ORBIS SCHOLAE
ORBIS SCHOLAE

We inform authors and readers that, following an agreement with the Karolinum publishing house, from 2024 (Volume 18), the journal Orbis scholae will be published only in electronic form.

Orbis scholae is an academic journal published by Charles University, Prague. It features articles on school education in the wider socio-cultural context. It aims to contribute to our understanding and the development of school education, and to the reflection of teaching practice and educational policy.

The journal is indexed in SCOPUS, CEEOL, DOAJ, EBSCO, and ERIH Plus.

ORBIS SCHOLAE, Vol 19 No 1 (2025), 5–40

Article

Zkoumání vztahů mezi vnitřní lokalizací kontroly, self-efficacy a demotivací u studentů a žáků angličtiny jako cizího jazyka: Přehledová studie

[Examining the Relationships Between Internal Locus of Control, Self-Efficacy, and Demotivation Among Students of English as a Foreign Language: A Review Study]

Karel Kunčar

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/23363177.2025.8
published online: 07. 11. 2025

abstract

Demotivation in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education is a relatively underexplored topic. Previous studies have primarily focused on identifying demotivating factors rather than developing strategies to reduce demotivation. This review study examines the potential of self-efficacy and attribution/internal locus of control theories in reducing demotivation. The study maps twenty-one empirical research studies to assess the relationships between these three constructs and the methods used to examine them. The findings confirm significant relationships between the examined aspects, particularly the link between low self-efficacy and high demotivation, as well as the positive influence of an internal locus of control on increasing self-efficacy. The majority of studies employed quantitative methodologies, particularly surveys and correlation analyses. Qualitative approaches were underrepresented and appeared in the form of thematic analysis of interviews, essays, and classroom observations. The findings suggest opportunities for future research that could leverage these established connections to design interventions aimed at reducing demotivation by enhancing self-efficacy through an internal locus of control. Such interventions could be developed within a design-based research framework, with the presented tools serving as instruments for measuring their effectiveness. Thus, this review study provides a theoretical foundation for further practical research on addressing demotivation in EFL teaching.

keywords: demotivation in language learning; self-efficacy; locus of control; English as a foreign language; intervention; review

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