Session Information
99 ERC SES 07 E, Language and Education
Paper Session
Contribution
The present quantitative study is a secondary data analysis of lower secondary foreign language school teachers’ professional development from 30 OECD countries who participated in the 2018 Teaching and Learning International Study (TALIS). The analysis focuses on the OECD countries as they subscribe to shared educational aims of promoting policies that will improve the economic and social wellbeing of people in the member states (OECD, 2013).
The data analysis aims to cross-nationally estimate foreign language (FL) teachers’ self-efficacy and how it is related to continuous professional development (CPD) across the countries as perceived by the participants of the survey in terms of its content, form, impact on teaching practices and to review what types of CPD are crucial for teachers in order to promote, sustain teachers' CPD and keep them up to date as “teachers are called upon not only to acquire new knowledge and skills but also to develop them continuously” (Teachers’ professional development 2010:12).
This study uses three research questions to investigate the correlation between the CPD and teacher self-efficacy. These research questions include the following:
1.How much of the variation in FL teachers’ self-efficacy can be explained by differences between school and teachers’ characteristics across the OECD countries?
2. Which teacher and school characteristics explain variations in lower secondary school teachers of FL self-efficacy?
3. What types of professional development activities explain variations in teacher self-efficacy?
The secondary data analysis not only endeavors to extend evidence about relationship between CPD and FL teachers’ self-efficacy but also presents compelling support for the cross-national investigation as only a small number of studies cross nationally examine these issues in the field of foreign language teaching. A greater understanding of the relation between different areas included into CPD and teacher efficacy beliefs may be valuable to those who develop, deliver, and evaluate foreign language teachers’ preparation, accreditation, and certification programs.
In order to provide a solid conceptual foundation for this secondary analysis, different research on the relationship between CPD and FL teachers’ self-efficacy have been reviewed. A range of previous research has highlighted the contribution of CPD towards teacher self-efficacy. According to Darling-Hammond et.al (2017), professional development aims to expand teacher knowledge and might impact teachers' practices, self-efficacy and, as a result, student learning outcomes. Although self-efficacy has been extensively researched, comparatively few studies have directly examined self-efficacy within the field of language learning and teaching. In investigating teacher efficacy in this area, research examined teacher self-efficacy in a number of cross-cultural contexts exploring the correlation between FL teachers’ self-efficacy and their CPD, demographic variables (qualification, years of experience, gender) and second language proficiency (Atay, 2007; Chacon, 2005; Göker, 2006; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2007; Swanson, 2010a; Tsui & Kennedy, 2009; Choi & Lee, 2016, Thompson, 2020).
The conceptual framework for this secondary data analysis draws on Thomson’s (2020) conceptual framework of the Japanese FL teacher efficacy beliefs. Modified from Borg’s conceptual framework of teacher cognition for FL teacher self-efficacy beliefs (Borg. 2006) and integrated triadic reciprocal causation from Bandura’s social cognitive theory (1977, 1986), Thomson’s (2020) conceptual framework is a solid foundation for the current research as it enables the researcher to explore the correlations between personal factors (self-beliefs), environmental factors (teaching context) and behaviours (teaching activities). The present research also adopts Bray & Thomas’s (1995) model of multilevel analysis which enables the researcher to compare the relations between constructs engaging different dimensions. Two dimensions have been employed in the current research: personal factors of teachers (individual level) and environmental factors (school level and country level).
Method
The present study employed the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2018 dataset, obtained from the official website of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (https://www.oecd.org/education/talis/talis-2018-data.htm), as the primary data source. Five international teacher datasets were merged to create a comprehensive dataset, which underwent a rigorous data cleaning process to eliminate any duplicate entries. Subsequently, the raw dataset was filtered to focus solely on teachers working at the lower secondary school level of foreign languages, adhering to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) level 2 criteria (ISCED, 2011). The TALIS 2018 self-administered online teacher-questionnaire (main data collection mode) and paper questionnaire (substitute or fallback mode) were used to provide the study with the perspectives of FL teachers on their teaching and learning environments, as well as contextual information on schools from the OECD countries (OECD, 2018, p.9). Therefore, only the dataset which focuses on areas included in the professional development of lower secondary school teachers of FL and their self-efficacy was employed (questions 19-28 from the Teacher Questionnaire, respectively). In order to perform high-quality data analysis and ensure the best results, a computer software package that supports the management of quantitative data: International Business Machines Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS, version 26), the International Database (IDB) Analyzer and EXCEL software were used. Thus, data were entered by the researcher into Microsoft Excel and then analyzed using SPSS and IDB Analyzer. To investigate the correlation between foreign language teachers’ self-efficacy and their engagement in CPD, a series of rigorous statistical analyses were conducted. Initially, frequency analyses were performed to examine the distribution patterns of the key variables of interest within the dataset. Subsequently, regression analysis was employed to assess the associations between several independent variables and teacher self-efficacy across multiple countries. The independent variables examined in this analysis included gender, age, years of experience as a teacher, the proportion of students from socioeconomically disadvantaged homes, the number of hours dedicated to CPD and types of professional development activities. By scrutinizing the influence of these independent variables, the study aimed to ascertain their significance in shaping teacher self-efficacy, the dependent variable of interest. In essence, the statistical analyses conducted in this study aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the interplay between teacher self-efficacy and various factors, including teacher and school characteristics, as well as professional development activities.
