A CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIVE SELF-EFFICACY IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

Effective communication is a core graduate attribute, yet many university students who possess adequate communicative knowledge nevertheless under-perform because they doubt their own communicative capabilities. Drawing on Bandura's social-cognitive theory of self-efficacy and contemporary models of communicative competence, this article develops and theoretically substantiates a conceptual model for forming effective communicative self-efficacy (CSE) in university students. The study combines theoretical methods (analysis, synthesis, systematisation and pedagogical modelling) with a pilot empirical survey of undergraduate students. Five interrelated structural components of CSE were identified — motivational-value, cognitive, emotional-volitional, behavioural-operational and reflective-evaluative — and integrated into a six-block process model comprising target, theoretical-methodological, content, procedural-technological, diagnostic-evaluative and result blocks. The model specifies four stages of formation (motivational-orienting, cognitive-formative, activity-practical and reflective-corrective) and a set of pedagogical conditions. Pilot data indicate that all five components correlate positively and significantly with overall CSE, with the emotional-volitional and behavioural-operational components showing the strongest associations. The proposed model offers educators a systematic, theoretically grounded framework for designing targeted interventions that strengthen students' belief in, and regulation of, their communicative behaviour