Using calibration to enhance students' self-confidence in English vocabulary learning relevant to their judgment of over-confidence and predicted by smartphone self-efficacy and English learning anxiety

In this paper, calibration was introduced to improve English vocabulary learning for learners to reduce the number of repetitions and to improve vocabulary memorization. Thus, an App for the iPhone 4 called English Vocabulary Learning @ Star (EVL@S) was designed for learning English vocabulary. Data from 107 participants was collected for confirmatory factor analysis to verify the reliability and validity of the research instrument, and then structure equation modeling was applied to better understand the correlates of users' learning confidence. The results revealed that smartphone self-efficacy (SSE) could serve as a predictor for English learning anxiety (ELA) and a judgment of over-confidence (JOOC). ELA was a positive antecedent of JOOC. In addition, JOOC was negatively correlated with self-confidence in using learned vocabulary (SCLV). These findings implied that a practice scheme of calibration can be implemented in learning English vocabulary or in learning any other languages. It can assist users in practicing the judgment of knowledge which reflects to their JOOC and SCLV, if they have high level of SSE or low level of ELA. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.