The Effects of Self-Efficacy on Iranian EFL Teachers’ competency in ELT

Teacher competency is defined as a knowledge, skill, ability, personal quality, experience or other characteristic that contributes to a teacher’s capacity to teach effectively. Despite the importance of teachers’ competency in teaching, few studies in Iranian EFL context have explored the relationship between self-efficacy and teachers’ competency. Accordingly, the present study attempted to investigate the effects of self-efficacy on a group of Iranian high school EFL teachers’ competency by using one-sample t-test, confirmatory factor analysis and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach. A total of 197 high school EFL teachers teaching English in Hormozgan province (namely, in Bandar Abbas and Minab cities) participated in the study. A teacher competency test and a self-efficacy beliefs scale were used to collect the necessary data. The results of data analyses indicated that that there was positive relationship between self-efficacy and EFL teachers’ competency. Likewise, instructional strategy, as the subscale of self-efficacy, could best predict EFL teachers’ competency. As for the implications of the study, it can be suggested that the results of the study can be used as a framework in improving EFL teacher education policy and designing and implementing of teacher-training programs.