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Volume 4, Issue 1
  • ISSN 2589-2053
  • E-ISSN: 2589-207x
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Abstract

Abstract

Although the teaching of English to primary school children has been rapidly growing in many English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) countries around the world, a shortage of specialist teachers remains a persistent challenge. Consequently, non-specialists, such as homeroom teachers initially trained as generalists, are more often required to teach English. The present study, focusing on 304 non-specialist teachers serving in Japan’s public primary schools, was designed to explore their perceived self-efficacy for teaching English, and to examine the impact of teacher characteristics (i.e., their perceived English proficiency, English-teaching experience, and appraisals of collaboration with native English-speaking teachers) on their level of self-efficacy. A multiple regression analysis revealed that the collaboration variable was more influential than the proficiency variable and that there was no significant relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and teaching experience. Moreover, integration of these results and teachers’ comments in the open-ended question suggested that they functioned most effectively in student engagement by playing roles unique to non-specialist teachers and that they perceived team teaching to be more beneficial in classroom management than solo teaching. Implications for in-service training are discussed to support non-specialist teachers in primary English education.

© John Benjamins Publishing Company
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2021-12-03
2024-12-05

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Self-efficacy beliefs among non-specialist teachers in primary English education
Language Teaching for Young Learners 4, 118 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1075/ltyl.21010.mat
/content/journals/10.1075/ltyl.21010.mat
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): collaborative teaching; English proficiency; non-specialist teachers; primary English education; self-efficacy; teaching experience

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