University of Mohaghegh Ardabili Faculty of Literature and Humanities
Department of Foreign Languages
Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of M.A. in Teaching English as a Foreign Language
An Investigation of the Relationship between Teachers’ Self-efficacy and their Speaking
Anxiety
By:
Sahar Rezaei
Supervisor:
Vali Mohammadi, Ph.D.
Advisor:
Reza Abdi, Ph.D.
January 2020
Title and Author: An investigation of the relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and their speaking anxiety / Sahar Rezaei
Supervisor: Vali Mohammadi, Ph.D.
Graduation date: 1 Jan 2020 Number of pages: 108 Abstract
The principal aim of this study was to examine the possible relationship between Iranian EFL teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and their level of anxiety in speaking English. It also explored the predictor roles of age, self-efficacy, and teaching experience of those teachers on their speaking anxiety.
Furthermore, it examined the relationship between teachers’ gender and their level of self-efficacy and anxiety in speaking English. It also investigated whether there is any significant difference between teachers in schools and those in language institutes in terms of their level of self-efficacy and anxiety in speaking English. The participants of the research consisted of 109 male and female Iranian teachers teaching in different language institutes and public schools in three provinces of Iran. The Teacher Self-efficacy Scale developed by Bandura (1997) and the Public Speaking Anxiety Scale developed by Bartholomay and Houlihan (2016) were used in this research as the data collection instruments. At the end, 10 randomly selected teachers answered some interview questions. The SPSS software was used for data analysis. The findings revealed that as teachers’ self-efficacy increased, their speaking anxiety decreased, and self-efficacy was a predictor of speaking anxiety. Furthermore, the results revealed that teachers in language institutes had higher self-efficacy and lower speaking anxiety than teachers in schools.
Moreover, their level of self-efficacy and speaking anxiety did not change relying on their gender. Thus, teachers who thought they would do well on public English speaking experienced less anxiety than those who thought they would not be successful in speaking English.
Keywords: Self-efficacy, EFL Teachers, Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy, Public Speaking Anxiety
Chapter One Introduction 1.1. Introduction
The most necessary skill for a teacher for surviving in classroom environment is speaking. Establishing oneself as a knowledgeable and competent teacher and sharing one’s ideas and achievements can only be noticed by mastering the speaking skill.
Teachers can only share their knowledge and ideas with their students in the classroom by the speaking skill. In terms of being a successful teacher, not only their knowledge, but also their communication skills are essential.
Moreover, it seems that dealing with communicative activities has always been one of the major challenges which nonnative teachers of English confront and mastering speaking, which is a productive skill, has always been one of the most difficult aspects of teaching and learning English for the learners and teachers. In spite of all the efforts and spending years in learning and teaching English, some foreign language teachers have great difficulties in speaking. Some very talented people enter the teaching profession, but they think they are not able to do the job.
They may think they cannot speak English well and they may feel anxious to speak English in the classroom without preparation.
Only talent is not enough for carrying out a task. Beliefs in oneself in doing the job is an important concept that can affect their performance. According to Demir, Yurtsever, and Çimenli (2015), teachers with low self-efficacy have difficulties while communication and teaching .
Self-efficacy, a term mostly unknown to many nonnative English speakers and teachers and a well-known term in psychology, has proven to be considerably more important. The notion of self- efficacy was first introduced by Bandura (1997). According to Bandura (1997), self-efficacy is a person’s anticipation of their ability to carry out a particular task in a specific context. Self- efficacy is believed to play a key role in the learning process by helping or hindering a learner’s progress (Bandura, 1984).
“Individuals can experience feelings of more or less self-efficacy in different domains or situations” (Mercer, Ryan, & Williams, 2012, p. 49). Various definitions of teachers’ self-efficacy have been offered. Teachers’ self-efficacy as Dembo and Gibson (1985) define it, can be termed as “their beliefs about how they can affect the
learning of their students” (p. 173). As Dellinger, Bobbett, Olivier, and Ellett (2008) define it, it is “teacher’s individual beliefs in their capabilities to perform specific teaching tasks at a specified level of quality in a specific situation” (p.752).
Speaking stress and anxiety is an important element that influences the performance and accomplishments of teachers and students. According to Schwarzer and Hallum (2008), people with low self-efficacy have low self-confidence about their accomplishments and low self-efficacy causes anxiety, stress, and depression while speaking. Many studies (e.g., Karabiyik &
Korumaz, 2014; Khalili Sabet, Dehghannezhad, & Tahriri, 2018;
Moslemi & Habibi, 2019) have discussed the effects of teachers’
self-efficacy on their performance. Lots of studies have investigated how the presence of teachers’ self-efficacy can affect the quality of teaching.
