Self-Efficacy of Postgraduate Students in Scientific Writing: The Case of Selected Public Universities in Ethiopia

Abstract

In the realm of the academic world, scientific writing is crucial for academics and postgraduate students to communicate scientific findings, advance knowledge in their fields, and make contributions to their countries’ development. Given this, building the scientific writing capacity of postgraduate students and identifying potential factors that affect their writing is imperative. This study aimed to investigate the self-efficacy of TEFL MA students’ scientific writing, particularly in employing linguistic knowledge, self-regulated writing strategies, and their comprehensive research efficacy at sampled Ethiopian public universities. A concurrent triangulation mixed-method design was employed for the purpose. Multi-stage sampling was used starting from random to comprehensive sampling techniques to reach the grassroots (individual participants). Universities in Eastern and South-eastern Ethiopia were sampled randomly. One hundred sixty students and fifteen supervisors were selected by employing a comprehensive sampling. Data were generated via interviews and questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, using SPSS version 20, were utilized to analyse the quantitative data, whereas thematic analysis was used for the qualitative data. The finding showed that the self-efficacy of TEFL MA students’ scientific writing self-efficacy, on average, was low, especially in their ability to utilize linguistic knowledge, self-regulated writing strategies, and comprehensive research, such as writing introductions, discussing and writing research results, and making recommendations. Furthermore, the interviews evidenced that the students were low in their abilities to carry out a review of related literature and method sections, though quantitative data revealed that the students have shown a moderate efficacy in these sections. Pedagogically, it is recommended that students’ scientific writing skills should be reconsidered, and the universities should give generic instruction, and integrate conducting mini-research, seminars, and reviewing empirical studies before actual research.