Teacher Efficacy for Teaching in Multilingual School Contexts

• In Event: Poster Group 2
  In Poster Session: Teacher Efficacy for Teaching in Multilingual School Contexts

Proposal

This study investigates the self-efficacy of novice teachers for teaching in linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms. This knowledge can be used to promote quality culturally and linguistically inclusive pedagogy in North America’s diverse schools. English learners (ELs) struggle with the academic demands of content subjects and often need 5-7 years to catch up with their English-speaking peers. Teacher efficacy (Bandura, 1997), or teachers’ confidence in their ability to perform specific classroom tasks, is a way of understanding their pedagogical capabilities. However, there is a gap in knowing how efficacious teachers are to support ELs, what factors influence levels of self-efficacy for teaching ELs, and if teacher education programs adequately support teachers to develop skills and knowledge for teaching in multilingual classrooms. The study addresses this notable gap by measuring teacher efficacy to teach in multilingual classrooms, exploring levels of efficacy of novice teachers for teaching in elementary and secondary classrooms. A new teacher self-efficacy scale for teaching in multilingual school contexts was developed based on literature pertaining to best practices in supporting ELs in K-12 classrooms. After multiple rounds of review, data was gathered from 120 novice teachers in Ontario, a prime context for this study due to its high foreign-born population. Factor analysis determined numerous efficacy factors and multiple regression analysis revealed variables that contributed to high and low levels of teacher self-efficacy for teaching in diverse multilingual classrooms. Findings are discussed in relation to previous literature and recommendations for future research are highlighted.

Authors

• Farahnaz Faez, Western Univesity

• Yasaman Rafat, The University of Western Ontario