acquire new vocabulary, could be successful or not
depending on their self-efficacy beliefs.

These studies document how the subject of self-efficacy has been
explored in the ELT field, which supports the nature of this study and
suggest the exploration of the language learners’ self-efficacy beliefs in
light of theory.

Another important study that confirms the influence of the
individuals’ self-efficacy beliefs in their development was conducted
by Bandura, Caprara, Barbaranelli, Gerbino, & Pastorelli (2003). These
authors explored and measured 464 adolescents’ self-efficacy beliefs
to regulate negative affect as well as positive and negative emotions
to carry out interpersonal transactions and academic tasks. According
to the findings, having a strong sense of self-efficacy to manage one’s
positive and negative emotional life, that is to say having strong self-
efficacy beliefs to control one’s affective states contributes to the
development of successful academic activities. Likewise, the analysis
of the data showed that the perceived self-efficacy of individuals
is a general contributor to manage academic issues and to develop a
perceived self-efficacy that improves the individuals psychological
functioning.

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With reference to the role of self-efficacy in human functioning, the
research project conducted by Bandura, Martinez - Pons, & Zimmerman
(1996) gives also relevant information. These authors selected 102 ninth
and tenth graders to answer two different scales, referred to the type of
self-regulating strategies they used and the strategies they implemented
to reach a successful academic achievement in the social studies subject.
In line with the results, the learners’ self-efficacy beliefs for academic
achievement influenced their final score considerably. Moreover, it was
found that the students’ perceived self-efficacy for achievement had a
direct influence on their outcomes and goals.

At a local level, some interesting research studies have been
conducted, and one of those was aimed at developing students’ self-
efficacy. Cardona, J., & Novoa, L. (2013), encouraged 20 students from
a private and a public school to develop their self-efficacy to write
argumentative texts using modeling strategies and giving constant
feedback. After interpreting the data collected through written samples,
questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, findings revealed that
students’ motivation to write increased markedly, and attitudes like
persistence and resilience were constant when they had to carry out
different written tasks.

Another relevant research study was done by Contreras, F. E., J.
Esguerra, G. Haikal, A. Polanía, A. Rodríguez, A. (2005). These teachers
identified the self-efficacy beliefs of 120 highschool students from a
private school in Bogota, to analyse the extent to which self-efficacy and
anxiety were related to students’ performance in five specific subjects:
arts, English, social studies and mathematics. To identify learners’
beliefs, they used a general scale used for these purposes. Data revealed
that the students’ self-efficacy beliefs were producers of their academic
development, that is, the learners’ self-efficacy beliefs influenced their
performance in the areas mentioned above, which verifies their vital
role in humans’ performance.

Although the studies above show the importance of the topic of
self-efficacy in the language learning process, there has not been an
extensive research on the field in our country. Therefore, we consider this
study can contribute to the understanding of the different ways students
have built their self-efficacy beliefs throughout their experiences
as language learners, and how these ones give information on their
possible reluctance, apathy and poor performance in the language.

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Autobiographies and Students’ Language Learning Experiences

Since this study seeks to inquire into the students’ self-efficacy
beliefs, we decided to dig into their language learning experiences,
so we could get relevant information of the ways they have built their
perception of English as a foreign language and how this perception has
influenced their perceived capability as learners. To do so, we chose the
autobiographies as the main source of information in this study, because
they are useful to explore peoples’ beliefs and perceptions towards the
learning process, and to understand how individuals construct meaning
out of the experiences they have lived. Durán, Lastra, & Morales (2013).

Furthermore, Johnson (1999), asserts that autobiographies shed
light on people’s prior experiences and beliefs, so they can be analysed
critically to comprehend how complex is their understanding of the
learning process; in other words, autobiographies can inform about
people’s experiences, which may give important insights about how
they have learnt and use the language.

A study that confirms how autobiographies help teachers dig into
students’ experiences is the one conducted by Barclay-McLaughlin,
Kershaw & Roberts (2007). The participants were aimed to write an
autobiography including different stages of their childhood, elementary,
middle and high school, the people that related to these phases and
the context where these events took place. After sharing the personal
accounts to each other, they found out that the cultural autobiographies
enhanced the individuals’ self- and social awareness, and also the
understanding of others.

