Assessing the Effect of General Self-efficacy on Academic Achievement Using Path Analysis: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Although self-efficacy is a construct born originally out of and into the field of psychology, its importance and relevance extend de facto outside its original field of research to span multiple closely related disciplines including, but in no way limited to, applied linguistics and educational psychology mainly for its demonstrably strong association to a vast range of language-related educational phenomena. In the present study, we set out to examine, by means of the Spearman correlational test and through the construction of a direct effect model, the relationship between general self-efficacy beliefs and academic achievement. For this, we used responses of one hundred and thirty-eight (N = 138) EFL students of undergraduate and graduate levels from numerous universities across different regions in Morocco. Findings show a very moderate significant correlation between self-efficacy and academic achievement as measured by GPA. Further, a constructed direct-effect path model showed a significant positive impact of self-efficacy on academic achievement, substantiating further the existing link between the two constructs. In addition, a gender-based comparison in terms of self-efficacy using an independent sample t-test revealed that females reported higher self-efficacy beliefs than their male counterparts. Finally, we conclude with a summary of the study and some recommendations for future research.