Speaking strategies instruction and students’ self-efficacy in speaking

Despite the growing emphasis on communicative competence in higher education, many Ethiopian university students continue to experience challenges in developing confidence and self-efficacy in speaking English. Previous research has primarily focused on improving speaking performance through traditional classroom instruction, with limited attention given to the impact of speaking strategies instruction on students’ self-efficacy beliefs. Furthermore, few empirical studies have investigated the effect of speaking strategies instruction on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ speaking self-efficacy within Ethiopian universities, revealing a significant gap in the literature in this specific context. This gap underscores the need for further research examining the relationship between speaking strategies instruction and speaking self-efficacy in Ethiopian higher education. Accordingly, this study aimed to examine the effect of speaking strategies instruction on enhancing students’ speaking self-efficacy. A quasi-experimental research design employing a quantitative approach was utilized. Descriptive statistical analyses, including means and standard deviations, along with paired-samples t-tests, were conducted to analyze participants’ pre-test and post-test results and to determine the statistical significance of differences between the experimental and control groups. The sample consisted of 93 first-year students from the Social Sciences and Humanities during the second semester at a higher education institution in Ethiopia. Intact classes were selected through simple random sampling, while individual participants were assigned using non-random sampling techniques. A close-ended questionnaire was administered to measure students’ speaking self-efficacy. The findings revealed that the experimental group’s mean self-efficacy score increased substantially from 2.00 prior to the intervention to 4.37 following the intervention. These results indicate that speaking strategies instruction plays a significant role in enhancing students’ speaking self-efficacy.