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ScienceDirect Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 136 (2014) 491 – 495
LINELT 2013
Research on Prospective Foreign Language Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs Perihan Yalçın a *, Nurten Özçelik b, Leyla Ercan c a
Gazi Faculty of Education of Gazi University, Ankara,Turkey Gazi Faculty of Education of Gazi University, Ankara,Turkey a Gazi Faculty of Education of Gazi University, Ankara,Turkey b
Abstract This study aims at determining prospective foreign language teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and examining the correlations between self-efficacy belief and such variables as gender, age, department, school of graduation, academic achievement and socio-economic level. The study group of the research, which was conducted by employing the survey model, was composed of randomly chosen 270 undergraduate students of foreign languages department of Gazi Faculty of Education of Gazi University who attended the French Language (N=111), English Language (N=79), and German Language (N=80) departments in the 2012-2013 academic year. The self-efficacy scale developed by Schmitz & Schwarzer (2000) was used as the tool of data collection. The Cronbach Alpha value was found to be 0.79 for the scale. The research has demonstrated that no significant differences are available between the prospective teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and the above mentioned variables. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/). Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of LINELT 2013. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of LINELT 2013. Keywords: self-efficacy belief, prospective foreign language teachers
Introduction Self-efficacy belief is one of the basic elements of achievement in education and teaching, and needs emphasising. Teachers’ self-efficacy belief influences the teaching quality, the methods and techniques used, students’ participation in learning, and their comprehending the topics of teaching, which – in turn - is determinant of students’ achievement status (Klausmeier and Allen, 1978). Hence, well-trained prospective teachers are expected to have high levels of self-efficacy belief above all. Teachers’ fulfilling the required proficiency of teaching profession
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Corresponding Author: Perihan Yalçın, Tel.: +90 532 522 01 38 E-mail :
[email protected]
1877-0428 © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/). Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of LINELT 2013. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.05.362
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is closely related with their belief in their capability to perform their duties and liabilities as well as with receiving high quality education (Yılmaz, Köseoğlu, Gerçek and Soran, 2004). Bandura (1997) defines self-efficacy as “an individual’s judgements about his/her capacity to organise and perform the activities necessary for displaying a certain amount of performance” while Zimmerman (1995) defines it as “an individual’s judgements concerning his/her capabilities to fulfill or achieve a task”. Teachers’ self-efficacy involves the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for fulfilling the duties and liabilities of teaching profession. This is a concept related to a successful teaching. The research conducted by Aşkar and Umay concluded that “individuals with high perception of self-efficacy for a certain situation make great efforts to achieve in a task and they do not give up when they encounter negative conditions, but keep on working towrds their goal with patience and insistence” (2001:1). Some research studies demonstrated that correlations were available between teachers’ self-efficacy and students’ motivation (woolfook et al., 1990) and achievement (gibso and Dembo 1984; Ross 1992). Ashton contends that teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs are their expectations of their capacity to affect students’ performances. “It has been revealed through research that teachers’ self-efficacy belief is influential in their in-class practices and that teachers with high levels of self-efficacy belief behave with more desire and more passion in terms of teaching” (quoted by Bıkmaz, 2004). A review of literature demonstrates that research studies concerning self-efficacy are available in various fields: Yabaş and Altun (2009), Üstüner, Demirtaş, Cömert and Özer (2009), Aşkar and Umay (2001), Tuncer and Tanaş (2011), Fırat Durdukoca (2010), Korkut and Akkoyunlu (2008), Akkoyunlu and Kurbanoğlu (2003). It is important that teachers hold self-efficacy beliefs in the field of foreign language, as in any other field, and it is one of the most important elements capable of influencing achievement to be attained. This research, which is considered important in raising quality in teacher training, examines prospective teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs. 1.1. The Purpose of the Research This research aims to determine prospective foreign language teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and to examine the correlations between self-efficacy belief and such variables as gender, age, department, school of graduation, academic achievement and socio-economic level. In line with this purpose, the answers are sought to the following questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
At what level are prospective foreign language teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs? Do prospective foreign language teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs differ significantly on the basis of gender? Do prospective foreign language teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs differ significantly on the basis of age? Do prospective foreign language teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs differ significantly on the basis of department of study? Do prospective foreign language teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs differ significantly on the basis of socioeconomic levels?
