The relationship between self-efficacy and instructional practice of in-service soft disciplines, hard disciplines and EFL teachers

Shabnam Kurosh Khanshan,Mohammad Hosssein Yousefi

doi:10.1186/s40862-020-0080-8

Abstract

The present study aimed at investigating the relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy perceptions and their instructional practices. The mediatory role of the teachers’ occupational characteristics such as their disciplines was also examined. For this purpose, a total of 70 teachers from the soft science, hard science and English language teaching (ELT) disciplines were compared. This study was situated within a mixed-methods design in which questionnaires as well as observation and semi-structured interviews were used to measure the efficacy-teaching practice. Results of Pearson correlation coefficients revealed that the self-efficacy of soft science and hard science teachers was significantly correlated with their teaching practice, with the ELT teachers’ efficacy-teaching relation not reaching a statistical significance. Results obtained from the observation and interviews further explained the teachers’ practices and the challenges that they faced in their classroom practices. Findings are discussed in light of both individual and societal perspective, offering important implications for the classrooms.

Highlights

Teacher efficacy is defined as teachers’ belief in their ability to influence the learning of students, even those who could be regarded as difficult or unmotivated (Guskey & Passaro, 1994). Gibson and Dembo (1984) identified two dimensions of teacher efficacy: internal efficacy and external efficacy
The results of separate correction coefficients in the present study showed that only the soft science and hard science teachers’ self-efficacies correlated significantly to their teaching practice, with the English language teaching (ELT) teachers not reaching a statistical significance
Results of this study indicate that the self-efficacy of soft science and hard science teachers was significantly related to their teaching practice; the ELT teachers’ efficacy-teaching relation was not statistically significant

Summary

Introduction

Teacher efficacy is defined as teachers’ belief in their ability to influence the learning of students, even those who could be regarded as difficult or unmotivated (Guskey & Passaro, 1994). Gibson and Dembo (1984) identified two dimensions of teacher efficacy: internal efficacy (or personal teaching) and external efficacy (or general teaching). Teacher efficacy is defined as teachers’ belief in their ability to influence the learning of students, even those who could be regarded as difficult or unmotivated (Guskey & Passaro, 1994). Internal efficacy represented teachers’ belief in their skills and abilities to overcome difficulties students may have in their learning. External efficacy represented the belief that any teacher’s skills and abilities to promote student learning were less powerful than external factors such as socio-economic status, family background, and parental influence. Self-efficacy belief or self-efficacy has already turned into a significant realm in numerous fields, such as anthropology, applied linguistics, education and psychology (Kalaja & Barcelos, 2003). Teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs in their instructional practice and learning have developed into a greater main issue for educational research

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion