Investigating the relationship of target language proficiency and self-efficacy among nonnative EFL teachers

Abstract Target language proficiency and pedagogical capabilities are considered to be the two main teacher attributes necessary for second/foreign language teaching. Drawing on this notion, two hypotheses were tested: (a) minimum threshold levels of language proficiency and pedagogical capabilities exist and (b) teachers' language proficiency and pedagogical capabilities are interdependent. A total of 167 Korean secondary school English as a foreign language teachers self-reported their English proficiency, teaching efficacy, and frequency of English use in their English instruction. A sequential multiple regression with interaction was employed to investigate the relationship between these two teacher attributes and their contributions to English use as an outcome behavior. The results supported both hypotheses. Only teachers above the minimum threshold levels of both attributes showed positive associations among the two competences and English use. Above the minimum levels, language proficiency and self-efficacy were interdependent, magnifying each other's impact on the teaching behavior. The results pointed to the beneficial potential of continuous development of linguistic and pedagogical competences even after teachers possess the minimum levels. Given that previous research has assumed nonnative teachers as one homogenous group and explored language proficiency and self-efficacy separately, this study addresses important theoretical, methodological, and practical gaps.

[1]  F. Faez.  ARE YOU A NATIVE SPEAKER OF ENGLISH? MOVING BEYOND A SIMPLISTIC DICHOTOMY , 2011 .

[2]  Enric Llurda,et al.  Non-native English-speaking English language teachers: History and research , 2008, Language Teaching.

[3]  D. Nunan.  The Impact of English as a Global Language on Educational Policies and Practices in the Asia-Pacific Region. , 2003 .

[4]  George Braine,et al.  Nonnative Speaker English Teachers: Research, Pedagogy, and Professional Growth , 2010 .

[5]  Five Years of Teaching English Through English , 2008 .

[6]  Mark Wyatt,et al.  An English teacher’s developing self-efficacy beliefs in using groupwork , 2010 .

[7]  D. A. Kenny,et al.  The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[8]  Phil Hiver.  The interplay of possible language teacher selves in professional development choices , 2013 .

[9]  Dilin Liu,et al.  South Korean High School English Teachers' Code Switching: Questions and Challenges in the Drive for Maximal Use of English in Teaching , 2004 .

[10]  Cynthia P. Fraga-cañadas.  Beyond the Classroom: Maintaining and Improving Teachers' Language Proficiency , 2010 .

[11]  L. Moussu.  Influence of Teacher-Contact Time and Other Variables on ESL Students' Attitudes Towards Native- and Nonnative-English-Speaking Teachers , 2010 .

[12]  J. Trent.  The Discursive Positioning of Teachers: Native-Speaking English Teachers and Educational Discourse in Hong Kong , 2012 .

[13]  E. Nemtchinova.  Host Teachers' Evaluations of Nonnative‐English‐Speaking Teacher Trainees—A Perspective from the Classroom , 2005 .

[14]  Manka M. Varghese,et al.  Theorizing Language Teacher Identity: Three Perspectives and Beyond , 2005 .

[15]  Amy B. Dellinger,et al.  Measuring Teachers' Self-Efficacy Beliefs: Development and Use of the TEBS-Self. , 2008 .

[16]  F. Faez,et al.  TESOL Teacher Education: Novice Teachers' Perceptions of Their Preparedness and Efficacy in the Classroom , 2012 .

[17]  Péter Medgyes.  The Non-Native Teacher , 1994 .

[18]  Afsaneh Ghanizadeh,et al.  The Relationship between Iranian EFL Teachers' Emotional Intelligence and Their Self-Efficacy in Language Institutes. , 2009 .

[19]  E. Auerbach.  Reexamining English Only in the ESL Classroom , 1993 .

[20]  V Árva,et al.  Native and non-native teachers in the classroom , 2000 .

[21]  W. Littlewood,et al.  First language and target language in the foreign language classroom , 2009, Language Teaching.

[22]  Zohreh R. Eslami,et al.  Teachers' Sense of Self-Efficacy, English Proficiency, and Instructional Strategies: A Study of Nonnative EFL Teachers in Iran , 2008 .

