Esl engineering students’ self efficacy in learning an interdisciplinary english mooca comparative study graduation thesis faculty of foreign languages

ESL ENGINEERING STUDENTS’ SELF-EFFICACY IN LEARNING AN INTERDISCIPLINARY ENGLISH MOOC: A COMPARATIVE STUDY ABSTRACT MOOCs play an important role in higher education in the current time

MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND TRADE INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Date submitted : 15/05/2021

Signed : Truong Thi Thanh Huong

Word count : 8064 words

ESL ENGINEERING STUDENTS’ SELF-EFFICACY IN

LEARNING AN INTERDISCIPLINARY ENGLISH MOOC:

A COMPARATIVE STUDY

ABSTRACT

MOOCs play an important role in higher education in the current time More and more English MOOCs in various academic fields have been applied in colleges and universities, especially in Asian countries Besides, self-efficacy is thought to be a critical component in successful online learning This investigation were carried out in order to a) value the level of self-efficacy among engineering IUH and NIU students in joining MOOCs and b) compare the self-efficacy level of students between these contexts A mixed method was used in this present study About 250 students from the two schools participated in the questionnaire survey and then about 30 participants among them joined the interviews The scale which was utilized in this study was designed based on the Self-efficacy Questionnaire for Online Learning (SeQoL; Shen et al., 2013) The level of self-efficacy was measured in three aspects: using technology, time management and learning in an Interdisciplinary English MOOC environment The study found out some problems that affected the students’ self-efficacy level in joing MOOCs The findings’ interpretations and implications were discussed

KEY WORDS: engineering students’ efficacy, ESL context, English MOOCs,

self-efficacy level in E-MOOCs

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This study would not be completed without any assistance As a result, the author of this study gladly acknowledges the encouragement and motivation of my team through the course of conducting this research as a condition of completing my graduation thesis

First of all, I would like to thank all teachers of Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City and Faculty of Foreign Languagefor facilitating the completion of my graduation thesis I also would like to express sincere appreciation to my supervisor Dr Phan Thi Tuyet Nga She is one of the most enthusiastic and patient teacher that I have ever met She is a well-organized person that always helped my team and I made good plans for achieving our goals Although Dr Phan had tons of work to do because of her position in the Faculty of Foreign Languages, she still encouraged and helped us to keep up with our schedule She was extremely conscientious to find out the best way to help us conductthe study successfully Without her instructions and support, this thesis would have been impossible to be done effectively

Secondly, I would like to send my gratitude to Pro Chen and his team at National Ilan University (NIU) Thanks to their support and motivation, my team and I were able to have many valuable materials which were taken full advantage of in our thesis Also, Pro Chen played an important role during our process of doing surveys He and Dr Phan provided a link between us and NIU

He also helped us collect the data from NIU students The success of our thesis had a great contribution of Pro Chen and his team

Thirdly, I would like to thank my group members: Dang Thi My Chau and Nguyen Nhu Quynh who always supported me whenever I needed They are the best partners during my school life Working with them wasa special opportunity for me to widen my mind and obtain more skills Their encouragement helped me much during the process of completing the thesis

Last but not least, I wholeheartedly thank all of my study participants Without their help, my team and I could not gain reliable data and complete this thesis Particularly, my family and my friends also encouraged me a lot during this graduation thesis Hence, I would like to give my deep gratitude to them

In short, I would like to thank all people that helped me finish my graduation thesis Besides,this

is my first time doing scientific research, so the thesis inevitably has limitations and shortcomings I look forward to receiving the comments of teachers of the Faculty to improve

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 7

1.1 Rationale: 7

1.2 Research Objectives: 8

1.3 Research Questions: 8

1.4 Scope of the study: 8

2 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 10

2.1 Definitions 10

2.2 Related Studies 12

3 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH DESIGN 14

3.1 Research context 14

3.2 Participants 14

3.3 Research methodology and research methods 14

3.3.1 Research methodology 14

3.3.2 Research methods 15

3.4 Procedures 17

3.5 Data analysis 18

4 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 19

4.1 Findings 19

4.2 Discussion 30

5 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 32

REFERENCES 34

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1.The English level of IUH and NIU engineering students 16 Table 3.2.Scale: Self-Efficacy to manage time 16 Table 3.3.Scale: Self-Efficacy to learn in the interdisciplinary English MOOC

environment 17 Table 4.1.The average rating of engineering students’ self-efficacy in joining MOOCs at IUH and NIU 19 Table 4.2.Measured factors, items, and descriptive statistics of self-efficacy level among engineering IUH and NIU students in using technology 20 Table 4.3.Measured factors, items, and descriptive statistics of self-efficacy level among engineering IUH and NIU students in time management 22 Table 4.4.Measured factors, items, and descriptive statistics of self-efficacy level among engineering IUH and NIU students in learning in an Interdisciplinary English MOOC environment 24

