Self-efficacy is very instrumental in improving students'

metacognitive skills. Where the high level of student metacognitive

will be followed by an increase in high self-efficacy (self-

efficacy). Students who have good self-confidence can help students

improve their metacognitive skills by understanding problems, and

regulating and controlling their cognitive activities. One of the

factors that drive the improvement of students' metacognitive

skills through self-efficacy is to develop learning strategies and

routinely practice working on challenging learning questions or

tasks that require high-level thinking or thinking skills such as

high-order thinking questions skill.

According to Bandura, (as cited in Aydin, 2016), self-efficacy

is an individual's level of self-confidence in their abilities to

manage certain tasks, and it influences how people think, act, and

motivate themselves. People who think that they have a high level

of self-efficacy can work longer hours and withstand difficulties,

while those who believe that their self-efficacy is low avoid

completing. A person's degree of self-efficacy is thought to

identify with the person's selection of exercises, exertion, and

determination in those activities (Kazemi, Khodabandehlou, and

Jahandar, 2013). Self-efficacy provides an essential stimulant to

discover and explore strategies and methods in listening class, so

to raise students’ intended skills, they can improve their self-

efficacy and self-confidence level.

Perceived control or Internal Locus of Control, a concept by

Julian Rotter, is one of the five subcomponents of Self-efficacy.

It explains why some people believe that rewards are the

consequences of their own behavior. In relation to self-efficacy,

people with an internal locus of control possess the same

characteristics such as attributions of failures and successes as

caused by the self and belief that they can alter behavior as they

desire (Feist et al., 2013). People who perceive whatever happens

to them are not in the hands of fate, luck, or chance exhibit an

internal locus of control by Wood and Wood (as cited in Dullas,

2012). They have intrinsic motivation which is also evident in

people with high self-efficacy (Bandura, 1994, 1997). Moreover, PC

is one aspect of self-efficacy. It is relevant to self-efficacy in

the sense that perceptions of ability, social comparison,

attributions, time available, and perceived importance are factors

of PC that influences self-efficacy just the same (Bandura, 1994,

1997; Schunk and Pajares, 2002; Zimmerman and Cleary, 2006).

According to Schunk (2012), metacognition is composed of two

aspects of related competencies namely understanding the potency

and how to use the potency. Understanding potency means that people

should know their ability, strategy, and their needs to perform a

task given. This kind of aspect covers developing information,

finding the main idea, using trial and error, organizing the

materials, etc. Meanwhile, understanding how to use potency refers

to people's awareness to know how and when their potency and

strategy are used to ensure they can perform perfectly in the

tasks. This activity covers checking the understanding of the

materials, predicting the learning result, planning and revising

the tasks, and managing time. In other words, metacognition is a

key tool to think critically which is defined as people’s awareness

and control over their thinking involving high-order active

thinking processes to be successful in language learning.

Competence is another subdomain of Self-efficacy. According to

Wigfield and Eccles (2000) expectancy and ability beliefs are

judgments of students’ competence and their self-efficacy.

Expectancy beliefs and ability beliefs both consist of expectations

for success and perceptions of competence. Expectancy beliefs have

items that ask students on how well they will do in an academic

area or learn new material, while ability beliefs have items that

ask how good a student is in an academic subject, how they rate

themselves and how good they are in that subject compared with

other classmates (Wigfield and Eccles, 2000). In addition,

according to Schunk (1995) and Schunk and Pajares (2002) domain and

specific and task specific are the levels of specificity of self-

competence and self-efficacy. Expectancy and ability beliefs falls

on domain specific while self-efficacy beliefs fall on task

specific, but are sometimes assessed at a domain-specific level.

Furthermore, students with high self-efficacy focus on enhancing

their competencies and learning tasks (Khezriazara et al., 2010).

It is ability, capacity, competence, faculty, and might. With more

competence comes more ability to control the future and attribute

events as caused by the self, thus exhibit personal efficacy (Feist

et al., 2013). In addition, students with high self-efficacy center

on enhancing their competencies and learning tasks (Khezriazara

et al., 2010). In accordance with the study of Henk & Melnick (as

cited in Wajid & Jami, 2020), since self-efficacy and positive

academic output, including achievements and research productivity,

are highly correlated, it is important to explore the various

factors that influence a student’s self-efficacy beliefs to

encourage productivity and academic excellence. Research students

need to be high in self-efficacy, motivation, and productivity.

From the cognitive perspective, cognitions underlie feelings,

behavior, and actions.

