AN EXPLORATION OF PRE-SERVICE EFL TEACHERS’ SELF-EFFICACY DEVELOPMENT USING THE EPOSTL AS A SELF-ASSESSMENT TOOL

Abstract

Language teacher self-efficacy beliefs are of paramount importance in the field of foreign language teacher education (LTE) to sustain a productive foreign language education. Self-reflection plays a key role in the development of teacher self-efficacy beliefs. One way of promoting self-reflection is the adoption of the EPOSTL in foreign language teacher education programs. Such an adoption may increase pre-service EFL teachers’ beliefs of self-efficacy. However, using the EPOSTL and the development of teacher self-efficacy beliefs were not handled together in the existing body of literature. In this vein, the purpose of this study is to explore the potential relationship between the use of the EPOSTL as a self-assessment tool and pre-service EFL teachers’ development of self-efficacy beliefs. The study adopts an interventionist experimental design with a control group using mix-method based on quantitative and qualitative data. The participants are 58 senior pre-service EFL teachers studying at a state university in Turkey. In the scope of the study, experimental and control groups were subjected to a pretest and posttest measuring their self-efficacy. In addition to writing reflective reports and attending semi-structured interviews, the experimental group assessed themselves three times by using the EPOSTL. The findings revealed that using the EPOSTL as a self-assessment tool may have potential in promoting pre-service EFL teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs. It is suggested that the quality of LTE programs can be ameliorated with the integration of the EPOSTL since student teachers can be immersed in more reflection-oriented programs through which they can improve their autonomy and professionalism.