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4.1 Comparison of the self-efficacy level in using technology in MOOCs of IUH and NIU engineering students 21 Figure 4.2 Comparison of the self-efficacy levels in managing time in MOOCs of IUH and NIU engineering students 23 Figure 4.3.Comparison of the self-efficacy levels in learning in the Interdisciplinary English MOOC environment of IUH and NIU engineering students 26 Figure 4.4 The English level of IUH and NIU engineering students 30

1 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale:

In current society, the development of technology has changed the way information is delivered and approached, which has also brought many benefits to humans in many fields, especially in education Online learning has a great effect on educational systems and teaching-learning activities.Many things are involved in online learning, including Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) According to New Media Horizon (2012), MOOCs were the next major thing in higher education's technological evolution Also, New York Times (2013) described that it had taken the educational world by storm, signaling a significant educational change (retrieved from Chen, 2013, p.2-3) Therefore, more and more Asian universities are considering to offer MOOCs for students to access various academic fields in English as Second Language (ESL) context Furthermore, science and technology fields are raising day by day so that engineering students have also considered to study through MOOCs in an ESL context Human knowledge is extremely large and unstoppably growing in modern society; therefore, it is crucial for engineering students to access the world, learn and widen knowledge via MOOCs However, to connect to the world, the students have to use a global language as well as English English language becoming a bridge to connect people around the world has resulted in a fact that more MOOCs taught and learned by English (English-MOOC or E-MOOC) have been launched On the other hand, according to Chen (2013), the number of students participating in MOOCs have been increasing rapidly since 2012 (p.3), this has resulted that the number of Asian countries has been also growing as following brief descriptions:

“In 2013, Taiwan’s Ministry of Education started a MOOC project to include 15 universitieswith 100 courses as target and the National Taiwan University joined Cousera.” (p.4)

“The website glr.cn is the proponent of MOOC in China.”(p.4)

“The National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technology University joined iTunes U The former also joined Coursera.” (p.4)

In order to learn through English-MOOCs (E-MOOCs) effectively, university engineering students' self-efficacy is one of the most essential elements that can help to predict their successful performance through English-MOOCs as Hodges (2008) said that the main finding is that students' self-efficacy beliefs are related to academic achievement in a significant and positive way" Perceived self-efficacy is defined as "people's judgments of their capabilities to

organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments” (Bandura,

1986, p.391) Based on a study of the literature on self-efficacy in Internet-based learning environments, Tsai, Chuang, Liang, and Tsai (2011) concluded that students' self-efficacy has a positive role in their attitude toward, as well as their processes and outcomes derived from Internet-based learning (p 222) For example, engineering students with a higher level of self-efficacy are likely to be more confident in online learning through E-MOOCs and vice versa Ali and Leed’s study (2009) shown that students in online learning environments have a greater drop-out rate than students in traditional learning contexts That was linked to a lack of self-efficacy (Lee & Choi, 2011) In other words, self-efficacy can be a crucial component of academic achievement in distant education (Hodges, 2008); therefore, learning via MOOC with high self-efficacy levels can solve this matter Thus, it is necessary to consider the levels of ESL engineering students’ self-efficacy in joining in English-MOOCs and factors that affect their self-efficacy levels in the two contexts in order to develop effective E-MOOCs in these ESL contexts can retain engineering students

1.2 Research Objectives:

The purposes of the study were to a) compare how confident ESL engineering students are in MOOCs between NIU and IUH universities and b) examine if there are any differences in the factors that influence engineering students’ self-efficacy in E-MOOC between the two universities The results of this study may contribute to the development of MOOCs and the improvement of ESL engineering students’ self-efficacy at the two contexts in participating in English-MOOCs

E-1.3 Research Questions:

To accomplish the purposes of this study, the research was carried out by a mixed-method utilizing questionnairesandgroup interviews The following research questions were used to guide this study:

1.What are the perceived self-efficacy levels of engineering students in joining MOOCs at IUH and NIU universities?

2.What predicts engineering students’ self-efficacy in joining a MOOC in the two contexts?

