WRITING SELF-EFFICACY

Writing Self-Efficacy
Domonique Payan
September 23, 2015
LBS 355-01
Paper 2
Draft 3
Pages: 3

Writing Self-Efficacy
As humans, our self-efficacy is tied to how, weak or strong, we perceive ourselves to be. Our selfefficacy also reflects our ability to have control over our own motivations and behaviors. Our sense of
self-efficacy can play a vital role in how we, as individuals, approach certain tasks, goals, and
challenges in everyday life. For this paper, I will briefly summarize Lavelles (2006), article, describing
her research about teachers writing self-efficacy, and provide a knowledgeable response about Lavelles
article, and lastly, connecting this article and my understanding of the article, with my own writing selfefficacy.
In her article, Lavelle (2006) discusses a study that was conducted to determine how writing selfefficacy could impact a future teachers writing performance. For this study, sixty-four teachers who
were enrolled in a college course were asked to write a five to ten page written response on any topic
pertaining to their assigned readings. Two raters, who were properly trained, then analyzed the quality of
the students responses, using both a deep and surface rubric and a holistic rubric, to see if there was a

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correlation between self-efficacy and writing quality and whether or not the responses reflected deep or
superficial writing (Lavelle, 2006). The results gathered in this study, did support the correlation
between the writing self-efficacy of the students and their writing performance.
Upon reading this article (Lavelle, 2006), I could not help but see a similarity between self-efficacy
and the self-fulfilling prophecy, a concept I learned in a psychology class. Just like self-efficacy, the
self-fulfilling prophecy, is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, due to
positive or negative feedback between belief and behavior, for example, if you wake up and say to
yourself, I can tell, today is going to be a bad day, then this notion will come true only because you
strongly believe your prediction. Self-efficacy works the same way. For instance, if a person believes
that they are a good writer, by believing in their writing skills, then they will be a good writer. If a
person believes that they are a great teacher, by believing in their skills to teach, then their teaching will
reflect greatness. This is a fact that Lavelle (2006) has proven through her self-efficacy study, and from
my personal experience, I can say that these facts, on writing self-efficacy and performance, hold true.
For example, I do believe I am a good writer and as it turns out, my writing reflects my belief. When I
have self-doubt, my performances reflect my state of mind and I perform poorly. A weakness of the
article is that there is no continuation of the study beyond the preliminary results (the correlation
between writing self-efficacy and performance), and it offers no suggestions as to how the students
could raise their self-efficacy.
Having reflected on my own writing, I can honestly say that I strongly believe in my ability to write.
My self-efficacy in this area has always been high. I believe this article (Lavelle, 2006), not only relates
to me on a personal level, but it also relates to many people, as well. I believe the latter because I am
sure that most people can identify life goals they would like to achieve, and personal things they would
like to change, like a certain behavior. However, most people, such as myself, also realize that setting
goals and putting plans into action is easier said than done. For example, I know that my self-efficacy in
math is very low. Ever since high school, I struggled in math and I know now that my struggle has
everything to do with me not believing in myself. When I think of math, I become overwhelmed and

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often quit before I can even start. My lack of confidence in this area prevents me from setting realistic
goals. I always try to take on more than I can handle and this is why I fail. I know now where my
weakness lies and in order for me to improve in this area, I must set realistic goals, and take things one
step at a time, while trying to believe in myself. If I continue to have low self-efficacy in math, this can
hinder my performance as a teacher and I will not be able to teach math effectively to my students.
Having read this article (Lavelle, 2006), I have come to the conclusion that my self-efficacy can play
a huge role in my performance as teacher. For example, I believe I will be able to provide more support
for student learning and create a more positive classroom environment for all my students, if I, as a
teacher, have a high sense of self-efficacy. While writing this paper, I have come to realize that selfesteem is completely different from self-efficacy. Unlike self-esteem, which reflects a persons overall
evaluation of his or her own worth, self-efficacy reflects the confidence a person has about performing
specific tasks. Even though self-esteem does matter, I believe the best way to help students feel good
about themselves is to provide them with an opportunity to learn what their strengths are, and help them
develop the belief that they can rely on their strengths when facing a challenge. I believe that, as a future
teacher, I can help students develop a sense of self-efficacy by not only reinforcing their strengths and
helping them identity steps to achieve their goals, but by displaying my own sense of self-efficacy.

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References
Lavelle, E. (2006). Teachers Self-Efficacy for writing. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational
Psychology, 4 (1), 73-84.