An Exploration of Nonnative English Speaking (NNES) EFL Teachers’ Perceived Language Proficiency and Self-efficacy in an off-Campus English Language Training Institutionin in Xiamen

Abstract

In the realm of education, teachers’ perceptions or beliefs have been one of the main topics that researchers have focused on over the past four decades (Ghasemboland & Hashim, 2013). For nonnative English speaking teachers, level of English proficiency is often a matter of concern and it has close relationship with their beliefs about teaching abilities, which is known as self-efficacy (Faez, Karas & Uchihara, 2021). This study aims to explore the nonnative English speaking (NNES) EFL teachers’ perceived English proficiency and its impact on their self-efficacy of teaching in an off-campus English training institution in Xiamen, a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, China. The institution has an English only policy for both teachers and students to use English at all times, in order to create an English immersion environment for students. Teachers’ special needs for language training were also interviwed as well. Semi-structured face-to-face individual interview is the only method implemented in this study, in which the interview questions were designed drawing on prior research and the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES; Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001). The results showed that the teachers’s self-efficacy was positively correlated with their self-perceived English proficiency, which concurs with the previous studies, and that teachers haves strong needs for development in language profiency to improve their slef-efficacy of teaching.