1.4 Scope of the study:

Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City (IUH),Vietnam About 250 engineering students from the two universities will take part in this research Quantitative data, which was collected by using a scale based on the Self-efficacy Questionnaire for Online Learning (SeQoL; Shen et al., 2013) will be processed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for getting valid and reliable results Qualitative data included focus group discussions collected from students in both contexts The scale of this study consists of 30 items and 3 subscales (technology use, time management and learning in an interdisciplinary English MOOC environment)

2 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definitions

 Students’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs

As stated by Bandura (1986), the term "perceived self-efficacy" refers to "people's judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments" "Self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave" There are four main ways of developing people's self-efficacy: (1) mastery experiences (learners’ past performances, (2) vicarious experience (experiences with others’ performances, (3) social persuasion (persuasion from significant others), and (4) psycho-physiological states (physiological and emotional changes)

According to Bandura (1994, 1998), mastery experiences are the most effective way of building self-efficacy It is said that there is no better way for one person to start believing in his ability to succeed than to set a goal, persist through challenges on his road to goal-achievement, and enjoy the satisfying results (Bandura, 2008) because anyone who easily achieves success will tend to expect quick results and can be immediately discouraged by failures (Bandura, 1994, 1998) Bandura also claimed:

"A resilient sense of efficacy requires experience in overcoming obstacles through perseverant effort Some setbacks and difficulties in human pursuits serve a useful purpose in teaching that success usually requires sustained effort After people become convinced they have what it takes to succeed, they persevere in the face of adversity and quickly rebound from setbacks By sticking it out through tough times, they emerge stronger from adversity."(Bandura, 1994, 1998, p.2)

Hodges said that mastery experiences concern the learner's prior experiences It means that if the learner had prior or successful experiences relating to his current tasks or subjects, he would seem to be more confident and have a positive manner to his current tasks (Hodges, 2016)

In general, self-efficacy plays a crucial part in students' performance It is an essential psychological factor in online learning, but it also has a significant effect particularly on students' academic success ( Yavuzalp & Bahcivan, 2020, p.2) In this context, studies should be carried out to illuminate variables affecting engineering students’ self-efficacy in learning an interdisciplinary English MOOC In this way, students’ self-efficacy can be easily increased and

Online learning education, especially, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) have been popular in recent years MOOCs can be characterized as online courses with no formal entry requirement, with no participation limit,being free of charge, and not earn credits (Gaebel, 2013)

In its name, MOOCs imply a spirit of open learning, in cooperation with information and communication technology (ICT) (Chen, 2013, p.3) As well as distance learning courses, MOOCs have been offered and provided through the Internet Subscriber is one of the elements that make MOOC different from other traditional distance learning courses because of MOOC's

no limitation about subscriber and it is not limited to enrolling fee or enrolling regulation.Therefore, developing countries have been attaching special importance to MOOCs From open access to open educational resources and open online courses, there is a great opportunity and a growing momentum for both Viet Nam and Taiwan in applying MOOCs into educational systems

 Comparative Study

The comparative study analyzes and compares two or more objects or ideas It shows how two subjects are similar or shows how two subjects are different (Bukhari, 2011) According to Azarian (2011), comparative research can be traced to a long history that has gained much attention in current research due to globalization, technological advances, etc on cross-national platforms Conventionally, comparative analysis emphasized the "explanation of differences, and the explanation of similarities" (Azarian, 2011, p.2) In Bukhari's research:

"Comparative study is a type of research that is necessary to achieve higher studies: Are the two subjects contradictory? Are they extensions of each other? For example, if an author wants to compares two stories, two characters or two countries, he/she should analyze them and highlights significant differences with multiple aspects so as to make a conclusion based on the research." (p.2)

“Comparative study involves understanding, studying and explaining every aspects or events.” (p.3)

Bukhari also said comparative purpose is to arrive at some conclusions concerning past occurrences that may help to anticipate or explain present or future events (p.3)

In conclusion, this sectiondiscussed three main points, namely engineering students’ efficacy, MOOCs, and comparative study First of all, self-efficacy is one of the most important factors concerning engineering students' study and performance High self-efficacy not only helps the students be more confident in learning and overcoming their difficulties but also motivates

self-themselves to easily complete their courses in the future Secondly, learning through MOOCs brings students lots of benefits MOOC has become a necessary tool for online learning because

of its openness, resources and opportunities Students from over the world can connect to each other, communicate, widen knowledge of various fields and exchange useful information supporting to their study Finally, a comparative study is extremely appropriate to be used for this topic due to its purposes The other kinds of study can not show clearly the differences and similarities of engineering students' self-efficacy between the two contexts (i.e Vietnam and Taiwan) as well as a comparative study In terms of this topic, a comparative study has been carrying out its roles efficiently to help readers simply approach the issues, especially make clear all easily misunderstanding problems