6. 2. Method 2.1. Research Model This descriptive research employs a survey model. Survey models are the approaches which aim to describe the existing situation in the past and at present (Karasar 1995: 77). 2.2. Study Group The study group was composed of randomly chosen 270 undergraduate students attending the French Language (N=111), English Language (N=79), and German Language (N=80) sections of the Foreign Languages Department of Gazi Faculty of Education of Gazi University in the 2012-2013 academic year. 2.3. Data Collection Tool The 8-item self-efficacy scale which was developed by Schmitz and Schwarzer (2000), and which was adapted into
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Turkish by Gerçek and Soran (2004) was used as the tool of data collection. Th Cronbach Alpha value was calculated as 0.79 for the 4 pointed Likert type scale. The scoring of the scale was performed as: fully appropriate=4, mostly appropriate=3, rarely appropriate=2, inappropriate=1. Besides, the information on participants in relation to gender, age, grade level, department, school of graduation, academic achievement and socio-economic levels was also collected in the scale. 2.4. Data Analysis The data, having been collected through the self-efficacy scale which was applied to the sample, were put to the SPSS 16.0 programme and were analysed by using independent groups t-test, the ANOVA, frequencies and arithmetic averages. The significance was regarded at the level of “0.05” for the data. 3. Findings and Interpretation The findings are tabulated and interpreted in this part of the research: 3.1. An examination of Prospective Foreign Language Teachers’ Self-efficacy Beliefs on the Basis of Gender The findings obtained following the t-test which was conducted so as to determine whether or not any significant differences were available between the self-efficacy beliefs of students studying in the foreign languages department according to gender are shown in Table 1: Table 1: The t-test Results concerning Prospective Foreign Language Teachers’ Self-efficacy Beliefs According to Gender Gender Female Male
N 204 66
X 3.12 3.19
SS .46 .54
sd 268
t -.93
p .18
According to Table 1, no significant differences are available in prospective foreign language teachers’ selfefficacy beliefs on gender basis due to the fact that the significance level is p=0.18; p<0.05. Male students’ selfefficacy scores ( =3.19) are higher than female ones ( significant difference between self-efficacy and gender.
=3.12). However, this finding cannot be interpreted as a
3.2. An examination of Prospective Foreign Language Teachers’ Self-efficacy Beliefs on the Basis of Age The findings obtained through the Scheffe test which was conducted so as to determine whether or not any significant differences were available between the self-efficacy beliefs of the students studying in the foreign languages department on the basis of age are shown in Table 2. Table 2. The Analysis Results concerning Prospective Foreign Language Teachers’ Self-efficacy Beliefs According to Age Age 19 20 21 22 23+
N 21 48 74 51 76
X 3.19 3.21 3.04 3.10 3.20
SS .51 .42 .41 .41 .60
sd 4
F 1.46
p .22
As is evident from Table 2, the self-efficacy belief is at the maximum level in students at age 20 (X=3.21) whereas it is at the minimum level in 21- year old students (X=3.04). Yet, no significant differences were found between students’ self-efficacy beliefs on the basis of age (p=.22) p<0.05). 3.3. An examination of Prospective Foreign Language Teachers’ Self-efficacy Beliefs on the Basis of Department The findings obtained through the Scheffe test which was conducted so as to determine whether or not any
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significant differences were available between the self-efficacy beliefs of the students studying in the foreign languages department on the basis of department are shown in Table 3. Table3. The Analysis Results concerning Prospective Foreign Language Teachers’ Self-efficacy Beliefs According to Department Department French English German
N 111 79 80
X 3.19 3.09 3.11
SS .52 .42 .48
sd 2
F 1.09
p .34
As is evident from Table 3, on analysing the prospective foreign language teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, no significant differences were found on the basis of department. 3.4. An examination of Prospective Foreign Language Teachers’ Self-efficacy Beliefs on the Basis of High School of Graduation Table 4. The Analysis Results Concerning Prospective Foreign Language Teachers’ Self-efficacy Beliefs According to the School of Graduation School of graduation
N
X
SS
sd
F
p
High School Anatolian High School Super High School
86
3.13
.52
3
2.09
.10
83
3.04
.42
56
3.19
.48
45
3.25
.41
Vocational High School
According to Table 4, the self-efficacy beliefs of vocational high school graduates were found to be the highest (X=3.25). Since p=.10, it may be said that the students’ self-efficacy beliefs do not differ on the basis of the school of graduation. 3.5. An examination of Prospective Foreign Language Teachers’ Self-efficacy Beliefs on the Basis of SocioEconomic Level Table 5. The Analysis Results concerning Prospective Foreign Language Teachers’ Self-efficacy Beliefs According to Socio-Economic Level Socio-economic level
