Activity 7.2

English was my thing. All throughout my undergraduate career and high school before that, I was always extremely successful in English and Literature classes. Nothing but A's. And more so, I knew I was always successful and believed that I always would be.

That's why it was an earth-shattering blow, when, in Spring Semester 2011, I received a C in ENG 335. I still feel a little angry when I think about that class. I couldn't believe it when I got my grade. I got a C?!? My confidence was bruised; I didn't want to tell anyone about this horrible C on my transcript. (I was also a bit dramatic). My self-efficacy was not broken, merely momentarily winded. I came back the next semester with a renewed sense of determination. I made sure that I would not receive a C in an English class again; I knew that it was within my power to succeed. My sense of self-efficacy rallied and I succeeded the next three semesters.

However, this is not the first C I'd received at the University. The semester before I took that ill-fated ENG 335, I received a C in Statistics. And I was fine with it. I hate math and I have never believed that I was good at it. The C in that class, one that I actually struggled to attain, was not a beacon of failure like the C in ENG 335, but rather, a goal achieved. It was a check off the list; no more math in college! I had a weak sense of self-efficacy in this regard and was happy that I passed the class by the skin of my teeth.

My two C's held two drastically different meanings: one stood for devastating failure and the other, happy success. What made the difference? Context. My situation was very similar to the situation Frank Parajes depicts in his chapter "Self-Efficacy During Childhood and Adolescence":


"A student accustomed to receiving As on exams in [a] class and subject and who worked hard throughout the term and studied for the exam will view the B in ways quite dissimilar from that of a student accustomed to receiving Cs and who worked equally hard. For the former, the B will be received with distress; for the latter, the B is likely to be received with elation. The student accustomed to receiving As is likely to have her academic confidence bruised; the C-acquainted student is sure to have her confidence boosted. Context is not always everything, but it colors everything," (342).

Because of my strong sense of self-efficacy in one subject and my weak sense in the other, the two identical grades had vastly different meanings and effects on me. The context of each situation "colored" my response to each C.