PROMOTING EFFECT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION OF COLLEGE STUDENTS ON ENGLISH TEACHING

Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica 2020, Vol. XXIX, N°1, 1240-1245

DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.178 1240

P

ROMOTING

E

FFECT OF

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SYCHOLOGICAL

C

APITAL

C

ONSTRUCTION OF

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OLLEGE

S

TUDENTS ON

E

NGLISH

T

EACHING

Yu Zhao

Abstract

The English learning efficacy of college students reflects the effect of English teaching and their psychological capital (PsyCap). From the perspective of learning efficacy, this paper carries out a PsyCap questionnaire survey on college students, and uses an academic self-efficacy scale to evaluate the current status of PsyCap and English learning efficacy of college students. Drawing on Luthans’ PsyCap intervention

theory, the author designed a PsyCap intervention training program and applied it to a contrastive experiment. Through the analysis of the experimental results, it is concluded that the PsyCap and English learning efficacy are both good for college students, yet vary greatly with the grades; the PsyCap intervention training can effectively enhance the PsyCap and English learning efficacy of college students; PsyCap has a positive correlation with English learning efficacy, and the mastery of English. This research provides a new direction for promoting the effect of college English teaching.

Key words: College Students, Psychological Capital (PSYCAP) Construction, Learning Efficacy, English Teaching.

Received: 18-04-19 | Accepted: 20-08-19

INTRODUCTION

With the advent of the era of global economic integration, the English scores and psychological health status of college students have become one of the important criteria for measuring whether they meet the standards of comprehensive talents. College students are facing increasingly fierce social competition and academic pressure, and their psychological capital and learning efficacy are directly related to their individual development and the progress of the society.

The positive psychological state of the individual that is presented in the process of growth and development is called the psychological capital, which includes four parts: hope, optimism, resiliency and self-efficacy (Cheung, Tang, & Tang, 2011). Luthans found through research that the relationship between

Anshan Normal University, Liaoning 114007, China . E-Mail: [email protected]

the self-confidence dimension and job performance is significant (Luthans, Avey, & Patera, 2008). Li Ye pointed out that college students' psychological capital is a main factor affecting their employability (Li, 2018). Guo Yunfei believes that psychological capital is positively correlated with the students’ professional self-identity (Chen & Li, 2010). The reflection of self-efficacy in learning is called learning efficacy, including two dimensions: the learning behavior self-efficacy and the learning ability self-efficacy (Strevens, 1988). Gao Chao's research confirms that the individuals’ learning self-confidence and initiative are the main factors influencing college students’ learning efficacy (Dello Russo & Stoykova, 2015). Zhang Dandan pointed out that learning attitude is positively correlated with learning efficacy (Luthans, Luthans, & Luthans, 2004). Wei Yaoyang confirmed that the higher the learning efficacy of college students, the better their academic performance (Hughes, Lyddy, & Kaplan, 2013). Therefore, college students’

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academic performance can be improved by enhancing the learning efficacy. In recent years, more and more experts and scholars have carried out researches on the construction of college students' psychological capital and the efficacy of English learning. Zhou Qiaoying found through investigation that college students' academic sentiment and English learning efficacy are both affected by their psychological capital (Anderson, 1969). Wang Shilei adopted the questionnaire method and concluded that students with lower psychological capital are prone to learning burnout when studying English (Goodwyn, 2012). Although there are abundant research results on psychological capital and learning efficacy, we are still unclear about the current situation of college students’ psychological capital and learning efficacy and the relationship between the two.

Based on the above analysis, this paper takes the promoting effect of college students' psychological capital construction on English teaching as the research objective, and uses the questionnaires to investigate the current situation of college students' psychological capital and the English learning efficacy, then according to the survey results, it selects freshmen who have lower psychological capital and English learning efficacy as the subjects. Based on Luthans' psychological capital intervention theory, this study designs a psychological capital intervention training program, and verifies the effectiveness of the training program on the psychological capital and learning efficacy of college students. The correlation analysis results show that the psychological capital and the English learning efficacy are positively correlated, that is, the higher the level of psychological capital, the higher the efficacy of English learning, which is beneficial for college students to master English.

INVESTIGATION ON THE CURRENT STATUS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS' PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL AND ENGLISH LEARNING EFFICACY

Based on the principle of voluntary participation, this study randomly selected 410 students from the freshman year to the junior year in a college in Hunan Province, China as the subjects to investigate the current status of their psychological capital and English learning efficacy.

