The Role of Self-Efficacy Instruction in EFL Teachers’ Professional Development: A Mixed-Methods Study

The aim of the present mixed-methods study is to examine the role of self-efficacy (SE) instruction in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ professional development (PD). To do so, 30 EFL teachers and 150 of their students in different high schools in Zanjan, Iran were selected as the participants of the study. The convenience (availability) sampling procedure was used to select the participants. The students were asked to fill out the teachers’ PD survey, and the questionnaire of SE was filled out by the teachers as the pre-survey. Then, the teachers received in-service training for SE with a specified syllabus. At the end of the training period, which lasted 5 sessions in a 1.5-month course, the students completed the teachers’ PD survey, and the teachers filled out the SE questionnaire again as the post-survey. This study applied an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design for the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. As according to the explanatory sequential design, quantitative data needs to be further explained and supported by qualitative data, semi-structured individual interviews were also held with 30 EFL teachers concerning their ideas toward the effects of SE instruction on their PD. To analyze the results of the quantitative phase, a paired-samples t-test was employed. Then, the qualitative data was analyzed through content analysis technique. Afterward, as the design of the study was a mixed-methods one, the qualitative and quantitative results were integrated. The findings of the study revealed that the EFL teachers’ SE significantly affected their PD based on the results of the questionnaires and in-depth interviews. Moreover, the mixed-methods meta-inferences indicated that SE treatments had a significant effect on the Iranian EFL teachers’ PD and their SE beliefs regarding both qualitative and quantitative results of the study. The findings hold a number of theoretical and practical implications for teacher education in general and teacher PD in particular in the Iranian EFL context.