University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 5-2012 Students’ writing self-efficacy, motivation, and experience: Predictors in journalism education Matthew Bryan Broaddus [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Journalism Studies Commons, and the Mass Communication Commons Recommended Citation Broaddus, Matthew Bryan, "Students’ writing self-efficacy, motivation, and experience: Predictors in journalism education. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2012. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/1275 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Matthew Bryan Broaddus entitled "Students’ writing self-efficacy, motivation, and experience: Predictors in journalism education." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Communication and Information. Michelle T. Violanti, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: James G. Stovall, Elizabeth M. Hendrickson, Michael L. Waugh Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) Students’ Writing Self-Efficacy, Motivation, and Experience: Predictors in Journalism Writing Education A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Matthew Bryan Broaddus May 2012 Copyright © 2012 by Matthew Bryan Broaddus All rights reserved ii Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my wonderful wife, Amanda Broaddus, and my three sons, Micah, Caleb, and Levi Broaddus, who have sacrificed so much and have been continually supportive during this process. iii Acknowledgment I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Michelle Violanti, who has been the most extraordinary advisor imaginable. Dr. Violanti has been a constant coach, source of support, and friend through my time at the University of Tennessee. Also, special thanks goes to Dr. James Stovall, who was instrumental in both the selection of my dissertation topic and in the data collection process. It has been a pleasure to work with Dr. Stovall in the classroom and on special projects. He has very generously shared a tremendous amount of knowledge during my graduate work. I would also like to thank the aforementioned and Dr. Elizabeth Hendrickson and Dr. Michael Waugh for serving on my dissertation committee. Their suggestions, guidance, and support have been invaluable. I would like to express my appreciation to Dr. Maria Fontenot and Lisa Gary for their willingness to let me collect data and conduct research in their classes, and Dr. Dwight Teeter, for serving on my comprehensive exam committee. I would like to express my appreciation to Amanda Broaddus, for her countless hours of proofreading, patience, and help in this endeavor. Finally, I would like to thank God, who blessed me with ability far beyond what I believed I possessed. iv Abstract The field of journalism has gone through several years of turmoil as new technology, platforms, and economic hardships have swept away traditional journalistic practices and models. Print media continues to hemorrhage jobs and money while media outlets adjust to technology-enhanced reporting. College journalism majors often face changing curriculum and graduate feeling unprepared to be competitive in the journalistic job market. While many things have changed in the field, one pillar of journalism that has not changed is the need for journalists to possess an excellent writing ability, supplemented with the ability to think analytically. The connection between students’ ability to write well and their self-efficacy belief towards their writing ability is well documented. This study examines factors that play into journalistic writing self-efficacy, such as background, strategies for classroom success, and experiences, as well as looks at the variables that determine a student’s ability to write well in a journalistic format. Findings show that classroom education is the most important variable in developing actual journalistic writing ability. Also, students who write well journalistically tend to have lower critical thinking skills, causing a conundrum for journalism industry leaders who desire both skills in reporters. Key words: Writing self-efficacy, journalism, education, writing ability, motivation, social cognitive theory v Table of Contents Introduction ...........................................................................................................................................1 Rationale............................................................................................................................................................1 Scope of Research Proposal.........................................................................................................................5 Related Literature...........................................................................................................................................6 Writing self-efficacy .......................................................................................................................................7 Background, learning strategies, and experience ...............................................................................9 Learning strategies and efficacy beliefs ............................................................................................... 11 Relationship between background, learning strategies, experience, and efficacy ............... 13 Relationship between background, learning strategies, experience, efficacy, and actual ability ............................................................................................................................................................... 13 Review of Literature ......................................................................................................................... 15 Social Cognitive Theory.............................................................................................................................. 15 Self-Efficacy .................................................................................................................................................... 19 Self-efficacy and career .............................................................................................................................. 39 Motivation....................................................................................................................................................... 43 Learning strategies and task value ........................................................................................................ 52 Methods................................................................................................................................................. 58 Sample.............................................................................................................................................................. 58 Demographics ............................................................................................................................................... 60 Procedure ....................................................................................................................................................... 62 Instruments.................................................................................................................................................... 63 Results and Discussion .................................................................................................................... 72 The use of learning strategies in intrinsically motivated journalism majors......................... 72 The role of experience in journalistic career preparation ............................................................ 80 Intrinsic motivation points to journalistic-specific experience................................................... 83 Journalism majors and past experience............................................................................................... 85 Impact of learning strategies on grammar self-efficacy ................................................................. 88 Learning strategies’ impact on journalistic writing-self-efficacy................................................ 90 Journalistic experience in the development of grammar self-efficacy ...................................... 93 The importance of journalistic coursework in grammar efficacy development.................... 96 Journalistic experience as a predictor of journalistic self-efficacy............................................. 97 Completion of courses as a predictor of journalistic self-efficacy.............................................100 Background, learning strategies, and experiences as predictors of writing self-efficacy.101 Sex as a predictor of