EFL Teachers’ Resilience Prediction Based on Academic Self-Efficacy, Problem Solving Skills, and Metacognitive Skills

Abstract: Teachers’ resilience is their perception that they are able to adapt to the difficult teaching situations, deal with obstacles, and maintain their dedication to the profession. It has been conceived as one of the most important predictors of practice teaching in ELT research, which can be influenced by various factors. This study aimed, firstly, to examine the relationship between EFL teachers’ resilience and their academic self-efficacy, problem solving skills, and metacognitive skills, and secondly, to explore the prediction of EFL teachers’ resilience by these three variables. The study was conducted on a sample of 100 EFL teachers (50 males and 50 females) teaching English at three private language institutes of Tehran, Iran. The whole population of the study included 140 among which 100 were selected through Krejcie and Morgan's (1970) values and by convenience sampling. Four questionnaires namely “Resilience Scale (RS)”, “Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (ASES)”, “Problem Solving Skills Scale (PSSS)”, and “Metacognitive Skills Scale (MSS)”, were administered to EFL teachers simultaneously. The data collected were analyzed through Pearson product-moment correlation, regression, and one-way analysis of covariance (one-way ANCOVA). The results showed a positive and strong significant relationship between male and female EFL teachers’ resilience and their problem solving skills [r = .94; p = .00] and metacognitive skills [r = .93; p = .00], as well as a positive and slight significant correlation between EFL teachers’ resilience and their academic self-efficacy [r = .29; p = .00]. However, no significant difference was found between male and female EFL teachers’ resilience affected by academic self-efficacy, problem solving skills, and metacognitive skills [p = 1.00]. Consequently, all the three variables of the study could significantly predict EFL teachers’ resilience [F (3.96) = 569.49; p = .00]. The findings imply that EFL teachers’ resilience should be further researched in an EFL context, particularly through experimental studies in which the development of resilience can be investigated by an intervention that can be a teacher education program.