[23]  S. West,et al.  Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions. , 1994 .

[24]  Paula Golombek,et al.  Becoming "Black Lambs" Not "Parrots": A Poststructuralist Orientation to Intelligibility and Identity , 2005 .

[25]  Jackie F. K. Lee.  ESL Student Teachers' Perceptions of a Short-Term Overseas Immersion Programme. , 2009 .

[26]  Suresh Canagarajah,et al.  Reclaiming the Local in Language Policy and Practice , 2005 .

[27]  Jun Liu,et al.  Nonnative-English-Speaking Professionals in TESOL. , 1999 .

[28]  Claudio Barbaranelli,et al.  TEACHERS' SELF-EFFICACY BELIEFS AS DETERMINANTS OF JOB SATISFACTION AND STUDENTS' ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: A STUDY AT THE SCHOOL LEVEL , 2006 .

[29]  Sung-Yeon Kim.  Five Years of Teaching English Through English: Responses from Teachers and Prospects for Learners , 2008 .

[30]  Frank M. Pajares,et al.  Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Academic Settings , 1996 .

[31]  Andrew F. Hayes,et al.  Computational procedures for probing interactions in OLS and logistic regression: SPSS and SAS implementations , 2009, Behavior research methods.

[32]  Cevdet Yılmaz,et al.  TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS OF SELF-EFFICACY, ENGLISH PROFICIENCY, AND INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES , 2011 .

[33]  Y. Butler.  What Level of English Proficiency Do Elementary School Teachers Need to Attain to Teach EFL? Case Studies from Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. , 2004 .

[34]  V. Cook,et al.  Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages , Inc . ( TESOL ) Going beyond the Native Speaker in Language Teaching , 2007 .

[35]  Oryang Kwon,et al.  Korea's English Education Policy Changes in the 1990s , 2000 .

[36]  Tasha Bleistein,et al.  Novice ESOL Teachers' Perceptions of Social Support Networks , 2012 .

[37]  Lindy Woodrow.  Academic Success of International Postgraduate Education Students and the Role of English Proficiency , 2006 .

[38]  T. Nishino,et al.  Modeling Teacher Beliefs and Practices in Context: A Multimethods Approach , 2012 .

[39]  C. Rubie-Davies,et al.  Teacher beliefs, teacher characteristics, and school contextual factors: what are the relationships? , 2012, The British journal of educational psychology.

[40]  Joan Welkowitz,et al.  Introductory Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences , 1971 .

[41]  Sarah J. Shin.  Preparing non‐native English‐speaking ESL teachers , 2008 .

[42]  G. Park.  “I Am Never Afraid of Being Recognized as an NNES”: One Teacher's Journey in Claiming and Embracing Her Nonnative-Speaker Identity , 2012 .

[43]  Enric Llurda.  Non-native language teachers : perceptions, challenges, and contributions to the profession , 2005 .

[44]  A. Bandura.  GUIDE FOR CONSTRUCTING SELF-EFFICACY SCALES , 2006 .

[45]  S. Borg.  Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what language teachers think, know, believe, and do , 2003, Language Teaching.

[46]  C. Goh,et al.  Teaching oral English in higher education: challenges to EFL teachers , 2011 .

[47]  Eun juKim.  Status Quo of CLT-based English Curricular Reform - A Teacher’s Voice from the Classroom , 2008 .

[48]  A. Bandura.  Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control , 1997, Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy.

[49]  Megan Tschannen-Moran,et al.  Teacher efficacy: capturing an elusive construct , 2001 .

[50]  Peter B. Swanson.  Second/Foreign Language Teacher Efficacy and its Relationship to Professional Attrition , 2012 .

[51]  Gail L. Sunderman,et al.  Measuring Academic Proficiency Under the No Child Left Behind Act: Implications for Educational Equity , 2005 .

[52]  C. T. Chacón.  Teachers’ perceived efficacy among English as a foreign language teachers in middle schools in Venezuela , 2005 .

[53]  Michael H. Long,et al.  The handbook of second language acquisition , 2003 .