A Study of English Writing and Domain-Specific Motivation and Self-Efficacy of Chinese EFL Learners

This paper aims to analyze the relationships between English writing and domain-specific motivation and self-efficacy of Chinese EFL learners. 66 English major students from two grades were invited as participants to complete a writing task and two self-designed questionnaires on English writing motivation and self-efficacy, respectively. It was found that the students were largely not self-efficacious with respect to English writing although they had a relatively high motivation for English writing. The results of correlation analyses indicated that English writing motivation, self-efficacy and English writing proficiency positively and significantly correlated with each other for English major freshmen, but not for sophomores. Moreover, the two groups of students differed significantly in terms of English writing proficiency, English writing self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation. These results are partially consistent with those of the previous research and have important implications for the teaching of English writing in EFL countries.