Postgraduate students’ beliefs about and confidence for academic writing in the field of applied linguistics

Motivational theories highlight the importance of students’ confidence, where lower confidence can be limiting, and also beliefs about academic writing, which may reflect goals as well practices to achieve them. Nevertheless, relatively few studies have considered these areas across students with English a first language (L1 students) languages other than (L2 students). In order gain new insights, 122 applied linguistics were surveyed. L1 L2 reported similar BA grades, but average MA for their in general, writing English, less positive effort/ability concerning (lower agreement statements such ‘If I put enough effort produce good writing’), higher that involved transmission (higher ‘The key successful is accurately reporting what authorities think’). Across all students, grades positively correlated negatively transmission. These findings suggest attention help ensure maximise potential.