Self-Efficacy of Students Taking the English Writing 3 Course in an Online Learning Setting

The aim of this study was to examine the self-efficacy of students taking the English Writing 3 online tutorials at Universitas Terbuka. This study applied a quantitative approach and survey method was used to collect data. A single-stage sampling procedure was adopted to collect information about student self-efficacy. Using a questionnaire to collect data, a thorough understanding of student self-efficacy was developed. Student self-efficacy was scored on a five-point scale. The research participants were students taking the English Writing 3 online tutorials. Of 650 students, 233 students completed and returned the questionnaires. Descriptive analytics were used to describe and summarize the data in order to provide the ground for finding new facts. The findings indicated that the majority of students had high self-efficacy. The students demonstrated sufficient ability, confidence, and resilience to accomplish certain tasks that were necessary for their learning This study confirmed that male and female students did not significantly differ in self-efficacy. It was found that there may be a link between age (maturity) and self-efficacy. In addition, self-efficacy could be attributed to previous learning experience. It was apparent from this study that self-efficacy was dynamic; self-efficacy development and growth were likely influenced by student learning progressions. The present study has provided a deeper insight into the nature of students learning English writings in an online distance learning environment.


INTRODUCTION
Universitas Terbuka is a single-mode distance teaching university located in Indonesia.Established on 4 September 1984, Universitas Terbuka currently serves 439.322 students living across the country and in more than 40 foreign countries (Universitas Terbuka, 2023).The students belong to four faculties and one postgraduate school.One of the learning supports provided for the students is an online tutorial.Online tutorials are provided for students who register for the courses every semester.As an illustration, if a student registers for five courses, he or she is eligible to take part in the online tutorials of the five courses registered.Joining the online tutorials, in fact, is an elective.In other words, students may or may not take part in the online tutorials.However, they are encouraged and recommended to take part because online tutorials bring positive benefits, including creating opportunities for significant amounts of interaction with other students, content, and instructors.It is worth noting that online tutorials offer the broader range of perspectives on active learning.In addition, taking part in the online tutorial contributes to the students' final grade.
The English Writing 3 course is equal to the intermediate level, and it is offered in the third semester.It means that students are required to take the English Writing 1 and 2 courses in the previous semesters.It is expected that students who take the English Writing 3 course possess enough English writing skills.It is important to note that English in Indonesia is a foreign language.In some big cities, however, English is the most widely spoken foreign language in Indonesia, particularly among young generations.Therefore, the topic is of interest because the English Writing 3 course is one of the foundation skills before students enrol more advanced courses, including translations.
The online tutorial consists of eight sessions and runs for eight weeks.
One session is due every week, and in the third, fifth, and seventh sessions, students do the assignments, which are due two weeks from the dates they are given.In each session, students are invited to participate in several activities, including taking a test or quiz, learning supplementary materials, and participating in collective discussions.The discussions are facilitated and regulated by the tutor.Adopting asynchronous practices, the tutorials allow

