The relationship between the self-efficacy of monolingual and bilingual undergraduate college students and their academic achievement in science and math.

Almost twenty-one percent of the United States population spoke a language
other than English in 2011. Furthermore, there has been a dramatic increase in the
enrollment of students of Hispanic and other ethnic backgrounds in U.S. post-secondary
institutions between 1976 and 2013 (from 4% to 16%) (National Center for Education
Statistics NCES, 2016).
Until now, no systematic research has focused on the differential effects of selfefficacy
on academic achievement in monolingual and bilingual undergraduate college
students. The present study aimed to investigate this relationship, as well as contribute
additional insight on whether the academic self-efficacy of monolingual and bilingual
undergraduate college students plays a role in their academic success specifically in
science and math courses. Additionally, the findings of this research study were expected to provide data to inform the development of educational programs that might
specifically target monolinguals or bilinguals in enhancing students’ self-efficacy.
Seven instructors of foundational undergraduate science courses and math
courses at a southeastern university agreed to contribute to the study by asking their
students for their voluntary participation in the data collection. A total of 361 students
participated in the study. Overall, 256 (70.9%) participants reported being monolingual
and 105 (29.1%) reported being bilingual; 335 (92.8%) students were enrolled in
science courses and 26 (7.2%) were registered in math courses; 237 (65.7%) were
female students and 124 (34.3%) were male. Demographics, self-efficacy, and
sociolinguistic data were collected using the Self-Efficacy Research Study Online
Questionnaire. Final science and math grades were also collected from the instructors at
the end of the semester for all students who volunteered to participate in the study.
The findings of this research study revealed that the self-efficacy levels of
undergraduate college students in science and math predict their academic achievement
in these subjects. They also showed that the self-efficacy levels of bilingual participants
are higher than those of their monolingual counterparts. Findings also indicated that
when the relationship between final grade and self-efficacy was examined separately in
each linguistic group the correlation was significant and positive for monolinguals.