الفهرس 
Background of the StudyOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Summary
Teachers play the basic and most significant role in executing programs and fulfilling school objectives according to modern age requirements and the information revolution with all new expectations and roles of teachers and teaching as a profession. The teacher is the main pillar for the success of the educational process, which includes the curriculum, textbooks, evaluation, and successful administration.
According to Mahler (2018), supporting students to learn is the superordinate aim of school education.. Apart from individual factors (e.g students’ cognitive abilities), the teacher is one of the most important determinants of students’ performance. This raises questions regarding the characteristics of an effective teacher. The teachers’ motivational orientations are an important characteristic of effective teachers and their relation to students’ performance. Motivational orientations are related to the ”psychological dynamics of behaviour, the maintenance of intentions, and the monitoring and regulation of occupational behaviour”. The focus is on both, cognitive and affective domains of teachers’ motivational orientations, by considering teachers’ self-efficacy as well as their enthusiasm.
Self-efficacy of a teacher is defined as the teacher’s commitment to improve students’ learning. Accordingly, human behavior is activated by the interaction of two types of expectations: self-efficacy and expected learning outcomes. Furthermore, self-efficacy refers to individuals’ judgments about their abilities to initiate specific tasks successfully in a specific context, while expected learning outcomes refer to the consequences of this performance.
A teacher’s self-efficacy is related to a teacher’s effort and commitment in facing challenges, his/her own beliefs about his/her academic performance and professional commitment as well as open mindedness towards modern methods of teaching in addition to his/ her positive attitudes towards using positive teacher-centered strategies when dealing with students’ problems. Martin, A. J., & Marsh, H. W. (2006).
Eells, R. J. (2011); Richardson, G. E. (2011) assured that teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs affected students’ performances in several ways. Teachers with high self-efficacy beliefs tended to apply educational inventions and to use current methods for classroom management. In addition, they used more effective teaching methods, encouraged students’ autonomy and bear responsibility of teaching students with special educational needs. Furthermore, they solved classroom problems and maintain students focus on tasks.
According to the aforementioned, an efficient teacher is: well-organized, eager to try new ideas to fulfill students’ needs, less inclined towards criticizing students’ errors, more positive towards teaching, hesitant when referring students to special education services, and eager to apply positive classroom management strategies.
Context of the Problem
According to the literature review, the researcher noticed that none of the related studies dealt with teachers’ self-efficacy during elementary stage, especially for teachers of the English language.
As a teacher of English in Egypt and a specialist of monitoring and evaluating educational accreditation, Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Qatar, the researcher noticed that the language performance of elementary school students in English was not up to the level. This may be due to the low level of self-efficacy of their teachers. This motivated the researcher to investigate the case of Al-Nasr Experimental Language School in Tanta, Egypt to identify the English language teachers’ self-efficacy, to develop a scale for measurement and to design a recommended training program based on self-efficacy to develop teachers’ professional skills in addition to identifying its effects on the English language performance level of elementary stage students.
The Pilot Study
In order to prove the existence of the problem, the researcher conducted unstructured interviews with (10) teachers of the sample to verify their level of understanding and awareness of the term self-efficacy and its effects on their students’ language performance. Additionally, he – with the help of (5) teachers- conducted unstructured interviews with (100) students of the sample to know their level in the English oral language performance where they were asked to describe and talk about some pictures and everyday life situations.
Results showed the following:
• There was lack of understanding among EFL elementary school teachers concerning the term “self-efficacy”, its components and its effects on their students’ level of language performance.
• Most of the teachers were not motivated to teach English.
• Most of the teachers lacked the appropriate ability to organize their teaching. However, they were all preparing students for mere testing.
• Students’ poor language performance in expressing themselves in everyday life situations was observed accordingly.
The researcher also revised the general aims for teaching English as a Foreign Language in the Primary Governmental Language Schools and he found among them: To improve the students’ ability to express themselves in various ways; orally and in writing. To communicate with others in various ways. To share in a constructive conversation. To be able to understand what is going around them in English. To share in what happens around them and be able to communicate in different ways whether face to face or in writing and to be interested in learning literature.
Statement of the Problem
The problem of the study was summarized in the lack of understanding of self-efficacy among EFL teachers in elementary schools. thus the researcher decided to design a training strategy based on self-efficacy to improve teachers’ professional skills and to identify its effects on the language performance level of their students.
Study Questions
The current study tried to answer the following main question:
How can a program based on self-efficacy develop the experimental school English language teachers, professional skills and their students’ language performance?
To answer this main question, the researcher tried to answer the following sub-questions:
1. What are the main components of self-efficacy for English language teachers?
2. What are the characteristics of a training program based on self-efficacy to develop the targeted English language teachers’ professional skills?