Rahmat Budiman
Self-Efficacy of Students Taking the English Writing 3 Course in an Online Learning Setting 105 students to view the learning materials each week at any time they choose.
Hence, the online tutorials may provide greater opportunities for students, in particular students in employment, to log in to post comments or submit an assignment at any time that suits them.This initiative as a good practice was echoed by Fiorini et al. (2022).Having opportunities to communicate with peers is another benefit for students, as they may develop self-efficacy (Mel et al., 2022).In this situation, for students, joining the online tutorial is worth 40% of the final mark.Meanwhile, the tutors are responsible for managing the class, directing, and moderating the discussions, providing further learning resources, giving valuable feedback, and marking the assignments.
To build effective online class management, one online class consists of a maximum of 50 students, and one tutor can only teach a maximum of four online classes.At the end of the session, they are evaluated by the management as well as by the students.Online tutors who fail to perform their duties will not be assigned in the following semesters.The tutors, further, are lecturers recruited from conventional universities and industry professionals all over Indonesia.Before they are assigned, they are required to attend online training, which is conducted centrally from the main office in order to standardize tutor performances and tutorial materials.In addition, this training aims to the reinforce existing skills and competencies of the tutors and the newly recruited tutors.Furthermore, the training also emphasizes that teaching and learning process in a distance learning context is different.Particularly, information and communication technologies (ICTs) are used as mode of delivery.Thus, tutors must have good ICT literacy skills as well.Correspondingly, the demand for online tutors has, indeed, increased along with the increase in the student body.
In 2022, for example, 6,860 lecturers and 3,624 professionals were recruited as online tutors.
A considerable amount of literature has been published on the impact of self-efficacy on student academic performance and success.The current study is set out to examine the self-efficacy of undergraduate students taking the English Writing 3 online tutorials at Universitas Terbuka.It is hoped that this study will contribute to a deeper understanding of students' self-efficacy, which in turn will be able to improve student academic performance and increase student retention rates by implementing various supportive programs.
To be successful in academic performance, a student must have certain skills, including self-efficacy (Wang et al., 2022).Self-efficacy is considered an important factor that determines whether a person may or may not achieve his or her pre-determined goals (Cherry, 2023).Bandura (1997) argued that selfefficacy is an indispensable element as it is associated with the academic performance of students.Self-efficacy becomes more important as it directs and regulates the way people think and act (A.Jaradat and O. Ajlouni, 2020).
According to Kundu (2020), self-efficacy was certainly positively correlated with academic performance.However, he also found that the development of self-efficacy in online learning was supported by students' attitude, online learning experiences, feedback and reward, online communication, social influence, and online infrastructure.Furthermore, he concluded that the sources of self-efficacy were role modelling, verbal persuasion, and selfmastery.This suggests that meaningful interaction is an essential component in determining the development of self-efficacy in online learning.
More recently, considerable evidence has accumulated to show that selfefficacy plays a significant role in determining student success (Bhati et al., 2022;Emin & Karaca, 2021).In addition, Mel et al. (2022) confirmed that selfefficacy was an indicator of student academic performance.In terms of academic performance, it is worth stressing that school type and mode of delivery do not differentiate student self-efficacy (Yavuzalp & Bahcivan, 2020).
A possible explanation for the different results may be attributed to the forms of measurement (Allen et al., 2022).
Furthermore, Bandura (1997)  The generality of the self-efficacy dimension refers to the confidence level of a person's abilities.Meanwhile, the strength of self-efficacy dimension refers to the strengths or weaknesses of a person's belief in his ability to perform a task.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has unleashed a wave of innovation in education.As a result, education has changed abruptly, with the specific rise of e-learning and online learning, whereby teaching and learning are taken remotely on digital platforms, particularly in educational institutions where face-to-face learning is a solely instructional method.Since then, a number of authors have considered the effects of self-efficacy in online learning (Cui, 2021;Mel et al., 2022;Panergayo & Mansujeto, 2022).Consequently, studies on selfefficacy in online learning become more interesting.
Research with a similar context to the current study was conducted by Kuo et al. (2020).Their study aimed to investigate adult students' internet selfefficacy, self-regulation, and performance in online learning environments.The study reported that internet self-efficacy showed a significant positive correlation with self-regulated learning.An interesting finding, although it was not significant, was that female students were more confident in utilizing the internet.In terms of dimensions of self-efficacy beliefs, the finding might suggest that female students have a higher generality of self-efficacy than their male peers.It is useful to bear in mind, however, that this study was not aimed at seeking dimensions of self-efficacy beliefs.The limitation of this study was a small sample size, which reduced the power of the study.
A study conducted by Panergayo and Mansujeto (2022) described the online learning self-efficacy of teacher education students in a state university at the Philippines.This study is interesting as it compares two different groups of students with and without prior online learning experiences.The study found that self-efficacy correlated with prior online learning experience.It is somewhat surprising that neither group of students showed a significant difference in the online learning environment, time management, and technology use.
A detailed examination of student self-efficacy by Mel et al. (2022) showed that self-efficacy appeared to indicate student academic performance and help students adjust to the situation.In addition, it was found that student online learning self-efficacy was significantly correlated with self-efficacy.In other words, students' ability to adapt well in an online learning environment, to adopt learning management, and to utilize technology to enhance learning led them to have a firm belief that they were able to complete a task or achieve a goal.In addition, they were confident that they were able to control their behavior, adapt to situations, and keep motivated.The study also highlighted the importance of student-student and student-teacher interactions.
Interestingly, the study found that students who did not have imperfect knowledge of online tasks tended to fail to complete the online module.
Moreover, although online learning task efficacy had a significant relationship with self-efficacy, this study found that the relationship between technology use did not correlate with self-efficacy to complete a module.It means that students with good ability in technology may fail to complete a module being learned.
To measure students' self-efficacy in English speaking class in a traditional learning setting, Agung et al. (2022) investigated the level of self-efficacy based on the three dimensions, such as magnitude, generality, and strength.They found that the three dimensions of self-efficacy beliefs were profoundly influenced by certain aspects of experience; including educational background, which affected level of magnitude, interest in certain field, which affected generality, and strong personal capacity beliefs, which influenced level of strength.The main limitation of this study, however, is that the sample size is too small.In addition, students attending a traditional university model commonly share the same educational background because they are high school fresh graduates.In other words, students are of the same age and experience.These results, therefore, need to be interpreted with caution.

