Relationship Between Self-Efficacy and Learning Motivation Elementary Physical Education

Abstract

Learning motivation is essential for supporting students’ active participation and engagement in physical education. Self-efficacy is considered a psychological factor that may influence students’ motivation; however, evidence regarding this relationship among elementary school students remains limited. This study aimed to examine the relationship between self-efficacy and learning motivation in physical education among elementary school students.A quantitative cross-sectional correlational design was employed. The study involved 30 fifth- and sixth-grade students selected through random sampling. Data were collected using self-efficacy and learning motivation questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Shapiro–Wilk normality test, and Spearman’s rank-order correlation.The results showed a weak positive but statistically non-significant relationship between self-efficacy and learning motivation (ρ = .163, p = .390). The findings indicate that, although students with higher self-efficacy tended to report higher learning motivation, the observed relationship was weak and did not provide sufficient statistical evidence to confirm a significant association within the present sample.These findings suggest that self-efficacy alone may not adequately explain students’ learning motivation in physical education. The results should be interpreted cautiously because the study involved a relatively small sample from a single school, which may limit statistical power and generalizability. Future research should involve larger and more diverse samples and examine additional psychological, instructional, and environmental factors associated with students’ learning motivation in physical education.