a quantitative self-report measure of perceived task value and self-efficacy for learning within the context of self-paced, online training, and investigating reliability and validity evidence for the instrument by conducting the Online Learning Value and Self-Efficacy Scale (OLVSES) This investigation was one of the important factors for developing scales in doing future research.In Shen’s study (Shen et al., 2013), to identify dimensions of online learning self-efficacy, the authors designed a scale with 5 dimensions of online learning self-efficacy through diverse aspects including technology, learning and social interaction Demographic variables involving the number of online courses taken, gender and academic status were retrieved in order to predict online learning self-efficacy Kang, Chang & Tseng (2015) utilized a questionnaire which “was made by the self-efficacy concept based on Bandura (Bandura & Adams, 1977) and adopted Baldwin’s “College Biology Self-efficacy Instrument for Non-majors”(Baldwin et al., 1999).According to Kang's research (2015, p.4), the questionnaire was primarily used as a measurement tool for learning subjects that were more difficult than others, and it was created based on comments from teaching personnel and the researchers' teaching experience.The Online

However, this study just focused on three subscales concerning (1) learning in the online environment, (2) time management and (3) technology This study did not only examine students with previous online learning experiences but also without previous online learning experiences Fortunately, the study of Yavuzalp and Bahcivan (2020) was one of the most important studies investigating university students' self-efficacy in online learning environments This study assessed university students' self-efficacy perceptions in online learning environments, into Turkish and to evaluate the validity and reliability of the scale.This study also consisted of three main factors (learning in the online environments, time management and technology use) and was carried outby a large-scale survey with about two thousand participants However, Yavuzalp's and Bahicivan's study just evaluated students' self-efficacy quantitatively It would be more reliable if the authors carried out this study accompanied by interviews later

In terms of self-efficacy in learning MOOCs, there is very little research investigatingthis topic The majority of researches studied self-efficacy in online learning, but as the topic of self-efficacy in MOOCs is neglected Kang et al (2015) investigated the sense of learners' self-efficacy at the beginning and at the end of a MOOC, particularly an engineering graphic online course The authors compared engineering students' scores which they obtained before and after the engineering graphic online course The way of investigation made the data more reliable and convincing However, this study reported here can not be carried out as Kang's study when students have gradually learned and approached to MOOCs in the Vietnamese context In another studyexamining online learning self-efficacy, students with high self-efficacy before the course were positive in general self-efficacy and learning outcomes (Shen et al., 2020, p.11).The investigation in Shen's study illustrated "a small to moderate the relationship between the five factors in the Self-efficacy Questionnaire for Online Learning (SeQoL) and student's general self-efficacy, learning satisfaction and expected grade"(p.10) Overall, these previous authors have done not much research in ESL engineering students' self-efficacy in MOOCs These are not suitable for the online learning environment in Asia, especially in ESL countries like Vietnam and Taiwan Therefore, it is necessary to take a new direction in the way of assessing the level of students' self-efficacy in order to improve and enhance students' self-efficacy in MOOCs

3 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH DESIGN

3.1.Research context

This investigation which focuses on engineering students' self-efficacy levels in learning an interdisciplinary English MOOC was conducted in the two contexts: at National Ilan University (NIU), Taiwan, and Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City (IUH), Vietnam On one hand, following the rapid economic development and industrialization of the world, these universities have undertaken a transformation in accordance with the changing social and political environment Both universities have set the goal of international integration; therefore, they offer students various academic degrees, especially in science and engineering For example, IUH is famous for automated-, mechanical-, electrical- and electronic-related education and NIU is also known for biological-, engineering-related education and computer science On the other hand, as the author mentioned in Chapter I, MOOCs have been becoming more popular in many Asia countries and also have been playing an important role in modern society, especially in education

in order to help engineering students easily access to the global knowledge via distance learning

in ESL context Moreover, Vietnam and Taiwan have rapidly developed most of their fields including education and technology Therefore, NIU and IUH were chosen for beingtypical

examples for this study

3.2.Participants

Participants in this investigation wereengineering students from the two universities in Taiwan and Vietnam: National Ilan University (NIU) and Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City (IUH) About 250 students (about 130 NIU students and 120 IUH students) were invited to participate in this investigation to study engineering students' self-efficacy in joining an interdisciplinary English MOOC 220 students completed the questionnaires Among them, 30 studentsjoined in the group interview The majority of the participants were Vietnamese and Taiwanese Three students were from Hong Kong Participants’ ages ranged from 18 to under 30 years Most participants were full-time undergraduate students at NIU and IUH.Twelve participants were postgraduate students

