A Comparative Study On Inservice And Preservice Teacher Efficacy

Since the mid 1990s, "teacher research" has been advocated by many western researchers (TESOL Journal, 1994 /4). This trend demonstrates the fact that the role teachers play in implementing teaching plans and in researching on teaching processes is gaining an increasing recognition. Then it is necessary for us to strengthen the researches into teachers' belief. Teacher efficacy, one of the crucial parts of teacher belief, is "the extent to which the teacher believes he or she has the capacity to affect student performance" (Bergman, McLaughlin, Bass, Pauly & Zellman, 1977). It is one of the major factors that influence teaching behaviors, and also one of the few construct about teachers that is associated with student performance. Gibson and Dembo (1984) point out: "One would predict that teachers who believe student learning can be influenced by effective teaching, and who also have confidence in their own teaching abilities, should persist longer, provide a greater academic focus on the classroom, and exhibit different types of feedback than teachers who have lower expectations concerning their ability to influence student learning".In terms of the development of teacher efficacy in teacher education and inservice training programs, "it is important to instill a sense of efficacy in those who are being prepared to be teachers to ensure that they have the confidence to attempt to apply their knowledge when the appropriate time comes" (Gorrell and Capron, 1990). However, that a few studies concerning the comparison of preservice and inservice teachers on the variable of teacher efficacy have been conducted and that most of the former studies are conducted within American context (Pigge & Marso, 1993; Jack, 1996; etc.) seem to justify that more direct comparison of inservice and preservice teacher efficacy are needed in China.The current study aims to explore the level of inservice and preservice teacher efficacy in China, with the specific purpose to provide a clear understanding of the current situation of Chinese EFL teachers' efficacy belief. It also aims to shed some light on teacher training and development. All the subjects involved in the study are English teachers or English-majored students in Southwest University and Chongqing Normal University, namely, 31 Chinese inservice teachers and 465 Chinese preservice teachers. These two sample schools were chosen for the reason that these two universities have formed their special characteristics in teacher education, where most of students would be teachers in the future. They were asked to respond the questionnaire of Teacher Efficacy Scale. This questionnaire, based on Ho and Hau's (2004) and Chacon's (2005), is composed of nineteen statements concerning five sub-dimensions of teacher efficacy -Belief for External Factors Subscale (External), Personal Instruction Efficacy Subscale (Instruction), Personal Discipline Efficacy Subscale (Discipline), Personal Engagement Efficacy Subscale (Engagement) and Personal Guidance Efficacy Subscale (Guidance). Questionnaire is administered to measure efficacy level of all the participants. Meanwhile, fourteen participants were asked to receive the interview, which was purposefully designed for the particular objectives of this study, attempting to reflect the factors facilitating or hindering the formation of proper teacher efficacy.The findings are mainly summarized into four aspects: (1) inservice teachers' sense of efficacy belief is at a relatively high level, and they judge their ability in instructing and disciplining students as higher than that in guiding and engaging students in study. However, the low score for External indicates that inservice teachers seem to be unsure of their ability in overcoming the obstacles brought from students' family and the society; (2) preservice teachers' overall efficacy and belief for external factors are at a low level, while efficacy for instruction, discipline, guidance and engagement is at a middle level. Furthermore, the data demonstrate that the preservice teachers appear to show somewhat greater confidence in giving guidance and engaging students in activities than in instructing and disciplining students; (3) in the group of prospective teachers, grade and teaching experience are found to be negatively correlated with all the measurements of teacher efficacy, whereas, no correlation exists between gender and the measurements of teacher efficacy; (4) the scores for preservice teacher efficacy are lower than those of inservice teacher in all these aspects under examination except the belief for external determinant factors.The findings of the study provide us with some useful insights into enhancing preservice teacher efficacy in Chinese context: (1) establish social support by raising teachers' payment and forming the public atmosphere of respecting teachers and valuing education; (2) create support within schools or universities, in forms of providing abundant teaching resources and facilities for prospective teachers to utilize and practice, and in forms of establishing a friendly, active and harmonious atmosphere among peers, administrators and the community in schools or universities; (3) use appropriate teacher training model in prospective teachers' daily study on the basis of "practical knowledge" such as exploring practical problem, forming systematical understandings of problem, establishing belief, reinforcing problem-solving strategies and practical knowledge; (4) adopt assessment system for prospective teachers to provide positive and effective feedbacks from three aspects: language proficiency test; psychological elements evaluation such as teacher efficacy, motivation and teacher belief; evaluation while internship, including assessment of teaching effect, teaching content, teaching principle and so on.Limitations and suggestions for the future research are also discussed in the study. For example, due to the practical difficulties involved in the task of investigating the current level of efficacy belief of the teachers in other places in China, the subjects were chosen only in the universities in Chongqing district with the characteristics of teacher training. In addition, multiple techniques for data collection should be used to get more accurate results. Consequently, the results obtained in the present study leave much to be verified and improved. It is hoped that overall and more accurate results would be obtained in the future research.