EFL teachers' perceptions of their self-efficacy towards teaching effectiveness: a case study in Chile

Abstract

In the face of educational reforms, the role that teachers play in the classroom appears to be of paramount importance to different stakeholders. In a growing demand for quality teaching accountability, teachers’ duty is to help students in acquiring knowledge. Thus teachers are assessed to guarantee quality teaching through various assessment procedures, as it has been identified that teaching effectiveness is an important factor contributing to ensure student achievement. On the other hand, there is compelling evidence supporting the link between teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and student outcomes. The study reported in this thesis sought to provide evidence in regard to teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs as a key driver of teaching effectiveness, as it has been suggested that teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs may work as a strong predictor of teaching effectiveness. Through an instrumental qualitative case study design, this study investigated the sources of self-efficacy beliefs and the desired characteristics or attributes that an effective teacher of English as a foreign language should possess. Results were analysed from data collected through in-depth individual interviews, emerged from three teachers working in different educational settings (private language institute, private university, and a public university). This study yielded interesting results concerning efficacy for student engagement, efficacy for instructional strategies and the impact of student evaluation of educational quality (SEEQ) report on teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs. As a conclusion, the study’s findings seem to confirm that mastery experiences (the strongest source of self-efficacy beliefs) affect both teachers and students’ self-efficacy beliefs, resulting in a predictor of teaching effectiveness.