ABSTRACT
Students’ ability to cope with the transition to English Medium Instruction (EMI) tertiary study is an emerging research focus. This longitudinal, mixed-methods study charts the changes in self-efficacy of 40 freshman EMI social science students during their initial 14-week academic writing preparatory course at a university in Japan. Questionnaire data was gathered over four time-points during one 14-week semester via an EMI Writing Self-efficacy scale. A repeated-measures ANOVA found no significant change in students’ self-efficacy beliefs over the semester, on average. However, data from each time-point indicate different patterns of fluctuation for different groups of students, with efficacy beliefs strengthening and weakening over time. Qualitative data were collected via nine student journal entries written through the semester by all 40 participants and 3 semi-structured interviews conducted with 9 students. Qualitative content analysis revealed two key themes: (1) underestimations of the difficulty of academic writing at the university level based on perceptions of success at high school; and (2) positive perceptions of skills development in certain areas, leading to stronger self-efficacy beliefs. Overall, students’ writing self-efficacy tended to have a brittle quality: self-doubt pervaded despite gains in knowledge and skills. Implications for programmes preparing learners for EMI are discussed.
