Self-efficacy of native and non-native English speaker teachers

Abstract

One of the much under-researched areas in English language education in Vietnam and elsewhere is teacher self-efficacy. Whereas in developed educational systems, it is widely acknowledged that self-efficacious teachers effectively create learning environments conducive to development of cognitive skills. Teachers with a low sense of instructional efficacy favor a punishment orientation that relies heavily on negative sanctions to get students to study. The study used questionnaire survey to collect information of native and non-native English speaker teachers. Results show that both groups have high beliefs on their capabilities to maintain positive classroom climates. The two groups also report low level of endorsement on dealing with special needs students. The native speaker group, on the other hand, reported high level on monitoring and feedback and classroom management. Implications for even better professional development for NNESTs are then provided.