Students' Self-Confidence Behaviors in Learning English: A Classroom Observation Study

Abstract

Self-confidence is widely recognized as one of the affective factors that shape how young
learners engage with a foreign language, yet the way this construct actually surfaces in real
classroom behavior is still rarely documented through direct observation. This study was
carried out to describe how Grade 3 elementary school students displayed self-confidence
during an English lesson on naming fruits and objects at an Islamic elementary school
(Madrasah Ibtidaiyah) in Batam, Indonesia. A descriptive qualitative design was used, and
data were gathered through a twenty-item classroom observation checklist constructed from
Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory and Self-Efficacy Theory, covering indicators such as
volunteering to answer, imitating pronunciation, persisting after mistakes, responding to
encouragement, and interacting with peers in English. Ten observers independently recorded
the same lesson to strengthen the credibility of the findings. The results show that students
most consistently displayed confidence through willingness to answer questions, enthusiasm,
positive responses to praise, and sustained attention, while behaviors requiring more
independent initiative, such as raising a hand unprompted or completing tasks without
assistance, were observed less consistently. These patterns indicate that young learners'
confidence in this setting was strongly anchored in supportive teacher encouragement and
peer modeling rather than fully autonomous participation. The findings extend prior
questionnaire-based research by offering behavioral evidence of how confidence is enacted
in an authentic classroom and suggest that teachers of young learners should continue to
combine verbal encouragement, peer modeling opportunities, and low-pressure speaking
tasks to nurture confidence at this developmental stage in English language classrooms.