1.2.Statement of the Problem
Although many studies (e.g., Aydilek Ciftci, Ozgun, &
Erden, 2011; Schwarzer & Hallum, 2008; Shohani, Azizifar, Gowhary, & Jamalinesari, 2015) investigated teachers’ self-efficacy from different perspectives, little was known about how teachers
thought about their own speaking and how self-efficacy affected their speaking and reduced their stress in their speaking. Many teachers had stress and difficulty in speaking while teaching (e.g.
Bozkirli, 2019; Hammad & Abu Ghali, 2015). Like other English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers, Iranian EFL teachers had always struggled with achieving native-like fluency and accomplishing competence in speaking. Therefore, the need was felt to probe teachers’ perceptions of their ability to succeed in doing communicative tasks and being able to speak English as well as their own language and having control over the situation without the feeling of stress and anxiety .
According to Soodmand Afshar and Hamzavi (2017), Iranian EFL teachers of schools and those of language institutes had different characteristics because of different teaching contexts.
Despite the fact that many studies (e.g. Borg, 2006; Chen & Lin, 2009; Rashidi, Eslami, Rakhshandehroo, & Izadpanah, 2014) had been done in order to discover the possible differences between EFL teachers working in schools and language institutes, no research was found on comparing the level of self-efficacy of Iranian EFL teachers teaching in schools and language institutes with regard to
speaking English well. Thus, the need was felt to find whether there was any difference between EFL teachers in language institutes in using speaking self-efficacy in comparison to teachers in schools since it was useful for teachers to be aware of the concept of self- efficacy and learn to use it while teaching.
1.3.Research Questions
The current study answered the following questions:
1. Is there any relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and their speaking anxiety level?
2. Do teachers’ age, self-efficacy, and years of teaching experience predict their speaking anxiety?
3. Is there any significant difference between teachers’ gender and their level of self-efficacy and anxiety in speaking English?
4. Is there any significant difference between teachers in schools and those in language institutes in terms of their level of self-efficacy and anxiety in speaking English?
1.4.Research Hypotheses
1. There is no relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and their speaking anxiety level.
2. Teachers’ age, self-efficacy, and years of teaching experience do not predict their speaking anxiety.
3. There is no significant difference between teachers’ gender and their level of self-efficacy and anxiety in speaking English.
4. There is no significant difference between teachers in schools and those in language institutes in terms of their level of self-efficacy and anxiety in speaking English.
1.5.Purpose of the Study
The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and their speaking anxiety level. In order to find out whether self-efficacy reduced stress and improved speaking ability of teachers, Iranian EFL teachers from different public schools and private institutes and their self-efficacy level and their perceptions of their speaking were studied.
Other studies on teachers’ self-efficacy conducted in Iran focused more on their job success and discipline differences (e.g., Karabiyik & Korumaz, 2014; Moradkhani, Raygan, & Moein,
2017). Thus, the need was felt to find where Iranian EFL teachers of public schools were standing in using self-efficacy in comparison to those in private institutes. In order to compare the level of speaking self-efficacy of EFL teachers in institutes and those in schools, Iranian EFL teachers from different language institutes and public schools were randomly chosen.
1.6.Significance of the Study
Like other EFL teachers, Iranian teachers have always struggled with achieving competence in speaking. As the literature on self-efficacy showed, the level of self-efficacy was one important factor that provoked stress and anxiety while speaking. Thus, it is necessary for teachers to be aware of the concept of self-efficacy and use their sense of efficacy. This research provided useful insights for EFL teachers. Using self-efficacy theory would affect the effectiveness of their classrooms and the learning of their students.
The results of this study, is also beneficial for students.
1.7.Definition of Key Terms
Self-efficacy. It is described as “beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments” (Bandura, 1997, p. 3). It has been recognized as a
construct within SLA from the beginning of the twenty-first century (Mills, 2014).
Teachers’ sense of efficacy. It is the teachers’ self-assurance in their ability to succeed in making progress with producing learning outcomes. Teacher self-efficacy is the extent to which the teacher believes he or she has the ability to affect student performance (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001). As Bandura (1997) explains, teachers who have high level of self- efficacy believe that they can impact their students’ learning .
Anxiety. Anxiety as a psychological construct included in second language acquisition can be defined as “a distinct complex of self-perceptions, feelings and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process” (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986, p. 128).
“Anxiety is defined as a state of anticipatory apprehension over possible deleterious happenings” (Bandura, 1997, p.137).
