Effects of social persuasion from parents and teachers on Chinese students’ self-efficacy: an exploratory study

Abstract

This study compared the effects of social persuasion from parents and teachers on students’ self-efficacy in reading comprehension in English as a foreign language. Ninety-nine Grade 8 Chinese students in a secondary school in Hong Kong completed a questionnaire with six scenarios which tapped their self-efficacy after receiving positive and negative feedback that were described as coming from their teacher, mother and father. Students decreased their self-efficacy after receiving negative feedback and the source of feedback did not make a statistically significant difference. Conversely, positive feedback led to an increase in self-efficacy with the mother’s positive feedback leading to a higher increase in self-efficacy than feedback from the teacher and the father. No statistically significant difference was noted in the change in self-efficacy after receiving feedback from the father and the teacher. Parents and teachers should increase the use of positive feedback and decrease that of negative feedback. Implications for collaboration between teachers and parents in providing positive feedback on students’ academic performance were discussed.

Keywords:

• Adolescents
• feedback
• fathers
• mothers
• reading comprehension
• self-efficacy

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on Lam Yuen Yi’s thesis completed at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University of Hong Kong. The authors would like to thank Wong Kit Yi, Miranda, for her assistance.