Rahmat Budiman Self-Efficacy of Students Taking the English Writing 3 Course in an Online
Learning Setting

METHOD
This study applied a quantitative approach and survey method was used to collect data.The sample of the study was students who took the English Writing 3 online tutorials.The sample for the study was selected based on a single-stage sampling procedure (Creswell, 2009).There were 13 classes which each class consisted of 50 students.Hence, altogether there were 650 students.
Of 650 students, 233 students completed and returned the questionnaires (the rate of return was 35.8%).The 233 completed questionnaires were analyzed using the statistical software IBM SPSS.Descriptive analytics were used to describe and summarize the data in order to provide the ground for finding new facts.Demographic information such as age, gender, employment status, previous education level was collected from participants.
As can be seen in Table 1, the sample included 233 participants, 77% (n= 179) identified as females and 23% (n=54) identified as males.In terms of age groups, 11% (n=25) were under 25, 48% (n=113) were between 20 and 23, 41% (n=95) were above 23.Regarding the employment status, 77% (n=180) participants were in employment.Meanwhile, 82% (n=190) of participants were relatively new to the distance learning system.In addition, 84% (n=195) of participants were sitting in the third semester.In addition, 67% participants (n=155) attended new student orientation program where they were introduced to distance learning systems, including how to become independent and autonomous learners, access various learning supports, and regulate their learning journey.Furthermore, 94% (n=220) of participants claimed to have an adequate understanding of a distance learning system.The questionnaire, which was developed to measure students' selfefficacy, followed the self-efficacy scale proposed by Bandura (2006).In addition, the questionnaire used by Ahmadipour ( 2022) was adopted to collect data from the research participants.Some adjustments were made in order to fulfil the objective of the study.The questionnaire consisted of closed-ended questions, using a five-point Likert scale.Scale descriptors were: 1 (strongly agree), 2 (agree), 3 (unsure), 4 (disagree), and 5 (strongly disagree).Altogether, there were 21 questions, including demographic questions.
In order to establish trustworthiness of the research findings, reliability and validity test was conducted.Cronbach's alpha values were greater than the threshold limit of 0.70 (Hair et al., 2010) and the composite reliability showed that all latent was more than 0.7, both indicating high internal consistency reliability among the latent variables (Fornell & Larcker, 1981).The loading factor was more than 0.7 indicating that the variable items were valid for further analysis.It is interesting to note that ENJOY, MINDFUL and FOCUS that were not close this threshold.However, the captured variances of each latent have AVE value were more than 0.5, which indicated that the questionnaire met the criteria of convergent validity (Fornell & Larcker, 1981).
The questionnaire was distributed at the end of online tutorial sessions using Microsoft Forms.It is worth highlighting that participation in this study was voluntary.In addition, the participants' rights were also disclosed; they were free to decline to participate in the study without penalty.

RESULT & DISCUSSION
The main objective of conducting the current study is to examine the selfefficacy of undergraduate students attending the English Writing 3 online tutorials at Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia.The following part of this article moves on to present the results of the data analysis and discussion.

