Abstract:

The construct of teacher efficacy has been explored by a number of researchers in recent years. Teachers’ efficacy beliefs are regarded as an important criterion in increasing the productivity and motivation during the teaching and the learning process and in defining the general framework of the requirements of the teaching profession. Consequently, teacher education programs have great responsibility for shaping the self-efficacy beliefs of pre-service teachers. The purpose of this study was to explore pre-service English teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs. Another purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of some variables (gender, perceived academic achievement, grade level, department preference and the attitude of the faculty as perceived by the pre-service teachers) upon self-efficacy of pre-service English teachers. Data in this study were collected from a total number of 353 pre-service English teachers (263 girls, 90 boys) enrolled in teacher education programs of the two selected universities in Turkey. Teacher self-efficacy scale (Kan, 2007) and information sheet which was developed by the researcher were utilized in the study. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis H tests were used to data regarding the sample. Data analysis indicated that pre-service English teachers generally expressed positive efficacy beliefs regarding English language teaching profession. At the same time, results showed that pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy differentiated according to perceived academic achievement and grade level.

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