Ability self-concept and self-efficacy in higher education: An empirical differentiation based on their factorial structure

Abstract

Ability self-concept (SC) and self-efficacy (SE) are central competence-related self-perceptions that affect students' success in educational settings. Both constructs show conceptual differences but their empirical differentiation in higher education has not been sufficiently demonstrated. In the present study, we investigated the empirical differentiation of SC and SE in higher education with N = 1,243 German psychology students (81% female; age M = 23.62 years), taking into account central methodological requirements that, in part, have been neglected in prior studies. SC and SE were assessed at the same level of specificity, only cognitive SC items were used, and multiple academic domains were considered. We modeled the structure of SC and SE taking into account a multidimensional and/or hierarchical structure and investigated the empirical differentiation of both constructs on different levels of generality (i.e., domain-specific and domain-general). Results supported the empirical differentiation of SC and SE with medium-sized positive latent correlations (range r = .57-.68) between SC and SE on different levels of generality. The knowledge about the internal structure of students' SC and SE and the differentiation of both constructs can help us to develop construct-specific and domain-specific intervention strategies. Future empirical comparisons of the predictive power of SC and SE can provide further evidence that both represent empirical different constructs.

English Speaking Lecturers’ Performances of Communication Strategies and Their Efforts to Improve Students’ Communicative Competence

“…The third finding of this study indicated that most students positively perceived ES lecturers' efforts because such efforts were beneficial to the improvement of their motivation, self-efficacy, collaborative skills, and metacognition. Studies have identified that motivation and self-efficacy exist within the same psychological domain (Bragina & Voelcker-Rehage, 2018;Peiffer et al, 2020). Supporting the present study, Truong and Wang (2019) highlighted that teachers' efforts are needed to improve students' motivation and self-efficacy.…”

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