3.3.Research methodology and research methods

3.3.1.Research methodology

using a systematic coding and pattern-finding technique (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005, p.1278) This method helps researchers to have an integrated view of speech, text and their specific context This type of methodology does not involve counting words or extracting objective materials from texts to look for hidden meanings, themes, and patterns in a text It enables researchers to gain a subjective but scientific understanding of social reality (Zhang and Wildemuth, 2016) While the quantitative methodology is commonly applied in mass communication to quantify manifest textual factors; however, a feature which is frequently criticized for omitting syntactical and semantic information contained in the text (Weber, 1990) In addition, it is deductive, with the goal of testing hypotheses or answering issues raised by theories or past empirical studies Qualitative content analysis, by contrast, is mostly inductive, with a basis for the assessment of topics and themes, as well as the inferences drawn from them, grounded in the data (Zhang and Wildemuth, 2016) Because of the above statements, the combination of the two approaches helps analytic studies become the best content studies (Weber, 1990) These are reasons why the author combined these two approaches for the studies about engineering students' self-efficacy levels in NIU and IUH contexts Engineering students' self-efficacy levels were evaluated more accurately, reliably and validly via these methodologies Comparisons were easily made with the level of engineering students' self-efficacy in learning in an interdisciplinary English MOOC Data from NIU in Taiwan were comparedwith similar data from IUH in Vietnam to discern differences in engineering students' self-efficacy level before joining an interdisciplinary English MOOC

3.3.2.Research methods

As this investigation used a mixed methodology, there was also a mixed method including utilizing questionnaires and group interviews A new scale was developed based on the Self-efficacy Questionnaire for Online Learning (SeQoL; Shen et at., 2013) in order to measure students' efficacy Taking advantage of questionnaires brought a lot of benefits In McGuirk’s and O'Neill’s study (2016), the authors said that:

“First, they can provide insights into social trends, processes, values, attitudes, and interpretations Second, they are one of the more practical research tools in that they can be cost-effective, enabling extensive research over a large or geographically dispersed population Third, they are extremely flexible They can

be combined effectively with complementary, more intensive forms of qualitative

research, such as interviews and focus groups, to provide more in-depth perspectives on social process and context.” (p.3)

Analyzing questionnaires used in mixed-method research that blends qualitative and quantitative data requires an approach that distinguishes between closed questions in which responses are provided in an easily quantified format and open questions that seek qualitative responses (p.20) Hence, at the first stage of the survey, the author used questionnaires to collect qualitative data A questionnaire consisted of demographic information (grade level, gender, age distribution, major, English level) and the 30-item scale The questionnaire was a bilingual form primarily written in English accompanied by one translated into Vietnamese and another in Taiwanese The participants were asked to provide the number of online courses and MOOCs they had taken up

to the time of the survey There were three primary factors designed to measure the level of students' self-efficacy in using technology, time management and learning in an interdisciplinary English MOOC The scale items are of the 11-point Likert type Participants evaluated their level

of self-efficacy in each question with 30 items on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 denoted "can not do

at all", 5 denoted "moderately certain can do" and 10 denoted "highly certain can do"

In order to answer the two research questions mentioned in Chapter I, the author utilized SPSS Statistics version 26.0 to assess the reliability of the survey through Cronbach’s Alpha and criteria for choosing the scale when Cronbach’s Alpha is greater than 0.6 (>0.6) and the larger the Cronbach’s Alpha is, the higher the intrinsically consistent reliability is (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994)

Table 3.1.The English level of IUH and NIU engineering students

Table 3.3.Scale: Self-Efficacy to learn in the interdisciplinary English MOOC environment

in the questionnaires Depth interview supported the author to illuminate which points were not able to be understood or found out George Gaskell (2000) believed that “the more in-depth understanding offered by qualitative interviewing may provide valuable contextual information to help to explain particular findings.” (p.39) Moreover, this interview still focused on evaluating the level of students’ self-efficacy in using technology, time management and learning in an interdisciplinary English MOOC

3.4.Procedures

The data were collected from the two universities in Taiwan and Vietnam About 250 participants were invited to join in rating their level of self-efficacy before learning an interdisciplinary English MOOC The questionnaires were designed via Google Forms The author delivered her questionnaires to students, then encouraged and directed them to fill out the questionnaires Students were supposed that they would take part in an interdisciplinary English MOOC next semester A number of tasks in the course were listed in the questionnaire The students rated how confident they would be that they could do each of those tasks by using the scale given A rating of 0 (they have no confidence that they can do the task) is the lowest while that of 10 (they have complete confidence that they can do the task) is the highest

