A Study of the Effect of Communication Skills Training on the Female Student's Self-efficacy and Achievement

The present research aimed at studying the effect of communication skills training on self-efficacy beliefs and academic achievement of female students of high-schools in grade one in Zanjan city. A use was made of a self-efficacy questionnaire، students’ average-point scores and the UNISEF program for training communication skills in this pre- post-test experimental study. A sample of 60 students with average point scores smaller than intermediate was selected using stage sampling strategy from among a population of 4935 students. They were randomly assigned to one experimental and one control group. The experimental group received a treatment based on the UNICEF Training kit over a ten-session course in terms of questions and answers and role-plays. To analyze the data، SPSS was used to run ANCOVA and MANOVA analyses. The results suggested that the training of communication skills was effective in improving the self-efficacy (F=33. 7، p<0/001) and academic achievement (F=25، p<0/001) of the students.