 Studies on the functional relationship between persistence and

academic self-efficacy showed strong correlation (Pajares and

Miller, 1994; Schunk and Pajares, 2002; Schnell et al., 2015). In

fact, some self-efficacy researchers (Schwarzer, 1998; Schunk and

Pajares, 2002) conceptualized persistence or perseverance as

strategy and part of self-efficacy to continue in attaining goal-

oriented behavior despite academic obstacles and negative academic

experiences. People with high persistence have little fear of the

unknown, are able to stand up for what they believe in, and have

the courage to face whatever may come along. This is related to the

fact that most confident people are also persistent and that they

have the courage to pull through any circumstances. In relation to

self-efficacy, persistence strongly influences the choices people

make, the effort they expend, the strength of their perseverance in

the face of adversity, and the degree of anxiety they experience

(Bandura, 1994, 1997). And those students with high self-efficacy

increase the monitoring of their performances which leads to

greater persistence of their positive academic behaviors (Bouffard

et al., 2005)

One of the major constructs with established correlation in

the context of academic self-efficacy is SRL (Bandura, 1994, 1997;

Zimmerman, 2008; Zimmerman and Schunk, 2008; Salmeron et al.,

2010; Schnell et al., 2015). Self-regulation, according to

Zimmerman (2008) is defined as self-generated thoughts, feelings,

and actions which are planned and cyclically adapted to attain

personal goals.

Furthermore, SRL refers to self-governing processes and self-

beliefs that facilitate transformation of mental abilities into

school performance abilities (Zimmerman, 2008). Application of

self-regulation in learning or SRL according to Zimmerman (2008)

and Zimmerman and Schunk (2008) on (a) students as active in their

learning process, and (b) successful use of self-regulating

strategies in certain areas that depend on the quantity and quality

of the interaction, between the student and the subject. A study

conducted by Shores & Shannon (as cited in the study conducted by

Šafranj, 2019), wherein showed that self-regulated students achieve

better results. Positive beliefs regarding one's own abilities or a

high sense of academic self-efficacy are very important factors and

components of self-regulation. Self-efficacy affects how people

think, feel, behave, and motivate themselves. Students' perception

of self-efficacy refers to self-monitoring and academic achievement

and motivation. Previous studies in physiology education

investigated students' self-efficacy in learning (Dohn et al.,

2016; Wilke, 2003) and online learning behaviors (Nicol et al.,

2018). Results from those studies have implications for cultivating

students' motivation and adjusting classroom instructions, yet most

studies in physiology education did not investigate the interacting

influence of self-efficacy and online learning behaviors about SRL

theories. Apart from the studies that independently examined

students' self-efficacy or online learning behavioral patterns,

there is a general lack of research into the ways students' online

learning behaviors interact with motivational processes. As to

metacognitive learning theories, in addition to being aware of

cognitive and metacognitive strategies, students should be

motivated to enthusiastically use these strategies to be

successful. In this context, three motivational components can be

associated with components of self-regulated learning such as the

general expectation-value theory of motivation, as cited in Celik

(2022) Pintrich & De Groot, metacognitive strategies: (a)

affective reactions including students' emotional reactions to the

task (pride, anger, etc.), one component indicates importance, (b)

an expectation component, which includes students' beliefs about

their ability to perform a task (self-efficacy), and (c) a

value component, which includes students' beliefs about the

importance and relevance of the goal and task. In this respect,

studies in the literature reveal that self-efficacy,

metacognition, and affective (motivation) components are

positively related to self-regulated learning components and

results (Aurah, 2013; Doménech-Betoret et al., 2017; Hayat et al.,

2020). Since bilateral relations are taken into account, academic

achievement increases as self-efficacy, motivation, and

metacognition increase. The findings of this study showed that

self-efficacy and metacognition are direct motivation and indirect

and supportive factors in students' academic performance.

Developing metacognition and self-efficacy in effective teaching

processes and university teaching programs should be one of the

main objectives. Considering the findings of this study, it seems

useful to address the factors that increase self-efficacy,

metacognition, and motivation in the education of university

students and encourage these variables.

Moreover, Cazan (2012) found out that a student who is high

on self-regulation can plan proficiently, monitor his or her

learning process and progress, constantly adjust his/her behavior

to the requirements of learning situations, perform better and have

higher levels of academic adjustments which are all integral part

of a student’s academic success. In addition, Zimmerman and Schunk

(2008) found reciprocal relationship between self-efficacy beliefs

and self-regulation. They found out that as students increased

their self-efficacy belief, their self-regulation capacity also

increased, which also allowed the students to face further academic

challenges (Diseth, 2011)- SELF – EFFICACY QUESTIONNAIRE