A. Demographic Information
A closer scrutiny of the data provided essential information about the characteristics of the participants.Of the 76% participants who admitted setting up a learning plan, 82% were female.As setting up a learning plan was part of a person's capacity to achieve his or her goals, it could be argued that female students had better learning habits than male students.In addition, those who set up a learning schedule were mostly participants over the age of 23 years (41%).Initial observations suggest that there may be a link between age (maturity) and study habits.Further analysis was discussed in another subsection.Meanwhile, 25% of participants who did not set up a learning plan were those who did not have distance learning experience.It is reasonable to infer that they might have an imperfect comprehension of their responsibilities as distance learning students.

B. Magnitude of Self-Efficacy
Table 3 below shows an overview of students' magnitude of self-efficacy beliefs.Most of the students (66.5%) were able to find other learning resources if they were unable to comprehend certain topics they were learning.The high percentages of students who agree and strongly agree with the statement indicate that they possessed help-seeking behavior.It has been proven that help-seeking behavior plays a major role in learning (Qayyum, 2018).
Meanwhile, from the table, it can be seen that by far the majority of the students were able to deal with unexpected events (55.4%).In addition, 56% of students who admitted that they were able to deal with unexpected events were those who did not have a distance learning background.It can also be seen from the data in Table 3 that the majority of students (59.7%) were able to formulate solutions to a set of unexpected events.Sources: Primary data (processed) Notes: FIND, If there was a topic I did not understand, I could find other learning resources to help me understand it; COPE, If there were any unexpected events while studying, I could cope with them; SOLUT, I could formulate solutions to overcome problems.
Based on the results of the analysis, the participants had a high magnitude of self-efficacy.This was indicated by the percentage rate of their agreement with the three statements.The magnitude of self-efficacy was reflected in having the ability to find other learning resources in order to comprehend certain topics, to cope with unexpected events in order to achieve the learning objectives, and to formulate solutions to specific problems encountered during learning in order to ensure learning goal achievement.This study confirmed that the participants were mastery goal-oriented which meant that they were dedicated to mastering the learning material that they learned (Alhadabi & Karpinski, 2020).In other words, they were aware that they were required to develop competencies in the subjects they learned.
Further analysis also showed that students who were able to cope with unexpected events had the ability to foresee, anticipate, and plan to resolve problems that may occur.This is a particularly important finding.This may suggest that engaging in hands-on experiences is a good practice for students as it may help them develop metacognitive strategies that include planning, controlling, managing, monitoring, and reflecting (Filcher & Miller, 2000;White & Frederiksen, 2005).In addition, having an ability to formulate solutions for unexpected situations helps students to foresee, anticipate, and plan to resolve problems that may occur.These findings recommend that having a degree of varying attitudes and perceptions towards their ability to perform certain tasks was a practical attribute of students with high a magnitude of self-efficacy.
Furthermore, it is important to note that the quality of being certain of personal abilities could drive the student to performance accomplishment (Cui, 2021).

C. Generality of Self-Efficacy
The table below provides the results obtained from the analysis of the generality of self-efficacy.Sources: Primary data (processed) Notes: COMMIT, I was committed to the time for studying although nobody asked me; TARGET, I was set a target learning plan and achieved its; ANTICIP, I anticipated problems that might occur while studying.
The finding shows that students possessed high level of ability and confidence to complete certain tasks (Bandura, 1997) which was formulated in adopting high levels of commitment, setting targets, and establishing anticipation of unpleasant distractions.
As can be seen from the high level of agreement in the three sentences in the table above, students reported having a high generality of self-efficacy.The realization of the generality of self-efficacy was that they committed to autonomous learning, focused on goal orientation, and established anticipation and preparedness for any learning problems.
After scrutinizing the general trend response pattern, a finding that stands out from the results is that students who set a learning plan admitted that they remained calm and mindful, although they had problems.It is possible, therefore, that setting a learning plan provides opportunities to form selfdetermination.The most interesting of the findings is that students who set a learning plan and remained calm and mindful were those sitting in the third semester.According to this finding, it could be inferred that self-determination develops through time and practice.Further analysis was demonstrated with the correlation analysis in the following section.

