The Effects Of College English Teacher Autonomy And Teacher Self-Efficacy On Differentiated Instruction

In recent years,with the popularization of higher education in China,the large English classroom size,significant individual differences and different levels of students' English proficiency are quite common in college English teaching.Therefore,the traditional teaching model can no longer meet the interests and needs of students.In order to improve the quality of college English teaching and promote students' individual development,In College English Curriculum Requirements issued by Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China in 2017,college English curriculum in universities should take into account the students' English learning levels,satisfying the personal needs of students.Moreover,college English teachers should consider students' individual differences and learning styles,and then adopt appropriate and effective teaching methods.Therefore,the implementation of differentiated instruction in college English classroom has become an inevitable trend in college English teaching reform.As important variables affecting teachers' implementation of differentiated instruction,teacher autonomy and teacher self-efficacy have attracted the wide attention of scholars both at home and abroad.Despite numerous studies on the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and differentiated instruction,as well as the relationship between teacher autonomy and teacher self-efficacy,effects of teacher autonomy and teacher self-efficacy on differentiated instruction remain largely unexplored,especially in the field of foreign language pedagogy in institutions of higher education.Therefore,this study attempts to divide teacher autonomy and teacher self-efficacy into three levels(high,moderate and low),and to explore the differences between teachers with different levels of autonomy and self-efficacy in implementing differentiated instruction.The research questions are as follows:(1)What is the general trend of teacher autonomy,teacher self-efficacy and differentiated instruction in college English teaching?(2)To what extent do gender,seniority and professional title affect college English teachers' perception and practice of differentiated instruction?(3)What are the effects of college English teacher autonomy and teacher self-efficacy on differentiated instruction?In order to answer the research questions,two hundred and four college English teachers from nine universities were selected as subjects to participate in the questionnaire survey.Afterwards,quantitative data obtained from the questionnaire were processed through descriptive analyses,independent samples t test,one-way ANOVA and two-way ANOVA using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences(SPSS)16.0.In addition,four participants were invited for interviews.The major results of the study are as follows:(1)College teachers' autonomy is at a moderate level,but the mean score for General Teaching Autonomy is higher than that of Curriculum Autonomy.Besides,the overall level of college English teachers' self-efficacy is generally high,with Efficacy for Instructional Strategies scoring the highest,Efficacy for Student Engagement the second and Efficacy for Classroom Management the lowest.Further,college English teachers' overall level of differentiated instruction is at a moderate level.However,Chinese college English teachers' practice of DI is higher than their perception of DI,but still lower than the practical level of teachers in foreign countries.(2)Gender and professional title have no significant influence on college English teachers' DI implementation.However,seniority is a significant factor affecting teachers' DI practice.Regarding the overall DI and its dimension Output=Input,the mean score of teachers with above 21 years of teaching experience is higher than that of teachers with 11 to 20 years of teaching experience.(3)College English teachers' autonomy is a significant factor influencing teachers' DI implementation.Except for Ethical Compass,teachers with different levels of autonomy differ significantly in overall DI and its dimensions,that is,highly autonomous teachers are more willing to try DI than moderately autonomous teachers,who are in turn more willing than lowly autonomous teachers.In addition,teacher self-efficacy has a significant effect on teachers' DI practice.Except for Mindset,teachers with different levels of self-efficacy differ significantly in overall DI and its dimensions.The higher the teachers' sense of efficacy is,the more they are inclined to implement DI.Finally,there is no statistically significant interaction between teacherautonomy and teacher self-efficacy on teachers' DI implementation.