N
X
SS
sd
F
p
Hig
88
3.20
.57
2
2.84
.06
Middle
164
3.08
.40
Low
18
3.30
.59
As is clear from Table 5, students with middle or high socio-economic levels have lower arithmetic averages than those with lower socio-economic levels. Yet, this state cannot be interpreted as the availability of significant differences between students’ self-efficacy beliefs on the basis of socio-economic level (p=.06). 4. Conclusions The results obtained in this research, which was designed to determine prospective foreign language teachers’ selfefficacy beliefs, can be listed as in what follows: There are no significant differences between prospective foreign language teachers’ levels of self-efficacy on gender basis; however, male students’ aritmetic averages were higher than those of female students’ (X=3.19). This is a finding in parallel to the ones obtained by Bong (1999) and Bush (1995). No significant differences were found between prospective teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs in terms of age variable. On examining the self-efficacy beliefs on the basis of department, it was found that students of all the departments had quite high levels of self-efficacy beliefs and that no significant differences were available between them, which may be considered as a positive result for the foreign languages department. The analysis results concerning the self-efficacy beliefs according to the type of high school of graduation demonstrated that the graduates of vocational high schools had the highest level of self-
Perihan Yalçın et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 136 (2014) 491 – 495
efficacy belief (X=3.25), but that prospective teachers self-efficacy belief did not differ on the basis of high school of graduation. Additionally, no significant differences were found in self-efficacy beliefs on the basis of socioeconomic level, another variable in this study. The fact that arithmetic averages were high in general even though no significant differences were found between self-efficacy beliefs on the basis of a number of variables may be interpreted as that prospective foreign language teachers’ self-efficacy levels are high. In consequence, it may be stated that prospective foreign language teachers with high levels of self-efficacy belief will patiently cope with problems that they encounter and that they will make efforts to be successful, without giving up. References Akkoyunlu, B., & Kurbanoğlu, S. (2003). Öğretmen adaylarının bilgi okuryazarlığı ve bilgisayar öz-yeterlik algıları üzerine bir çalışma, Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 24(1), 1-10. Aşkar, P., & Umay, A. (2001). İlköğretim matematik öğretmenliği öğrencilerinin bilgisayarla ilgili öz-yeterlik algısı. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 21, 1-8. Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy:The exercice of control. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company. Bıkmaz, F. (2004). "Sınıf öğretmenlerinin fen öğretiminde öz-yeterlilik inancı ölçeğinin geçerlik ve güvenirlik çalışması” Milli Eğitim Dergisi, sayı 161. Bong, M. (1999). Personal factors affecting the generality of academic self-efficacy judgement: gender, ethnicity and relative Expertise. The Journal of Experimantal Education, 67(4), 315-331. Busch, T.(1995). Gender differences in self-efficacy and academic performance among students of business administration. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 39(4), 311-318. Fırat Durdukoca, Ş. (2010). Sınıf öğretmeni adaylarının akademik öz-yeterlik algılarının çeşitli değişkenler açısından incelenmesi. Abant İzzet Baysal Üniversitesi Dergisi, 10(1), 69-77. Karasar, N. (1995). Bilimsel Araştırma Yöntemi. Ankara: 3A Araştırma Eğitim Danışmanlık Ltd. Korkut, E., & Akkoyunlu, B.(2008). Yabancı dil öğretmen adaylarının bilgi ve bilgisayar okuryazarlık öz-yeterlikleri, Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 34,178-188. Morgil, İ., Seçken, N., & Yücel, A.S. (2004). Kimya öğretmen adaylarının öz-yeterlik inançlarının bazı değişkenler açısından incelenmesi. Balıkesir Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü Dergisi, 6(1), 62-72. Tuncer, M. & Tanaş, R. (2011). Eğitim fakültesi öğrencilerinin bilgisayar öz-yeterlik algılarının değerlendirilmesi. Adıyaman Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 6, 222-232. Üstüner, M., Demirtaş, H.,Cömert, M., & Özer, N. (2009). Ortaöğretim öğretmenlerinin öz-yeterlik algıları. Mehmet Akif Ersoy Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi,17,1-16. Yabaş, D. & Altun, S.(2009). Farklılaştırılmış öğretim tasarımının öğrencilerin özyeterlik algıları, bilişüstü becerileri ve akademik başarılarına etkisinin incelenmesi. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 37, 201-214. Yılmaz, M., Köseoğlu, P., Gerçek, C. & Soran, H., (2004). Öğretmen öz-yeterlilik inancı. Bilim ve Aklın Aydınlığında Eğitim Dergisi, 58. Zimmerman, B.J. (1995). Self-efficacy and educational development. A.Bandura (Ed.), Self-efficacy in changing societies (46-68). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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