After having filled out the questionnaires, some students were sent an email and invited to join a group interview In this interview, the author asked students questions related to the topic because

the results from the questionnaires did not show valuable facts that the author wanted to know Because of the distance, the author had to hold an online group interview with students from NIU

in Taiwan.The interviews were recorded and transcribed only for this study All data were used only for studying purposes and were treated confidentially

3.5.Data analysis

The data were gathered into Microsoft Excel to be processed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26.0 so that the author could get valid and reliable results.The data collected were analyzed by using simple percentages, mean and standard deviation through SPSS This study also utilized Cronbach's Alpha for reliable testing.Then the results were performed by charts on Microsoft Excel These tools helped the author process a considerable amount of data collected from the two universities

4 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

to use technology, Self-efficacy to manage time and Self-efficacy to learn in an Interdisciplinary English MOOC environment The author found out the answer to the two research questions:

1 What are the perceived self-efficacy levels of engineering students in joining an Interdisciplinary English MOOC at the two universities?

Descriptive statistical figures were illustrated which consisted of means and standard deviation (SD) of self-efficacy level among students in IUH and NIU in order to support the qualitative data The mean is commonly called the average.It is the most widely used measure of central tendency Based on the Likert scale, the author designed the questionnaire with a 0-to-10 rating scale From this scale, the average of self-efficacy level was at 5; therefore, if the average level of other items were lower than 5 (<5), it meant that the students' self-efficacy level was very low or

in contrast, students in both two schools were quite confident in performing tasks during MOOCs For example, the mean of self-efficacy level in doing oral presentations among IUH and NIU engineering students was 4.13 and 4.04 respectively These figures were lower than 5, so the author could describe the students were not confident in making oral presentations Standard deviation is the square root of the variance It measures the spread of a set of observations The larger the standard deviation is, the more spread out the observations are As figures are shown in

Table 4.2, most of the figures of both students of the two universities were approximately between 2 and 3 Nevertheless, the IUH standard deviations were slightly higher than the NIU

standard deviation

Table 4.2.Measured factors, items, and descriptive statistics of self-efficacy level among

engineering IUH and NIU students in using technology

Factors and items IUH students NIU students

MEAN SD MEAN SD

1.4 Search the Internet to find the answer to the

MOOC-related questions

1.6 Post reply to others’ messages in the discussion

forum

1.9 Inform technical support in case of technical

difficulties using the given contact details

1.10 Learn to use a new type of technology

efficiently

Figure 4.1.Comparison of the self-efficacy level in using technology in MOOCs of IUH and

NIU engineering students

Figure 4.1 illustrated the average level of engineering students among the two universities in using technology when joining a MOOC As the above figures, the self-efficacy of engineering students between the two schools was not different too much It was clear that the average levels

of the two universities between IUH and NIU fluctuate among 5 and 7 average ratings The efficacy level of IUH and NIU students were almost the same at item 1.4, 1.6 and 1.9 That meant they all rated the same level of self-efficacy in searching the Internet to find the answer to the MOOC-related questions, posting a reply to others' messages in the discussion forum and informing technical support in case of technical difficulties using the given contact details IUH engineering students’ lowest rating was at about 5.09 points at item 1.5 in factor 1 That means it was difficult for IUH students to create a new thread in the discussion forum The lowest rating

self-of NIU engineering students was about 5.25 points at item 1.6 It showed that NIU students got

troubles when posting their replies to others' messages in the discussion forum However, it might

be very easy for both students of the two universities to learn to use a new type of technology efficiently because of their highest average level of confidence at nearly 7 in learning to use a new type of technology efficiently In general, there was no significant difference between the average level of confidence of students in the two schools in using technology

These findings indicated students’self-efficacy levels of using technology when joining a MOOC was fairly good in the two university contexts Most students had already experienced in using technology before so when they join a MOOC they are not worried about doing online tasks such as:

9 Navigating the materials

9 Finding the course syllabus

9 Viewing the MOOC materials

9 Searching the Internet to find the answer to the MOOC-related questions

9 Doing an online quiz test

9 Submitting assignments to the platform

9 Informing technical support in case of technical difficulties using the given contacts details

9 Learning to use a new type of technology efficiently

In conclusion, the level of self-efficacy among engineering students in IUH and NIU when joining a MOOC in using technologywas at a fairly good rate The means of self-efficacy level varied from 5 to 7 rating points.Utilizing technology was not an issue for most students in the two universities

Table 4.3.Measured factors, items, and descriptive statistics of self-efficacy level among

engineering IUH and NIU students in time management

Factors and items IUH students NIU students

MEAN SD MEAN SD

2.3 Focus on school work when faced with

distractions

2.4 Develop and follow a plan for completing all

required work on time

Figure 4.2.Comparison of the self-efficacy levels in managing time in MOOCs of IUH and

