Abstract:

Although undergraduate students have been learning English for many years, ever since they were in primary school, some of them still could not be able to communicate or speak confidently and fluently in English. Speaking fluently in the English language seems difficult and challenging for them despite the fact that they are aware mastering this language is an added value especially when entering the job market. The purposes of this study were to investigate the relationship between undergraduate students’ self-efficacy to communicate in English and their academic achievement, and to explore their self-efficacy to communicate in English in terms of aspiration, attitude and aptitude. Using a simple random sampling technique, 855 Malaysian final year undergraduate students from science major faculties and social science major faculties were given self-efficacy questionnaire of whom 87 also participated in an interview. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that participants in this study had high self-efficacy beliefs in terms of their aspiration followed by attitude and aptitude. It was also found that science major faculty’s students had significantly higher self-efficacy to communicate in English in terms of aspiration, attitude and aptitude than those in social science major faculty’s students. Besides that, the analysis of correlation revealed that there is a significant correlation between the student’s self-efficacy to communicate in English in terms of aspiration and student’s academic achievement. Limitations of the study and implications for teaching and learning of the English language as a second language are also discussed.

Keywords:

English Language, Self-Efficacy, Aspiration, Attitude and Aptitude.