3. What is the existing language performance level of targeted English language teachers’ students?
4. How far can a program based on self-efficacy develop the targeted English language teachers’ professional skills?
5. What is the effect of developing the English language teachers’ performance skills on developing the language performance of their students?
Study Design
The researcher used a descriptive (case study) to explore the major components of self-efficacy for English teachers for elementary school students and to design a clear strategy for improving their professional skills. In addition, the researcher adopted the experimental approach to identify the effects of the self-efficacy training program designed for participants.
Purpose of the study
The current research aimed to:
• Identify the major components of self-efficacy for English teachers for elementary stage students through case-study.
• Design and validate a scale for measuring self-efficacy for English teachers for elementary school students.
• Use the developed scale as a base for designing a clear strategy for improving professional skills of English teachers for elementary school students.
• Verify the effect of the self-Efficacy training program on developing EFL primary stage teachers.
Delimitations of the Study
This study is delimited to the following:
• Designing a Self-Efficacy training program for developing the experimental language schools EFL teachers’ professional skills.
• Al-Nasr experimental school – Tanta – Egypt.
• EFL teachers at Al-Nasr Experimental school – Tanta – Egypt.
• Grades 5 and 6 Students at Al-Nasr experimental school – Tanta – Egypt.
Instruments of the study:
To fulfill the objectives of this research, the researcher designed the following:
• The self-efficacy questions for EFL elementary schools teachers.
• The self-efficacy scale for EFL elementary schools teachers.
• Students’ language performance interview.
• Students’ language performance observation sheet.
Importance of the study
The current study is of major importance as it tried to develop a scale to measure self-efficacy of English teachers for elementary stage students. In addition, this study tried to fill the gap in research concerning the relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and students’ language performance. Furthermore, the study developed a strategy based on teachers’ self-efficacy to improve teachers’ professional skills so that they would be more able to apply their professional skills during real work in class.
Pedagogical Implications of the study
The study is significant in identifying the EFL teachers’ self-efficacy components and its effects on EFL teachers’ professional skills and the language performance level of their students as follows:
For EFL Teachers: They are expected to get benefit and develop their teaching abilities based on their self-efficacy and their students’ language performance.
Primary school students: They are expected to benefit and develop their language performance and increase their motivation for learning as a result of their teachers’ professional skills improvement.
For policy makers: They are expected to put the results of the study into consideration when designing training activities for the teachers.
Results of the Study
The results of this study confirmed the effectiveness of the Self-Efficacy training program in providing the teachers with a solid background about self-efficacy, its dimensions and impact on improving their professional skills and how their students’ language performance level was positively affected as a result. Moreover, indicated that teachers should concentrate on communication rather than mere memorizing of vocabulary and grammatical rules. Besides the students use of the language without being under pressure resulted in minimizing their mental barriers and internal resistance and consequently enhancing their language performance level unconsciously.
Definition of Terms
Self-efficacy:
According to Anthony R. Artino (2012), Self-efficacy is a personal belief in one’s capability to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances. Often described as task-specific self-confidence, self-efficacy has been a key component in theories of motivation and learning in varied contexts .
The researchers defines it as the teacher’s commitment to improve student’ learning.
Performance Efficacy
Lunenburg, F. (2011) defined performance efficacy as the judgment of one’s capability in performing at a certain level or successfully executing certain attainments under given conditions.
The researcher agreed with Lunenburg, F. (2011) definition.
Emotional Efficacy
Bandura, A. (2006) defined emotional efficacy as an individual’s belief in his or her capability to understand and use emotional information..
The researcher adopted Di Giunta, et al., 2010 definition as a strong belief in one’s own capability to adequately respond to others’ feelings and needs, as well as to cope with interpersonal relationships.
Intellectual Efficacy
As there was no clear and direct definition of the term “ Intellectual Efficacy”, the researcher defined it as the teacher’s ability to use his cognitive repertoire and skills to create an educationally exciting learning environment which maximise students’ engagement.
Productive Efficacy
The researcher also defined it as the teacher’s ability to transfere the impact of his inputs (knowledge, skills, performance and emotions) on applying effective teaching strategies that address students different styles and unleash their potentials towards learning.
Students’ Language Performance :
“It is the primary means through which each individual child will be enabled to structure, to evaluate, to describe and to control his/her experience. In addition, and most significantly, it is the primary mediator of culture, the way in which children locate themselves in the world, and define themselves with it and within it”. McGough, Shiel, (2012).
Professional Development:
(Definition of “professional development” from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary Cambridge University Press)
Training that is given to managers and people working in professions to increase their knowledge and skills.
The researcher defines it as the process of improving and increasing capabilities of staff through access to education and training opportunities in the workplace.