Specialized Foreign Language Proficiency (esp/fos) And Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy Among University Students : A Psycholinguistic Study
Auteurs : عدار الزهرة . Zergui Aicha .
Résumé
Objective: This study investigates the relationship between proficiency in languages for specific purposes (ESP/FOS) and entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) among university students. Grounded in Bandura's self-efficacy theory, we hypothesized that specialized linguistic competence contributes to entrepreneurial confidence through psychological mechanisms, including anxiety reduction and professional communicative identity formation. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 92 university students from eight academic disciplines. Participants completed validated questionnaires measuring ESP/FOS proficiency (12 items) and entrepreneurial self-efficacy (12 items) using a five-point Likert scale. Cronbach's alpha = 0.79 confirmed adequate reliability. Pearson correlation and regression analyses examined variable relationships by academic discipline. Results: Contrary to hypothesis, no statistically significant linear correlation emerged between ESP/FOS proficiency and ESE at the total sample level (r = -0.015, p = 0.888). Arts and humanities students showed a strong but non-significant correlation (r = 0.753, p = 0.084, n = 6; R² = 0.567). Management and economics students showed a similar non-significant trend (r = 0.681, p = 0.092; R² = 0.464). Technical disciplines showed no significant correlations (all p > 0.05). Conclusions: Entrepreneurial self-efficacy develop through non-linguistic pathways-technical competence, institutional support, and culturally-embedded norms-particularly in technical disciplines. Language proficiency function as a compensatory resource for humanities students but appears to have minimal direct association with technical students' entrepreneurial confidence. Educational interventions should differentiate language support by discipline rather than treating ESP/FOS as a universal entrepreneurship prerequisite
Mots clés
entrepreneurial self-efficacy ; languages for specific purposes ; self-efficacy theory ; psycholinguistic competence ; discipline-specific entrepreneurship
