كليدواژه :
self , efficacy , intelligence , foreign language achievement
چكيده فارسي :
Self-efficacy is conceptualized as the beliefs about one s capabilities to learn or perform behaviors at designated levels (Bandura, 1997), and is claimed to have a measure of control over individual s thoughts, feelings and actions. From this perspective, the beliefs that individuals hold about their abilities and outcome of their efforts will significantly affect how they will behave. According to the theoretical explanation on self-efficacy and findings of previous studies, the present study intends to find out the relationship among students self-efficacy, intelligence, and their foreign language achievement. A sample of 167 Iranian EFL learners were recruited as the participants of the study. The participants completed validated measures of intelligence and self-efficacy. Moreover, learners scores at the end of the semester were aggregated as a measure of foreign language achievement. The findings of the data analysis showed that intelligence accounted for 15.3% of the variance in foreign language achievement, and self-efficacy accounted for 20.13% of the variance. In spite of the fact that each of the two variables had a unique effect on foreign language achievement, self-efficacy outweighed intelligence as a correlate of foreign language achievement. In conclusion, it can be argued that achievement in English language will improve when students have higher self-efficacy in the language. The implications are discussed in relation to teaching and learning language.