Public Speaking Anxiety (PSA). It is a kind of nervousness or embarrassment about communicating and speaking to other people. Public speaking anxiety in foreign language learning comes from either the lack of personal knowledge that one often experience
considerable difficulties in speaking to others or having an introverted personality that one does not like to speak to other people (Leary & Kowalski, 1995).
Public Speaking Anxiety Scale (PSAS). It is “an instrument measuring cognitions, behaviors, and physiological manifestations of speech anxiety” (Bartholomay & Houlihan, 2016, p.211).
1.8.Limitations and Delimitations of the Study
A limitation and shortcoming of this research is that some respondents allocated insufficient time for the interviews. Another limitation of this study is that lack of male participants for the interview limited the qualitative findings interpretation as more females participated.
One of the delimitations of the current research concerned the academic degree of teachers and their educational background.
Their self-efficacy beliefs and teaching anxiety conditions might have differed according to their academic degree, and also the subject areas they have studied in the university. This study did not estimate whether there was any significant difference between teachers’ academic degrees or majors of studies and their level of self-efficacy and anxiety in speaking English. This study did not
focus on different variables such as the number of students in the classroom, school types and districts that might have affected the self-efficacy and speaking anxiety level of teachers. Another delimitation of this study is that it did not focus on English teachers in the universities. It merely addressed English teachers of language institutes and schools. Thus, the findings of this study can only be generalizable to teachers of institutes and schools.
Chapter Two
Review of Literature
Chapter Two Review of Literature 2.1. Introduction
The major aim of this study was to explore the relationship between teachers’ level of self-efficacy and their speaking anxiety level. This chapter first presents the theoretical framework and a review of existing literature on self-efficacy and teacher self- efficacy. Then, it provides the theoretical framework and a review of recent literature on speaking anxiety.
2.2. Theoretical Background of Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy is an important concept in psychology.
Research in this field began with the work of Bandura (1997). Albert Bandura is a Canadian-American social cognitive psychologist. He is the originator of social cognitive theory (SCT) which is a basic idea of teachers’ self-efficacy .
2.2.1. Social cognitive theory
Bandura’s (1986, 2001) SCT is a theory of human behavior in the field of psychology. According to Diener, Oishi, and Park
(2014), Bandura is one of the most important psychologists of the modern era due to his work on SCT .
According to Bandura (1997), SCT states that human behavior is shaped and controlled by personal cognition in a social environment. Based on SCT, individuals learn through observation or reinforcement (Golombok & Fivush, 1994). SCT refers to the notion that human functioning is based on social conditions (Ryan &
Deci, 2002). It rejects the behaviorist notion which states that a stimulus causes a change in human behavior by positive and negative reinforcements and human behavior should be studied with no reference to the mind (Brown, 2014). However, in SCT (Bandura, 1986), learning is considered as acquisition through cognitive processes of information and the mechanism for changing thought into action works through a conception-matching process . 2.2.2. Self-efficacy theory
According to Bandura (1997), self-efficacy is an important construct of SCT. As Bandura (1997) explains, “the outcomes people anticipate depend largely on their judgments of how well they will be able to perform in given situations” (p. 21). People’s beliefs in themselves have great impacts on courses of action.
Self-efficacy is confused with two terms of self-confidence and self-esteem. Self-confidence as Jahanbakhsh, Jomehri, and Mujembari (2015) explain, depends on “how a person feels accepted and loved by others and how valuable the person deems herself or himself to be” (p. 2286). Self-esteem refers to an individual’s evaluation of their value as a person (Harter, 1999). All these related terms differ from each other.
Efficacy beliefs control human functioning through cognitive, motivational, affective, and selective processes. As Bandura (1997) states, “people who have a high sense of efficacy take a future time perspective in structuring their lives” (p. 116).
These cognitive effects take different sorts. They can have a good or bad effect on someone’s performance. “The capability for self- motivation and purposive action is rooted in cognitive activity. In cognitive motivation, people motivate themselves and guide their actions anticipatorily through the exercise of forethought” (Bandura, 1977, p. 122).
According to Bandura (1997), self-efficacy plays a key role in the self-control of affective states. Self-efficacy beliefs produce an effect on the nature of emotional experiences. “People are partly
the products of their environment. By selecting their environments, people can have a hand in what they become. Choices are influenced by beliefs of personal capabilities” (Bandura, 1997, p.160). This means that self-efficacy beliefs are pivotal to the types of environments people choose and the results they produce .
