Influence of Self-Efficacy on Elementary Students' Writing

Abstract

This study tested the influence of writing self-efficacy, writing apprehension, perceived usefulness of writing, and writing aptitude on 218 fifth graders' essay-writing performance. Students' beliefs about their abilities directly influenced apprehension, perceived usefulness, and performance, and partially mediated the effects of gender and writing aptitude on apprehension, perceived utility, and performance. Aptitude predicted writing performance. (SM)