NIU engineering students

In Figure 4.2, the figures showed the average of engineering students' self-efficacy level in time management in the two universities About this factor, the author investigated tasks related to scheduling involving:

9 Completing all assignments on time

9 Meeting deadlines with very few reminders

9 Focusing on schoolwork when faced with distractions

9 Developing and following a plan for completing all required work on time

9 Managing time effectively

The fluctuation of the average level was nearly the same Both students in IUH and NIU evaluated their self-efficacy in time management at 6.07 points-the lowest point in this factor They rated their level of self-efficacy in all 5 elements almost on average ranking, neither low nor high Some problems were mentioned in the interview that helped the author knew more about how the students rated their self-efficacy level at a not too high rank:

“In my opinion, I will have difficulty in managing time Such as my class schedule

is able to be changed or something like that.”

“It’s not quite confident, something is seldom stuck in trouble For example, my work schedule is suddenly changed one day that concur with my study plan But that job must be done at once, it’s very urgent and I can not join in the class, I have to do the job and be absent one day.”

“The plan can just be managed a small part, but when urgent things happen, we need to change our schedule.”

Engineering students in both NIU and IUH had almost the same rating of self-efficacy level in time management when participating in a MOOC The students were not too confident in balancing their study and their work, but they knew for sure how to manage their time when urgent things happened through their reply in the interview Therefore, it demonstrated that the students were always ready for joining a MOOC provided that they had purposes and determination

Table 4.4.Measured factors, items, and descriptive statistics of self-efficacy level among engineering IUH and NIU students in learning in an Interdisciplinary English MOOC

environment

Factors and items IUH students NIU students

MEAN SD MEAN SD

3.1 Learn without being in the same room as the

instructors (learn alone without instructors)

3.2 Learn without being in the same room as other

students (learn alone without peers)

3.3 Understand the videos’ contents 5.05 2.78 6.12 2.37

3.7 Communicate with others effectively in the

discussion forum

3.9 Read more English materials to understand the

MOOC lessons in depth

3.10 Complete the MOOC assignments without

copying ideas from other students or the Internet

3.12 Evaluate classmates’ assignments according to

the criteria provided by the instructors

3.13 Work effectively with other students in doing

group-based tasks

3.15 Explain the knowledge learnt from the course

to others

Figure 4.3.Comparison of the self-efficacy levels in learning in the Interdisciplinary English

MOOC environment of IUH and NIU engineering students

The average level of self-efficacy in learning among engineering students in the Interdisciplinary English MOOC Environment was shown in Figure 4.1.3 The level of the students’ self-efficacy between the two universities had a considerable volatility between 4 and 6.83 points of the average rating Generally, the self-efficacy of NIU students was higher than that of IUH students almost in 11 items, except for item 3.6, 3.7, 3.8 and 3.11 As data stated, both IUH and NIU students hit the lowest point in item 3.8, at a scale of 4 It showed that the students' self-efficacy was extremely low Most of them were not confident in doing oral presentations when joining a MOOC They mentioned their problems in the interview:

“Making an English presentation and making an English presentation video and

such as a script, such as how to read it and it will take a lot of time Because this

is an inservice master program, we don’t have that much time to finish it.”

“Because this is the first time for me to make an English presentation I need enough time to try it For example, to learn more new words and practice how to pronounce each word."

“Presentation is not a problem, but English presentation is a problem We don’t have such kind of experience to do it before”

“If only about giving a presentation, I am absolutely confident But when it comes

to the English knowledge part, I think I still have many troubles with it.”

“My English vocabulary and structure are limited, so it's hard to express my opinions and other people feel confused as listening to my presentation If having Google translate, it will be better.”

“If I can prepare the English presentation before, I will be more confident; however, the process of preparing the English content is really a problem.”

Some students rated their level of self-efficacy in doing oral presentations because of their lower level of English It was easy for them to make a presentation in their mother tongue; however, when doing an oral presentation in English, they had to try their best for learning new words, translating, using suitable structures, etc They would work so hard before giving an oral presentation because English language was a problem in joining a MOOC As a result, the level

of engineering students’ self-efficacy in learning in an Interdisciplinary English MOOC environment was not quite high for all items The reasons were pointed clearly in the interview, for examples:

“If I learning alone, not with a lecture like Prof Chen in the class, not with any peers or any other classmates– thento me, that will be a problem Because I don’t have enough vocabulary and I have don’t have such experience, I mean that for learning in an English environment So, this will be a challenging issue for me.”

