Page 249 - Making Instruction Work

chap 19 3/11/97 5:15 PM Page 235

getting ready 235

Self-Efficacy

Instruction that works not only sends students away with the
ability to do what the course objectives require,but it also sends
them away with the eagerness to apply what they have learned
and with the perseverance needed to overcome obstacles. In
other words, successful instruction sends students away with
high,rather than low,self-efficacy.You influence the strength of
your students’self-efficacy whether you like it or not.

What is Self-Efficacy?

Self-efficacy refers to people’s judgments about their capa-
bility to execute specific courses of action; it refers to their
belief in their ability to perform specific tasks or apply specif-
ic skills. Self-efficacy isn’t concerned with actual skills and abil-
ities, but with people’s beliefs about the strength of those skills
and abilities.
People who say with confidence, “I can climb an elephant
blindfolded,”and then proceed to do so, have high self-efficacy
toward elephant-climbing. Because of their strong self-efficacy,
they will be more willing to climb elephants in the future, and
they will be more likely to brush themselves off and try again
when they fall off. Those who are equally skilled at elephant-
climbing (or anything else), but who judge themselves to be
poor at this critical skill will be less likely to be willing to prac-
tice the skill,and will be less likely to persevere in the face of set-
backs.You can see the importance of having strong self-efficacy
toward the things you can do well.
Self-efficacy is not necessarily related to level of skill,
because people may or may not make accurate judgments
about the strength of their abilities. Everyone knows someone
who is better at something than they judge themselves to be.
“Aw, shucks,” they may say, “I’m not really very good at that,”
even though they may in fact be the best in the business.