ERIC Number: EJ1456134
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024-Oct
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-2158-2440
The Interrelationships between Young English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) Learners' Perceived Value in Reading Storybooks, Reading Self-Efficacy, and Proficiency
SAGE Open, v14 n4 2024
Despite much attention having been paid to foreign language (FL) reading and related variables such as self-efficacy, relatively few studies have focused on young learners, and even fewer on storybooks, arguably the commonest genre read by children worldwide for language learning. As FL learning commences at a young age in many contexts globally, it is of importance to examine how FL children's perceptions of storybooks and reading self-efficacy relate to their proficiency. In the present study, 96 Grade 5 English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners in Hong Kong completed a questionnaire (measuring their perceived value in English storybooks and English reading self-efficacy) and various proficiency tests (vocabulary size, word reading, reading fluency, and reading comprehension). Drawing on Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT), the interrelationships between the variables were analyzed using hierarchical regression and mediation. The findings revealed that self-efficacy was a significant positive predictor of all aspects of EFL proficiency while value was predictive of vocabulary and word reading only. Self-efficacy was also found to be a significant mediator between value and some areas of proficiency investigated. The study advances our understanding of EVT in which value and self-efficacy seem to have stronger predictive power of lower-order aspects of proficiency (vocabulary size and word reading) than a higher-order aspect (reading comprehension). The article ends with a brief discussion of the implications of the findings.
Descriptors: Self Efficacy, Language Proficiency, Correlation, English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, Vocabulary Skills, Predictor Variables, Reading Comprehension, Reading Fluency, Grade 5, Childrens Literature, Student Attitudes, Word Recognition, Foreign Countries, Reading Attitudes, Elementary School Students
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2993
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 5; Intermediate Grades; Middle Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Hong Kong
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A