It’s also important to say, that autobiographies have been used
in other areas of education to explore student attitudes and behaviors,
as Tse (2000) claims in her research report, concerning the analysis of
students’ autobiographies in the English classroom. In this study, the
researcher asked 37 undergraduate and graduate students to write some
autobiographies in order to get to know their experiences as language
learners, and their attributions to success and failure. After analysing
the data, the researcher concluded that learners considered that an
appropriate classroom atmosphere and a caring teacher were essential
to succeed when learning a language, together with the contribution of
family or community sources Tse (2000). That is why they also claimed
that attributions for failure also included the teacher, the classroom
environment and the teacher-student interactions.

Clearly, due to its main characteristics, autobiographies can give
important information on the ways learners build their self-efficacy
beliefs in the process of learning the language selecting, interpreting

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and integrating several information from the four sources mentioned
by Bandura (1997). Because of this, we considered these were an
appropriate method and an object of inquiry to advance the understanding
of students’ poor perception as learners and their unwillingness to study
English, going beyond their academic performance and exploring their
affective dimension, which in line with Brown (2007) “is the emotional
side of human behaviour and can be juxtaposed to the cognitive side”
(p.153).

That is to say that both affective and cognitive sides are important
when talking about a person’s learning process, in the sense that the
beings’ personality and sociocultural factors are taken into consideration
to understand his or her development. In words of Arnold (1999) and
Brown (2007), these factors can be categorized as individual and
relational and refer to anxiety, inhibition, self-esteem, motivation,
resilience, receptivity, willingness to communicate, risk taking,
empathy and classroom transactions, and relate to the recognition of
emotion, feeling, mood or attitude in the English class.

It is also worth noting, that the studies above provided an important
opportunity to advance in the understanding of autobiographies as a
source of inquiry, and reclaims the relevance of narratives at the moment
of exploring people’s experiences, as Barkhuizen, Benson, & Chik
(2014) claim: “a focus on narrative content can certainly contribute
to a richer and more rounded understanding of language teaching and
learning as lived experience” (p.3).

This is verified by an important study carried out by Beheshti &
Noor (2013), in which the authors were intended to analyze the impact
of different journaling techniques on sixty Iranian language learners.
The results of the study showed that encouraging students to keep a
journal through which they could reflect about their experiences as
learners maximized the sources that nourished their self-efficacy beliefs.

In keeping with the previous literature review, it is evident that
the issue of self-efficacy is of central importance for teachers, and
in particular language teachers to understand the reasons behind the
learners’ poor or successful performance at the time of learning English
as a foreign language. Indeed, the previous studies showed how the
students’ self-efficacy can have a positive or a negative impact in their
performance, which gives support and relevance to the exploration of
the students’ language learning experiences in relation to their self-
efficacy beliefs.

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Methodology

Research Design

This study falls in line with the principles and procedures of a
qualitative case study since it pursues “an intensive, holistic description
and analysis of a bounded phenomenon such as a program, an institution,
a person, a process or a social unit” Merriam (1988) p.14. In this case
and as the same author states, the interest is in the process rather than
outcomes, in the context, rather than specific variables, in discovery
rather than confirmation and it is reflected in the following research
question that guides the study: How do students’ narratives inform
about the relationships between their language learning experiences
and their perceived self-efficacy in the language learning process?

Furthermore, for the purposes of this study it is clear that the
understanding of the relationship between students’ language learning
experiences and their self-efficacy, is central to improve practice, as it
will be shown at the end of this chapter. By the same token the grounded
theory approach proposed by Freeman (1998), becomes the mode of
exploration of the phenomenon of the self-efficacy of the students and
its relation with their language learning experiences. This was done
by the establishment of commonalities between the data and their
possible connections with the phenomenon under study. In this way, as
researchers we could go beyond the apparent students’ reluctance and
indifference towards learning and lack of interest, to turn failure into a
new challenge or opportunity to move forward.

The form of narrative considered for the purposes of this study
was the autobiographies, which are also defined as histories in this case
of language learning. According to Benson (2011), the term history
suggests a long - term account as well as periods over a person has
learned a language such as a year, or semester or an incident that lasts
not more than a few minutes. This was a key aspect for this exploration
because the study lasted ten months, and the participant students had
taken English courses during two years approximately which turned
into an interesting amount of time and range of experiences to look at.

