Abstract:
In the teacher-centered traditional EFL classroom, students lack the vigor in carrying the assigned tasks out, which leads to the lack of perseverance and a lower likelihood that the tasks will be handled successfully. A diagnosis of such situation, from a socio-cognitive perspective signals a lack of self-efficacy. In order to tackle such issue, the study at hand suggests the Gradual Release of Responsibility as an alternative model through which students progressively build positive self-efficacy beliefs about their abilities to complete. The study followed a quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest, one group design with a, conveniently achieved, sample of 20 fourth year English as a Foreign Language students from Ali Ibn Talib middle school from Ghardaia city, Algeria. The intervention lasted for five weeks. The data gathering tools employed to carry this research were, a pretest, a posttest, and structured interviews with a sample of three English language teachers from the same middle school.
Findings showed that the gradual release of responsibility had a positive impact on the students’ self-efficacy and that among the four stages of the gradual release of responsibility model, guided instruction and collaborative work effected students’ self-efficacy the most. Hereupon,
the researchers recommend the use of gradual release of responsibility as a tool to alter EFL learners’ negative about their abilities into positive ones, and to help them move toward a more learner-centered leaning.