Expected Outcomes
Given the comparative nature of the study, the analysis displayed deviations in distribution of gender, age, educational levels and years of experience among FL teachers as well as their variance with teacher self-efficacy in the countries surveyed. The most important finding pertains to the evidence that FL teacher self-efficacy operates differently in dissimilar cultures and contexts. Based on the importance of culture and context in shaping FL teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, the study supports the recommendation that both, culture and context, should be considered when planning teacher professional development programs. The study revealed that gender (female) correlated positively with teacher self-efficacy across most OECD countries. The most positive association of age and self-efficacy was in the group of teachers aged 30-49. Similar to other research, this study demonstrated that years of experience is related positively to self-efficacy in most OECD countries with exception of Columbia, Korea, Latvia, Mexico and Turkey. The types of professional development undertaken by FL teachers are much the same in terms of attendance at such CPD activities as “Knowledge and understanding of subject fields”, “Pedagogical competences and teaching subject fields” across the OECD countries. This finding is consistent with the previous research that content knowledge was highly valued by the great majority of foreign language teachers (Swanson, 2013; Hoang & Wyatt, 2021). Although the findings of the study are based on self-reported data, which implies certain built-in limitations, they do provide a foundation for further research about teacher efficacy in the FL setting. More qualitative studies are needed to elaborate on the links between FL teachers’ self-efficacy and their professional development activities. Together with further research this study will provide useful information to education policymakers and practitioners in governments, universities, and schools concerning how to increase FL teachers’ self-efficacy and therefore, improve classroom practice.
References
Atay, D. (2007). Beginning teacher efficacy and the practicum in an EFL context. Teacher Development, 11(2), 203-219. doi:10.1080/13664530701414720 Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215. Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Borg, S. (2006). Teacher cognition and language education: Research and practice. London: Continuum. Bray, M., Thomas, R., Moray (1995). Levels of Comparison in Educational Studies: Different Insights from Different Literatures and the Value of Multilevel Analyses. Harvard Educational Review, 65 (3): 472–491. Chacón, C. T. (2005). Teachers’ perceived efficacy among English as a foreign language teacher in middle schools in Venezuela. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21, 257-272. Choi, E., & Lee, J. (2016). Investigating the relationship of target language proficiency and self-efficacy among nonnative EFL teachers. System, 58, 49-63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2016.02.010 Darling-Hammond, L., Hyler M., & Gardner M. (2017). Effective Teacher Professional Development, Learning Policy Institute, Palo Alto, CA Göker, S. D. (2006). Impact of peer coaching on self-efficacy and instructional skills in TEFL teacher education. System, 34, 239-254 Hoang T., Wyatt., M. (2021). Exploring the self-efficacy beliefs of Vietnamese pre-service teachers of English as a foreign language. System, 96, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2020.102422 International Standard Classification of Education ISCED 2011, (2012). UNESCO Institute for statistics OECD. (2018). Teacher Questionnaire. Main Survey Version. https://www.oecd.org/education/talis/talis2018questionnaires.htm OECD. (2019). TALIS 2018 Technical Report. Paris: OECD Skaalvik, E. M., & Skaalvik, S. (2007). Dimensions of teacher self-efficacy and relations with strain factors, perceived collective teacher efficacy, and teacher burnout. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(3), 611-625. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.99.3.611 Smith, E. (2008). Using secondary data in educational and social research. Open University Press Swanson, P. B. (2010a). Efficacy and language teacher attrition: A case for mentorship beyond the classroom. Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Review, 66, 48-72. Teachers’ professional development (2010). Europe in international comparison. An analysis of teachers’ professional development based on the OECD’s Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Union Thompson, G. (2020). Exploring language teacher efficacy in Japan. London: Multilingual Matters. Tsui, K. T., & Kennedy, K. J. (2009). Evaluating the Chinese version of the teacher sense of efficacy scale (C-TSE): Translation adequacy and factor structure. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 18(2), 245-260. Wyatt, M. 2018a. ‘Language Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs: An Introduction.’ In Language Teacher Psychology, edited by S. Mercer and A. Kostoulas. Bristol: Multilingual Matters
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.