Context and participants

The population who participated in this study was a group of 11
intermediate students who were ninth and eleventh graders, and their
ages ranged from 13 to 15 years old. The criteria for the selection of
this population, was the presence of a phenomenon of constant failure
and reluctance of the students towards learning the foreign language,
and the purpose of understanding the situation further and hopefully to

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come up with alternatives to overcome the issue under study, in these
students and others in similar circumstances.

The students were enrolled in an agreement between their school
and a recognized language centre of the city, which established 16
levels of English (two per month) as a requirement to graduate from
high school; that is to say the learners had to go to the institute to have
English lessons two days (five hours) a week, so, they could take the
courses as a school subject.

Data Collection Instruments

The participants were encouraged to write an autobiography (See
appendix 1) using a time line through which they could talk about
the most important experiences and childhood memories they have
lived as kids or youngsters, and as students of English as a foreign
language. Subsequently, the teacher researcher showed them their own
autobiography (see appendix 2), in order to motivate them to do the
activity and give them some ideas.

It is important to say that learners were guided through some
questions (See appendix 3 ), which were aligned to their former language
learning experiences and the sources they used to learn English. This
was done to see eventual connections between those facts and the way
they have built their self-efficacy beliefs.

With the purpose of conducting the study ethically, it was
considered the parents’ permission to use the students’ narratives taking
into account their ages. Consequently, the parents signed a consent
form (See appendix 4) where they were told the information was going
to be used for research purposes only.

Data analysis and Interpretation

The autobiographies were collected and immediately read as the
first step in the analysis, which was supported on the grounded theory
approach as it was mentioned before Freeman (1998). In this sense, the
data was read repeatedly and colour coded according to the recurrence
of themes. Patterns in the themes which connected the autobiographical
accounts were identified leading to the interpretation of them. This
interpretation was done through the categorization of data extracts and
their reorganization under thematic headings Polkinghorne (1995).
The preliminary categories were also generated from the analysis of
points of similarity and difference throughout the data to have a broader
analytical viewpoint and later, they were rearranged based on theoretical

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arguments to provide more validity to the findings, as it is shown in the
following figure:

Figure 1. Similarities and differences of data

The themes above were specified and explicit to display initial
findings and interrelations, and subsequently configure the categories
that emerged from the data analysis. The following categories bring to
surface issues connected to students’ previous experiences, and different
dimensions of interactions in and outside the classroom, that seem to
have shaped the way they see themselves as successful or academically
disadvantaged learners. Next there are the two main categories that were
generated out the data analysis: learners’ discouraging experiences
and Students’ negative states.

Discouraging experiences: particularly, after the analysis the data
through the grounded theory approach, it was found that the majority of
the students’ have had discouraging experiences when learning English.
One of the consequences of these demotivating experiences is their
repetitive failure of the English courses and the exams. According to
the data and grouping commonalities, this continuous deficiency could
be explained by the aspects below:

Teachers’ discourse and didactics: turning to the teachers’
discourse and didactics, students mentioned how the inadequate
classroom management and error correction techniques used by their
teachers, as well as their poor appraisal to learners’ work, the teachers’
centred lessons, and their inadequate discourse remarks made them
feel apprehensive, inhibited and demotivated to learn the language.
This implies that the teacher’s performance seems to have influenced

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learners’ states in the English classroom, which have tended to be
negative, as it is shown next:

“Pues una de mis malas experiencias fue con una profesora
del centro de Idiomas, por su forma de enseñar no le entendía nada
y eso me frustraba un poco y pues su forma de corregirnos no era la
más apropiada, por lo que daba miedo y pues el Inglés no es una de
mis materias preferidas y así como que menos uno le halla el gusto”
(Participant G, personal communication, June 25, 2015):

“Hasta donde tengo memoria, unos pocos profesores mostraron
interés por mi proceso de aprendizaje a lo largo de los años. Una
profesora llamada Dora, fue la única de los profesores que fue paciente
conmigo. Sus clases eran dinámicas y algunas otras eran normales
(…) Dora me decía que le gustaban mis presentaciones y la manera
como ponía atención en clase, porque ella siempre esperaba sentirse
orgullosa de nuestro aprendizaje y avance, más allá de darnos una
nota. Para ella, enseñar era más que un trabajo” (Participant B,
personal communication, June 25, 2015).