Investigation on the current situation of college students' psychological capital

The college student psychology capital questionnaire revised by Shan Xuezhi was adopted to measure the psychology capital of the subjects (Ghadiri, Tavakoli, & Ketabi, 2015), and a Likert 6-point scoring system was applied. From 6 points to 1 point, it represents strongly agree, agree, partially agree, partially disagree, disagree, and strongly disagree, and the score is positively related to the psychological capital level, that is, the lower the score, the lower the psychological capital level.

Overall situation of college students' psychological capital

Figure 1 shows the survey results of the overall situation of college students' psychological capital, from the figure we can see that, in the four dimension of psychological capital, the score of the optimism dimension is the highest, which is 4.56 points, followed by the self-confidence dimension and the hope dimension, the score of the resiliency dimension is the lowest, which is 4.08 points. The total average score of psychological capital is 4.29 points, which is greater than 3.5 points, the median of the 6-point scale, therefore, overall, college students’ psychological capital is in a relatively good state.

Figure 1.

Overall situation of college

students' psychological capital

Differences in the scores of psychological capital of college students from different grades

Figure 2 shows the scores of psychological capital of college students from different grades. It can be seen from the figure that the sophomores have the highest psychological capital scores, the freshmen have the lowest

PROMOTING EFFECT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION OF COLLEGE STUDENTS ON ENGLISH TEACHING ₁₂₄₂

psychological capital scores, there are significant differences in the psychological capital scores of sophomores and those of the other two grades (p<0.05).

Figure 2.

Differences in scores of

psychological capital of college students

from different grades

0 1 2 3 4 5

Junior Sophomore

Freshman

Investigation on the current situation of college students' English learning efficacy

Based on the Academic Self-Efficacy Scale

compiled by Liang Songyu, from the two dimensions of learning behavior self-efficacy and learning ability self-efficacy (Lau, Yeung, & Jin et al., 1999), this paper complies a college student self-efficacy scale and applies a Likert 5-level scoring system, from 5 points to 1 point, it represents strongly agree, agree, average, disagree, and strongly disagree. The score is proportional to the English learning efficacy, that is, the lower the score, the lower the English learning efficacy.

Overall situation of college students' English learning efficacy

Figure 3.

Overall situation of college

students' English learning efficacy

3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4

Equalization Learning behavioral

efficacy Learning ability

Figure 3 shows the survey results of college students' English learning efficacy. It can be seen from the figure that the self-efficacy score of the self-rating of students has an average point of 3.28, which is larger than 2.5 points, the median of the 5-point scoring standard, indicating that college students’ learning efficacy is in an above -average level. The scores of students’ learning ability efficacy and learning behavior self-efficacy are both larger than 2.5 points, indicating that the two dimensions of learning efficacy are also in a good level.

Differences in scores of English learning efficacy of college students from different grades

Figure 4 shows the differences in the scores of English learning efficacy of college students from different grades, it can be seen from the figure that, in the three grades, sophomores have the highest score in English learning efficacy, followed by the juniors, and the score of the freshmen is the lowest. There are significant differences in the score of English learning efficacy of sophomores and the scores of the other two grades (p<0.05).

Figure 4.

Differences in scores of English

learning efficacy of college students in

different grades

0 1 2 3 4

Junior Sophomore

Freshman

PROMOTING EFFECT OF COLLEGE STUDENTS' PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION ON ENGLISH TEACHING

Psychological capital intervention model (1) Selection of subjects for the intervention study

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students’ English learning efficacy and psychological capital, 2 classes of freshmen with lower psychological capital scores were selected as the subjects, one class was taken as the experimental class/group (51 students), and the other was taken as the control class/group (50 students). The experimental group subjects were subject to the intervention training using the PCI model, while the control group subjects were not intervened. Before the intervention, and 2 months and 4 months after the intervention training had started, subjects of both groups were required to complete the questionnaire and the fill in the scale.

(2) Psychological capital intervention training program

Based on Luthans' psychological capital intervention theory, this paper designed 8 intervention activities from 4 dimensions. The intervention lasted for 4 months and conducted once every two weeks. The first intervention activity was to let students learn about the related theories of psychological capital and the related knowledge of positive psychology by attending lectures about psychological capital and Ma Yun’s entrepreneurship lecture so as to cultivate the positive psychological behavior of the students; the second intervention activity was a game called “untie the knots”, which can cultivate students to design goals, formulate plans to eliminate obstacles in the process of achieving goals, and ultimately achieve the goals, this game helps students establish hopes; the third intervention was to cultivate students' optimist spirit through games of carrying and transporting balloons with one’s head; the fourth intervention was to cultivate students’ resiliency; and the fifth, the sixth and the seventh intervention activities were to improve the students’ learning efficacy; the eighth intervention was to improve the overall psychological capital of the students.