2.2.3. Teachers’ self-efficacy theory
“Teacher self-efficacy has at least a 25 year history of research” (Gavora, 2010, p. 19). It is a term that was developed in the context of Bandura’s (1986, 2001) SCT. The term self-efficacy from the teachers’ view is defined by Avanzi et al. (2013) as
“teachers’ beliefs to pursue and accomplish educational goals” (p.
70). Various definitions of teachers’ self-efficacy has been offered.
Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy, and Hoy (1998) define it as
“teacher's beliefs in his or her own capability to organize and execute courses of action required to successfully accomplishing a specific teaching task in a particular context” (p. 223).
“Teachers’ self-efficacy has been shown to be an important characteristic of the teacher and one strongly related to success in teaching” (Gavora, 2010, p. 17). In the context of education, research has indicated that teachers should have professional
ناونع و :روآدیدپ مان سررب
ی هطبار ی ب نی دمآراکدوخ ی اضر رحس/ملکت تراهم رد بارطضا و ملعم یی
داتسا نا امنهار : لو رتکد ی دمحم ی
داتسا :رواشم نا دبع اضر رتکد ی
خیرات :عافد 11 / 10 / 98
حفصدادعت :تا 108
.ص
نایاپ هرامش :همان
:هدیکچ ا نی عت فده اب شهوژپ نیی
ب هطبار نی دمآراکدوخ ی
لگنا نابز ناملعم یسی
ا یناری ااه نآ شرگن و
نچ مه .دش ماجنا ناشملکت تراهم رد بارطضا هب تبسن نی
م نازی دامآراکدوخ ی
ناابز نااملعم
لگنا یسی ا یناری تم هاب هابوت ااب نااشملکت ترااهم رد بارطضا هب تبسن اه نآ شرگن و یااهری
سنب
،تی و نس هقباس ردت سی سررب دروم ی
ا رب هولاع .تفرگ رارق
،نی ا نابز ناسردم ناری
رظن زا ار
تم ود ری دمآراکدوخ ی
اسررب تااسسوم و رادام رد مالکت بارطاضا و ی
تکراش .تاسا هدراک
ا ناگدننک نی
لماش هعلاطم 109
م لگنا نابز ملع یسی
صحت هب لو شم لی
تااسسوم و رادام رد
اه ناتسا نابز ی
گ ،نارهت نلای و بدرا لی ااه هماناشسرپ .دندوب ی
قم اای دامآراکدوخ ی
نااملعم
( قم و )TSES ای ( ملکت بارطضا نچ مه و )PSAS
نی اهرازبا هبحاصم ی
ا نی .داندوب هاعلاطم
اتن جی ا زا هدمآ تسد هب نی
هک داد ناشن شهوژپ کی
نعم هطبار ی ب راد نی دمآراکدوخ ی
و ناملعم
رواط هب تشاد دوبو ملکت رد اه نآ بارطضا ی
هاک دامآراکدوخ رداقچ راه ی
ب رتاشی ام ی ،داش
م شهاک ندرک تبحص بارطضا ی
تفای نچ مه . نی داد ناشن رضاح شهوژپ رد دوبوم تابردنم
م زا هک نای تم هس ری پ شی ب نی ردت هقباس ،نس سی
دمآراکدوخ و
،ی تم اهنت ری دمآراکدوخ ی
هاب
نعم تروص ی
راد ی اناوت یی پ شی ب ینی چ مه .تشاد ار ندرک تبحص بارطضا نین
اتن جی داد ناشن
توافت هک ی ب نی تم رد اقآو مناخ ناسردم زا هورگ ود یاهری
دمآراکدوخ ی
دوابو مالکت بارطضا و
ا رب هولاع .تشادن
،نی اتن جی قحت رد دوبوم قی
دمآراکدوخ تاسسوم ناسردم هک داد ناشن ی
و لااب
رتمک بارطضا ی
.دنتشاد رادم ناسردم هب تبسن
هژاو یاه لک یدی : دمآراکدوخ
،ی قم ای دمآراکدوخ ی
.ملکت بارطضا ،ناملعم
هدکشناد بدا تای ناسنا مولع و ی
یشزومآ هوگر ها نابز ی جراخ ی
اپ نای همان ارب ی رد تفای سانشراک هبرد ی
دشرا
هتشررد لگنا نابز شزومآ یسی
ارگ شی لگنا نابز شزومآ یسی
سررب ی هطبار ی
ب نی دمآراکدوخ ی
و ملعم
ملکت تراهم رد بارطضا
رگشهوژپ :
ییاضر رحس
امنهار داتسا :
یدمحم یلو رتکد
رواشم داتسا :
یدبع اضر رتکد
ید 1398
