The influence of interest, vocabulary difficulty and print size on the situation-specific reading self-efficacy of high achieving and low achieving high school readers

This study examined the relationship between the independent variables of passage interest, vocabulary difficulty, and print size and the dependent variable of students\u27 situation-specific self-efficacy for completing a reading task. It also sought to determine if the self-efficacy judgments made from specific reading passages related to students\u27 general self-efficacy for reading. Thirty high achieving and thirty low achieving high school students were first given a general self-efficacy measure for reading. A week later they were asked to view 16 passages with various combinations of interest, vocabulary difficulty, and print size for 20 seconds each, and to report how confident they were that they could read and understand the material well enough to take a test on it, if they had enough time. After estimating their self-efficacy for each task, the students were interviewed to find out what factors were most salient in making their decisions. Results were analyzed using a 2 x (2 x 2 x 2) repeated measures analysis of variance and covariance. The results showed significant main effects for interest and vocabulary that were qualified by a significant interest x vocabulary interaction. There was also a significant vocabulary x print x group interaction. The look of the vocabulary was very important for both groups, perhaps overshadowing the effects of interest and print. All three factors were mentioned by the students in the interview. The students\u27 situation-specific judgments on actual passages correlated to their general sense of self-efficacy for reading (p = +.50), supporting Bandura\u27s (1977) and Schunk\u27s (1985) findings that self-efficacy is area specific. Students appear to make decisions about their ability to read passages very quickly--within seconds of seeing a material. These situation-specific self-efficacy judgments should be considered by teachers in planning for instruction