A Case Study on University Students' Writing Self-Efficacy and Academic Achievement in Writing Courses

Objectives This study aims to examine the impact of writing instruction on enhancing university students’ writing self-efficacy and to analyze the relationship between the levels of writing self-efficacy (cognitive, affective, and social) and academic achievement. Methods A pre- and post-survey was conducted for 149 students enrolled in the “Critical Reading and Writing” course at S University. Paired sample t-tests were conducted based on the pre-and post-surveys to investigate changes after the course. In addition, to investigate the relationship between levels of writing self-efficacy and academic achievement, independent sample t-tests were conducted by dividing writing self-efficacy into higher and lower groups in each domain. Results The results indicated that writing self-efficacy significantly increased post-instruction compared to pre-instruction. Notably, cognitive self-efficacy improved in both knowledge and skill domains, and affective self-efficacy showed enhancements in both interest and anxiety factors. Social self-efficacy increased in terms of vicarious experiences, but no significant difference was observed in the social evaluation domain. Overall, students with high writing self-efficacy demonstrated statistically significant higher academic achievement compared to those with low self-efficacy. Conclusions This study shows that “writing course” positively impacts students’ writing self-efficacy and academic achievement, emphasizing the importance of improving cognitive self-efficacy. Based on these findings, it is suggested to incorporate free writing strategies to reduce anxiety and implement frequent feedback and sharing strategies to enhance social self-efficacy. Future research should systematically analyze the relationship between writing self-efficacy and academic achievement, considering various moderating variables.