Classroom transactions: According to Arnold (1999) and
Brown (2007), classroom transactions imply that learners need to be
encouraged and assisted in the classroom. In this respect, students’
autobiographies showed that most of them were not motivated enough
to learn and use the language in their English classes; on the contrary,
they were inhibited, embarrassed in public and demotivated instead,
as a consequence of the inadequate classroom transactions and the
inappropriate discourse. These are factors educators tend to take for
granted, or assume as a common place in the classroom daily basis
practice or discourse, disregarding the negative influence these traits
bring to the students’ prospective performance and behaviour:

“Lo mismo me pasó con el mini proyecto; lo hice pero cuando iba
a la mitad de la presentación me dijo: “si no va a aprender que usted
se tiene que memorizar lo que trajo no lo presente; y además yo no la
pienso pasar con cosas tan mediocres. Desde ahí fue cuando comencé
a decirme que soy una bruta que no sirvo para nada etc”. (Participant
F, personal communication, June 25, 2015)

“yo siempre sentía que ella me tenía rabia ya que no era como
unos niños que sabían más que yo. Entonces yo nunca le participaba
porque ella nunca me dio esa confianza, siempre me sentía insegura
en todo no podía hacer algo sola porque siempre pensaba que me
iba a quedar mal ya que ella siempre me ignoraba o todo me decía
que me quedaba mal; nunca me explicaba.” (Participant F, personal
communication, June 25, 2015).

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Once again, it is shown that learners’ self-efficacy beliefs could
have been diminished dramatically by some of their teachers through
an inappropriate discourse and classroom transactions that show they
neglected students’ affective domain, which according to Brown (2007)
is “the emotional side of human behaviour and can be juxtaposed to
the cognitive side” (p.153). This explains why educators need to create
good conditions that predispose students positively to learn the foreign
language and handle adversity in a proactive way. Wright (2005).

Students’ negative states: it is important to say that students’
negative states can be categorized into individual and relational factors.
According to Arnold (1999), these factors express students’ behaviour
as individuals and as participants in a sociocultural context. Under these
circumstances, some of the negative states learners have had during
their experience refer to anxiety, inhibition, low self-esteem, lack of
motivation, and lack of empathy from the teachers; as well as other
negative emotions, such as fear and frustration, which could be possible
consequences of the teachers’ inappropriate discourse and classroom
transactions. The next extracts from the students confirm this:

“Diría que fue la primera vez en el centro de idiomas pues con
este profesor entendía muy poco él no pensaba si entendíamos o no
las cosas que él le explicaba, y si hacíamos la actividad mal se ponía
furioso y nos regañaba... Recuerdo que no entendía nada, este nivel lo
perdí, el castigo fue duro y desde ahí le temo a equivocarme o a perder
un nivel”. (Participant L, personal communication, June 25, 2015).

“Porque me siento insegura con lo que hago y me dan muchos
nervios (…) cuando pienso cosas negativas de mí misma (…) cuando
pienso en mis padres en que los he hecho perder mucho dinero en los
niveles”. (Participant F, personal communication, June 25, 2015).

It is important to say that according to Bandura (1997), people
judge how capable they are to do something based on the somatic
indicators they show when facing certain situations that are aversive
or difficult. These indicators are negative states that prevent learners
from performing adequately. For this reason, if students feel: anxiety,
fear, confusion, Inhibition, nervousness, self- disappointment, or if they
experience: frustration, lack of confidence or low self-esteem when
doing certain attainments, their self-efficacy beliefs could be low .

An evidence of this is provided by the excerpts of the students,
which show the learners may have a low level of perceived capability
since the negative states mentioned above emerged when they needed to
do a specific task. This may be related to the fact that the teachers were
not making enough effort to create the optimal conditions for students

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to learn and use the language in class. Besides, this also suggests that
students’ negative states seemed to be linked directly to the kind of
rapport their teachers built in the classroom, which is also related to
the classroom climate of the lessons Wright (2005). That is to say that
learners tended to feel uncomfortable with their educators’ teaching
style and the kind of relationship they built with them, which seemed to
be distant and made students feel fear and other negative states already
mentioned.