Results of intervention training

(1) Influence of intervention training on college students' psychological capital

Figure 5 shows the scores of the psychological capital of the control group before the intervention, by the end of the 2nd month after the intervention started, and by the end of the 4th month after the intervention started. Figure 6 shows the scores of the experimental group before the intervention, by the end of the 2nd month after the intervention started, and by

the end of the 4th month after the intervention started. It can be seen from the figures that the scores of the experimental group and the control group before intervention are 4.07 points and 4.04 points, respectively, there is no significant difference between the two (p>0.05); there are significant differences in the scores of the two groups 2 months and 4 months after the intervention started, and with the increase of the intervention experiment time, the differences become more obvious. For the experimental group, there are significant differences in the scores by the end of the 2nd month and by the end of the 4th month after the intervention started; while for the control group, there’s no significant difference in the scores by the end of the 2nd month and by the end of the 4th month after the intervention started, indicating that the intervention experiment can significantly improve the psychological capital level of the college students.

Figure 5.

Scores of the psychological

capital of the experimental group before

and after the intervention

Figure 6.

Scores of the psychological

capital of the control group before and

after the intervention

PROMOTING EFFECT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION OF COLLEGE STUDENTS ON ENGLISH TEACHING ₁₂₄₄

(2) Influence of intervention training on college students' English learning efficacy

Figure 7.

Scores of the English learning

efficacy of the control group before and

after the intervention

Figure 8.

Scores of the English learning

efficacy of the experimental group before

and after the intervention

Figure 7 shows the scores of English learning efficacy of the control group before the intervention, by the end of the 2nd month after the intervention started, and by the end of the 4th month after the intervention started. Figure 8 shows the scores of English learning efficacy of the experimental group before the intervention, by the end of the 2nd month after the intervention started, and by the end of the 4th month after the intervention started. It can be seen from the figures that the scores of the English learning efficacy of the experimental group and the control group are 3.16 points and 3.13 points, respectively, there is no significant difference between the two (p>0.05). There are significant differences in the scores of the two groups 2 months and 4 months after the intervention started. For the experimental group, there are significant differences in the scores by the end of the 2nd month and by the end of the 4th month after the intervention started; while for the control group, there’s no significant difference, indicating that the intervention experiment can significantly improve the English learning efficacy of college students.

Correlation between college students' psychological capital and English learning efficacy

Table 1 shows the analysis results of the

correlation between college students'

psychological capital and English learning efficacy. It can be seen from the table that the scores of college students' psychological capital and English learning efficacy are significantly positively correlated, that is, the higher the psychological capital level of college students, the higher the English learning efficacy, which is conducive to college students' mastery of English.

Table 1.

Correlation between college students' psychological capital and English learning

efficacy

Learning efficacy dimensions Psychological capital dimensions

Self-confidence Hope Optimism Resiliency Equalization

Learning ability 0.499* 0.545* 0.381* 0.544* 0.598*

Learning behavioral efficacy 0.260* 0.300* 0.274* 0.309* 0.337*

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CONCLUSIONS

College students' psychological capital is closely related to their learning efficacy, and enhancing learning efficacy plays an important role in improving the teaching effect of college English and students' academic achievement. This paper studied the promoting effect of college students' psychological capital construction on practical teaching, and the specific conclusions are as follows:

(1) The survey results of college students' psychological capital and English learning efficacy show that, currently, college students' psychological capital and English learning efficacy are both in a good state, and both have significant differences in terms of grade, wherein the psychological capital and English learning efficacy of the freshmen are the lowest, and the sophomores’ scores are the highest.

(2) In the study, two classes of freshmen were randomly selected as the subjects, and comparative analysis was adopted and verified that the psychological capital intervention model (PCI) can effectively improve the psychological capital level and English learning efficacy of college students.

(3) The correlation analysis between college students' psychological capital and English learning efficacy shows that there is a positive

correlation between college students'

psychological capital and English learning efficacy, that is, the higher the psychological capital level, the higher the English learning efficacy.

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