Self-efficacious beliefs and students' self-esteem : the case of private English-Medium school in Al-Koura

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship and effect of self-efficacious beliefs in Mathematics, English, Arabic and History on students self-esteem in the context of Private schools in the North of Lebanon and to explore how this relationship varies between genders. 151 students completed the questionnaires which assessed their efficacious beliefs in Maths, English, Arabic and History as well as their self-esteem. The results drawn from the questionnaires revealed that students have moderately high selfesteem and that there is no gender difference in the means of self-esteem among the participants of the study (p=.595). With regards to efficacious beliefs, ANOVA analysis showed that there is no significant differences between male and female students efficacious beliefs in math (p=.898), History (p=.735) and Arabic (p=.081). Nevertheless, ANOVA showed significant gender differences in students efficacious beliefs in English (p=.011). These results induced that gender stereotyping could not be highly-thought of by the participants in this study. In addressing the correlation between students self-esteem and their efficacious beliefs in the academic disciplines pertinent to this study, findings evinced that both male and female students linked their self-esteem to their efficacious beliefs in Math, Arabic and English but did not link their self-esteem to their efficacious beliefs in History. Moreover, the correlation between self-esteem and self-efficacy was stronger for females than it was for males in Maths (r=.451- r=.440 respectively) and English (r=.302 – r=.291 respectively), while it was stronger for males (r=.333) rather than for females (r=.238) in Arabic. Stepwise analysis revealed that students efficacious beliefs in maths, English and Arabic are significant (at .05 level of significance) in predicting students self-esteem.