According to the analysis above, it is evident that the main
relationships between the students’ language learning experiences
and their perceived capability can be understood by the way these
experiences shaped their self-efficacy beliefs and the different sources
from which they build them. These sources, as it was mentioned in
the literature review, refer to enactive mastery experiences, verbal
persuasion and physiological and affective states. A discussion of how
these experiences influenced the self-efficacy beliefs of the learners in
this study through the sources mentioned will be provided as follows:

Enactive Mastery Experiences: as reported in the autobiographies,
the students were exposed to discouraging experiences in the language
where the teachers’ discourse and didactics, as well as their classroom
transactions and the methodology used created an inadequate classroom
climate, that made them feel threatened to express themselves using the
language. According to the data, this demotivated them to study and
made them feel reluctant towards English. Evidently, this first source
coined by Bandura (1997), was not nourished appropriately, which
explains why their self-efficacy beliefs were not strong.

Verbal persuasion: in agreement with the learners’ personal
accounts, the continuous discouragement given by their teachers as
well as the inadequate error correction techniques and classroom
transactions made them feel insecure and increased their reluctance to
the language. As Bandura (1997) argued, when a person is encouraged
and praised verbally, the verbal persuasion source is heightened, and
as a consequence, his or her perceived capability; In this case, the
majority of the students were not encouraged verbally, which may have
weakened their self-efficacy beliefs. However, it is important to say that
a few of the learners received a support from their parents and relatives
that contributed to the enhancement of this source.

Physiological and affective states: in consonance with the data,
this was one of the sources that was diminished the most, since it was
evident the way students’ negative states such as anxiety, inhibition,
fear, frustration, nervousness among others, came into surface when

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they tried to participate in class, do oral presentations or take written
and oral exams. Besides, the analysis showed how the learners’
perception about themselves was affected in a negative way, since the
continuous discouraging experiences they have faced and the lack of
rapport between them and their teachers, made them feel less confident
when learning and using the language in the class; this explains their
constant failure patterns in the regular courses.

To summarize, it is evident how the students’ language learning
experiences shaped their self-efficacy beliefs, which made the learners
show a poor performance in the language, have a constant failure in
the courses and be reluctant and apathetic to the learning process as a
consequence. Moreover, it is clear that the autobiographies were a very
valuable instrument to inquire into the participants’ language learning
experiences, and that this information was validated against the theory
and the results of previous studies.

Discussion of the findings

Undeniably, the categories obtained after the analysis of the
autobiographies which referred to discouraging experiences, students’
lack of commitment, teachers’ discourse and didactics, classroom
transactions and students negative states, provided relevant information
about how weak or nourished were the four main sources proposed
by Bandura (1997) related to enactive mastery experiences, verbal
persuasion and physiological and affective states, so the learners’ self-
efficacy beliefs could be explored.

With regard to the question: How are the relationships between
students’ language learning experiences and their perceived capability
evident in learners’ narratives?, the ideas stated in the personal accounts
showed that the negative experiences of the students when learning,
the lack of rapport in the classes, the continuous embarrassment and
discouragement they were exposed to, the fear they started to feel to
participate, and the fact that their work did not seem to be valued enough
in class, weakened three of the afore mentioned sources proposed by
Bandura (1997).

These aspects, explain why the relationships between the students’
language learning experiences and the self-efficacy beliefs they
acquired during the process were intertwined, since they were shaped
by their teachers’ discourse and didactics, the classroom environment
of the lessons and the classroom transactions that took place and made
the students show a continuous reluctance and apathy to the language.

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Evidently, the autobiographies gave representative information about
this such symbiotic relationship, confirming what Durán Narváez,
Lastra Ramírez & Morales Vasco (2013) indicate in their research article
about this type of narrative, as a useful tool to dig into the individuals’
experiences and to get to know their identity as learners.

In short, it can be claimed that the relationships between students’
language learning experiences and their self-efficacy beliefs, were
clear in learners’ autobiographies. As a result, the research question
of the study was answered extensively, and the theoretical constructs
that support the relationships between students’ self-efficacy beliefs,
language learning experiences and narratives were verified in this study.

Conclusions

In line with the information presented in this study, which
was part of a larger one, findings reveal that the implementation of
autobiographies in the English class can give information on the
engagement patterns teachers build in the classroom, which reflect their
teaching style, classroom management strategies and the climate where
students learn the language Wright (2005). Under these circumstances,
implementing autobiographies can shed light on the roles teachers and
students perform.