“Accent and listening skillare problems, cannot catch some words because of the pronunciation from the video, problem with vocabulary.”

"I need time to translate my ideas, my answer into English Because I cannot reply

to what the other classmates are doing, I am worried about that."

“It’s a problem to me because I can read, watch my classmates discuss immediately So, I need time to check the meaning of the message and I also need

time to understand and prepare how to answer the question I worry that I cannot answer them on time.”

“Writing is different from speaking, so we need to learn how to express ideas in two ways.”

“People might not understand my pronunciation if not including grammar, vocab Most engineering students pronounce incorrectly, so when not pronouncing precisely, it’s hard for people to catch my ideas.”

These reasons led to the results that some students had a low level of self-efficacy in:

9 Learning without being in the same room as the instructor, friends or other students;

9 Understanding 100% of the video's content in a MOOC;

9 Reading more English materials to understand the MOOC lessons depth;

9 Communicating in English with others effectively in the discussion room;

9 Completing all assignments with a good grade

The average level of engineering students between IUH and NIUwere significant differences The self-efficacy of IUH students was generally lower than that of NIU students However, students

of the two schools were less confident in doing oral presentations and learning without their instructors and their peers

2 What predicts engineering students’ self-efficacy in joining the MOOC in the two contexts?

™ Self-efficacy to use technology

According to students’ reply in the interview, previous experiences was the most important element in developing students’ self-efficacy level Although the figures in Figure 4.1.2 were not too high, there were still no problems for students from the two universities in using technology:

“In terms of using technology, I think I am quite capable of it Because I used to study online before, so this kind of tasks won't bother me so much.”

“I used to approach to technological backgrounds before, so I will not have any problems with this.”

"Distance learning and online courses are not a new thing for me, I started my personal experience with it since I was a senior high school student, so it's not a problem or even a new thing for me at all."

author could conclude that using technology in a MOOC was not a problem for them because in the Covid-19 pandemic, most of them had already learned from a distance and had experiences in using softwares, websites or applications for studying their courses online

™ Self-efficacy to manage time

Students did not focus 100 percent on school work if there were distractions As the data in Figure 4.1.2, it was obvious that some students were not sure about their schedules Beside their study, they still had their part-time jobs, their projects of other subjects or other activities at school However, when the author asked them about the dropout, they almost would not give up and try to manage their timetable to balance their study in a MOOC and their other work:

“I will schedule a plan to finish them, finish as soon as possible so that I can hand

in my tasks before the deadline.”

“Deadlines should be scheduled appropriately Learners should adjust their time properly and firstly finish what is more important.”

“In urgent cases, we need to do the things which are more important than the others If it relates to our health that we can not do anything, we should ask to delay the deadline or try our best to finish exercises as soon as possible If there is

an urgent case that is not necessary to complete, put it away and focus on our study.”

“Personally, I don’t have much trouble in balancing between working and studying at university However, if there is a problem, then I suggest that before joining in any MOOC course to learn new skill, learners should attend a MOOC course about time management.”

It seemed that part-time jobs or school work were not really big challenges for them in scheduling, but the participants from the two contexts stated that health issues and family problems were usually the main reasons for their dropout

™ Self-efficacy to learn in an Interdisciplinary English MOOC environment

In this factor, the level of English language and motivation in joining MOOCs had substantial effects on NIU and IUH engineering students' self-efficacy level To doing oral presentations, some of the students were not good at listening English skill and some other skills and they also had not much vocabulary to apply during MOOCs Because for NIU and IUH engineering students, they almost had very low English background English level of students among the two

schools at Beginner level and Elementary were more than 50 percents of students in total as follows:

4.2.Discussion

Based on the result, the level of self-efficacy among engineering NIU and IUH students had slight differences of three factors: using technology, time management and learning in an Interdisciplinary English MOOC environment Compared to other studies, it existed both similarities and dissimilarities To the first component about using technology or online experience, the result of this study was in contrast to that of Shen (Shen et al., 2013) In this current study, the number of MOOCs or online courses that students used to join in were not a significant predictor for students' self-efficacy level in using technology in learning MOOCs That was because MOOCs had a fairly resemble platform compared to the LMS platform In addition, technological-related tasks in MOOCs also were similar to the tasks that they did when joining any subjects since they knew about technology and the Internet In case this platform was new for them, they were always willing to learn how to use it This was demonstrated in Table 4.1.2 with the highest rating of 7 About factor 2, the findings did not support the assumption of Zimmerman and Kulikowich (2016) In their study, distractions were one of the most popular challenges for students in both face-to-face and online learning environments However, most of

Figure 4.4.The English level of IUH and NIU engineering students.