D. Strength of Self-Efficacy
Regarding the strength of self-efficacy, the study found that students' strength of self-efficacy was apparently high.This was indicated by the high level of agreement with the four statements about strength of self-efficacy.In a much deeper analysis of the response pattern, it was found that in-employment students were able to stay focused when studying.This indicates that they were able to balance work and study.Furthermore, it could be argued that inemployment students have successfully adopted self-regulated learning strategies.In addition, being able to be self-regulated learners is also reflected in the finding that the majority of the students enjoyed self-paced learning.
What is surprising is that self-paced learning skills develop along with student Rahmat Budiman Self-Efficacy of Students Taking the English Writing 3 Course in an Online Learning Setting 115 progression, semester by semester.To put it in another way, students selfregulated learning skills develop and grow through the learning process.
Hence, self-regulated learning plays an important role in the successful completion of academic program (Alonso-Mencía et al., 2021).It is more likely that the higher the semester a student is in, the higher their retention will be.
Of those who strongly agreed and agreed with the idea of enjoying self-paced learning, it was dominated by females.Additionally, compared to male students, female students were more mindful when facing problems.Again, to test the findings, correlation analysis was conducted, and the results is presented in the following section.
The following table illustrates the results obtained from the analysis of the strength of self-efficacy.Sources: Primary data (processed) Notes: FOCUS, I focused when I was studying; ENJOY, I enjoyed self-paced learning; MOTIVAT, I was always motivated although there was a problem; MINDFUL, I was always mindful while studying although I faced problems.
In order to generate more meaningful understandings of students' selfefficacy, correlational analysis was run.The result of the correlational analysis can be seen in Table 6.was correlated with self-efficacy.This result means that the more mature a student is, the stronger his or her self-efficacy is (magnitude and strength).
Third, year of high school graduation was correlated with self-efficacy.It might suggest that taking a gap year(s) after high school affords students to the opportunity develop self-efficacy (magnitude, generality, and strength of selfefficacy).Fourth, education was in correlation with self-efficacy.Students with a higher education level were more self-efficacious than their counterparts with a lower educational background.One interesting finding is that in this study, educational background was correlated with the strength of self-efficacy, while in the study conducted by Agung et al., (2022), it affected the magnitude of selfefficacy.Fifth, there was a correlation between employment status with selfefficacy.The correlation analysis shows that working students were more selfefficacious than non-working students.Sixth, the previous experience as an online distance learning student was correlated with self-efficacy, which was indicated to be well-prepared and more motivated.This finding is consistent with that of Kundu (2020).Similarly, this finding supports the findings of research by Panergayo and Mansujeto (2022).Seventh, the result shows that self-efficacy developed along with the progression of students' journey.This finding means that the higher the semester a student is in, the higher their strength of self-efficacy will be.Eighth, attending a new student orientation program had a correlation with self-efficacy.Aljaraideh and Al Bataineh (2019) postulated that such program may develop student awareness of their learning.
Ninth, having a better understanding of how distance learning was delivered was also correlated with self-efficacy.It could be argued that the eighth variable might influence the ninth variable.This account must be approached with some caution because further analysis must be conducted.However, this study confirms that having knowledge of online tasks was associated with selfefficacy (Mel et al., 2022).Tenth, the finding confirms that students who set up a study schedule were more self-efficacious.

CONCLUSION
The aim of the present study was to examine the self-efficacy of undergraduate students attending the English Writing 3 online tutorials at Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia.Furthermore, this study sought more specific information about the dimensions of self-efficacy in order to increase academic success.This study has identified some key information.It has been demonstrated that the majority of students were self-efficacious.This study confirmed that male and female students did not significantly differ in selfefficacy.It is important to note that online distance learning students must be equipped with an adequate understanding of the online distance learning system.There is, therefore, a need to provide certain programs to develop students' readiness so that their self-efficacy may also develop, which in turn will help them complete their studies.

Table 1 .
Descriptive Variables of Participants

Table 2 .
Table 2 provides the results obtained from the reliability and validity test.Reliability and Validity of Questionnaires

Table 3 .
Magnitude of self-efficacy

Table 4 .
Generality of Self-Efficacy

Table 5 .
Strength of Self-Efficacy

Table 6 .
Spearman Correlation between Descriptive and Self-Efficacy Variables