The use of autobiographies enables an understanding of the way
students feel when they are heard and valued in the English classroom,
since the participants of this study expressed their insights about their
language learning process freely for the first time without being judged.
Surprisingly, during and after the autobiographies implementation,
learners started to be willing to learn the language and go to class,
which led them to see English differently. Indeed, feeling that their
voice counted in the teaching learning process and their histories were
important for the teacher, made students get more interested in the
language.

This study confirms earlier work done by Bandura (1997)
who asserted the influence of the role of self-efficacy beliefs in the
individuals’ performance. Moreover, the data demonstrated that the
students’ self-efficacy beliefs in the language were not strong, which
was a result of the discouraging learning experiences they have been
exposed to. In consequence, these experiences weakened the learners’
perceived capability, which led them show reluctance and apathy to
English as well as constant failure patterns.

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This project was restricted by time constraints and the difficulty
of the participants to express themselves clearly through the personal
accounts, since it was the first time they had the opportunity to write
about their learning experiences in the foreign language. This made
the grounded theory analysis more extensive but rich, meaningful and
fruitful at the same time.

For further research, it would be interesting to expand learners’ life
stories to understand the way their experiences shape their performance,
attitude and above all, their perception and identity as learners.

It can be concluded that inquiring into the learners’self-efficacy
beliefs can help the academic community to understand the students
beyond the texts books and the grades they can get in a classroom,
giving importance to their affective dimension, which underlies their
feelings, perceptions, classroom patterns, the type of environment built
in the lessons and the different teaching styles that emerge in each
encounter.

The issue of re-thinking the role of the teachers in education is of
central importance since little attention has been paid to the appraisal of
students’ previous experiences, the affective dimension in class and the
creation of safer classroom environments that boost students’ learning;
this might be done by becoming educators that empower students “with
a profound trust in people and their creative power” (Freire, 1969, p.24)
and by recognizing learners’experiences:

Children’s... experiences are tremendously valuable resources for
education. Our role as teachers is to build upon these experiences and
to create an environment where students can make connections to other
experiences, construct personal meaning out of what they are learning
and become open to new possibilities for growth... Their experiences
need to be taken seriously and woven integrally into the curriculum...
There must exist continuity between the child and the curriculum in
order for learning and growth to occur. Hytten (2000) p. 460 (as cited in
Banks-Joseph, Gilmore and Shawer ,2008) (P.4)

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Authors

*Norma Constanza Durán Narváez hold an MA in Applied
Linguistics to TEFL from Universidad Distrital Francisco José
de Caldas and a Specialist in English Language Teaching from
Universidad del Tolima (Colombia). Her research interests
include teacher learning and professional development,
cognition processes in teacher education and EFL teaching and
learning processes. She is currently a full time teacher in the
B.Ed in English program and part time teacher in the English
Didactics Master Program at Universidad del Tolima, Colombia.

Carol Andrea García Gutierrez is enrolled in the English
Didactics Master program at Universidad del Tolima, Colombia.
In the last two years, she worked on a research study named:
Exploring students’’ self-efficacy in the language learning
process, from which the information discussed in the article
is part. She has been a teacher for ten years and managed
different types of audiences such as: children, intermediate
school students and undergraduate learners. She has also
worked in private schools, language learning centres and at the
University of Tolima as well. She is currently teaching English
in the Language Centre at Universidad Militar Nueva Granada,
Colombia.

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Apprendix 1

Autobiographies samples

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Appendix 2

Teacher’s autobiography

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Appendix 3

Questions (Students’ autobiographies)

1. Tus profesores de Inglés han tenido en cuenta tu forma de aprender
y tu personalidad en el desarrollo de sus clases?

2. Describe las experiencias exitosas en el aprendizaje del Inglés.

3. Describe las experiencias frustrantes o poco satisfactorias en el
aprendizaje del Inglés

4. Que recursos y/o personas han sido fundamentales en tu proceso
del aprendizaje del idioma?

5. Que recursos y/o personas han interferido en tu proceso de
aprendizaje del Inglés?

6. De qué manera piensas que el Inglés te puede ayudar en tu vida
futura? Por qué?

7. Que aspecto/ aspectos han influido en que ganes o apruebes los
exámenes y los niveles de Inglés?

8. Que aspecto/ aspectos inciden o han influido en que pierdas las
pruebas y los niveles de Inglés?.

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Appendix 4

Consent form

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