The Predictive Relationship between Self-Efficacy Levels of English Teachers and Language Teaching Methods *

Article History: Purpose: Considering that self-efficacies of teachers can affect their educational and instructional applications, it is probable that self-efficacies of English teachers can predict the language teaching methods they employ. In this sense, the purpose of the study was to investigate the correlation between self-efficacies of English teachers and language teaching methods they employ. Method: This study used quantitative correlational design. 367 English language teachers participated in the study. ELT Context-Specific Teacher Efficacy Instrument and Language Teaching Methods Scale were used in order to collect the data. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's Product-Moment Correlation, and path analysis were used to analyse the data. Received: 07 Aug. 2018 Received in revised form: 08 Oct. 2018 Accepted: 17 Nov. 2018 DOI: 10.14689/ejer.2018.78.9


Introduction
There is no doubt that globalization has increased the need for communication among countries as it has led countries to affiliate with each other in terms of their political, cultural, and economic interests.As a result of this need for communication among nations, learning a foreign language has become a necessity to be able to follow and catch up with the developments in the world without a need for a translation.Demircan (2012) expresses that learning a foreign language is a necessity, so people should learn a common language that people from different cultures and nations have been using to establish international relations.In other words, knowing a foreign language has an essential role to ensure improvement in personal development and professional career for people (Mirici, 2001).Today, English is much more than a language on its own.It has been the lingua-franca of science, art, entertainment, business, and politics; and the means for international communication, travel and higher education (McKay, 2003).As a result, learning and teaching English has become even more important, and this has led to a need for qualified English teaching through qualified English teachers (Sekerci, 2011).
There are some factors that are related to failure in foreign language teaching such as teacher efficacy (Aktas, 2005), motivation, (Cheng & Dornye, 2007;Lasagabaster, 2011) classroom learning environment (Atbas, 2004;Mutlu, 2017; S. L. Wei & Elias, 2011), and teacher interpersonal behaviour (Maulana, Opdenakker, den Brok, & Bosker, 2011;M. Wei, den Brok, & Zhou, 2009;M. Wei & Onsawad, 2007).As expressed by Aktas (2005), teacher efficacy is one of the factors that has much to do with foreign language teaching.Teachers' having the competencies that their jobs require them to have, and being able to perform them are closely related to not only having a proper education but also their beliefs about being able to fulfil the requirements and responsibilities of being a teacher; and this is called self-efficacy (Koca, 2012).Bandura (2006) claims that self-efficacy is the foundation of human agency by stating that if people do not believe they can perform what they desire, they will not have enough incentive to take the necessary actions nor resist in the face of difficulties.Creating an appropriate classroom environment for a qualified education depends closely on the skills and self-efficacy of a teacher (Bandura, 1993).
Self-efficacy is future-oriented and affects our future decisions and actions (Hoy & Spero, 2005).The optimistic or pessimistic beliefs that people have towards a behaviour shape that behaviour beforehand in accordance with their self-efficacies, and also people with high levels of self-efficacy put in more effort and put up more resistance compared to the ones who have low levels of self-efficacy (Scholz, Dona, Sud, & Schwarzer, 2002).Bandura (1977) lays emphasis on how self-efficacy plays a determining role on our behaviours by stating that self-efficacy has an effect on the selection of the activities and the effort we put in to perform that activity.
In 2017, the Ministry of National Education of Turkey (MoNE) made some changes in the English Language curriculum of all grades in order to meet the changing needs of society, and improve the quality of English language education.The latest curriculum lays emphasis on communicative competence, cooperation, interaction, group work, and learner autonomy; and asks teachers to employ task-based and project-based activities with authentic assessment.Although the curriculum adopts an eclectic approach rather than a single method (MoNE, 2017), by emphasizing the communicative competency it points to communication-oriented teaching.Considering that negative beliefs teachers have about their efficacies have the potential to affect their teaching practices, it is essential to investigate self-efficacies of teachers, and take necessary measures so as to avoid this negative effect.Therefore, in English teaching context, investigating English teachers' efficacies, language teaching methods they employ, and the relationship between them are quite important to improve quality of teaching English, and reach the desired level in teaching English.
Unlike some other research in the literature (Chacon, 2005;Eslami & Fatahi, 2008;Sekerci, 2011) which investigated the correlation between self-efficacies of English teachers and the language teaching methods they employed, path analysis was used to verify the theoretical model in this study.Another point that makes this study different from most of the other studies about self-efficacies of teachers is that a context-specific self-efficacy instrument was used in this study rather than a general teaching efficacy instrument.In this regard, this study aimed to investigate the correlation between self-efficacies of English teachers and the language teaching methods they employed.The research questions are as follows: 1. What is the level of English teachers' English Language Teaching (ELT) Context-Specific Self-Efficacies?
2. Which language teaching methods do English teachers employ?
3. What is the correlation between English teachers' ELT Context-Specific Self-Efficacies and the language teaching methods they employ?
4. How well do ELT Context-Specific Self-Efficacies of English teachers predict the language teaching methods they employ?

Research Design
This study investigated the correlation between self-efficacies of English teachers and language teaching methods they employed by using structural equation modelling (SEM).The theoretical model asserted that self-efficacy of English teachers could be a predictor of the language teaching methods they employed.In this sense, in order to investigate the first and the second research questions a survey design was used.To investigate the third and the fourth research questions, a correlational design was used.The rationale behind the idea that self-efficacy of English teachers could be a significant predictor of the language teaching methods they employed was that there were some studies in the literature (Chacon, 2005;Eslami & Fatahi, 2008;Sekerci, 2011) which found statistically significant correlation between these variables.In this study, self-efficacies of English teachers were taken as the independent variable while language teaching methods they employed were regarded as the dependent variable.

Research Participants
The participants for this study included 367 English teachers who were working at different grades of ministerial schools in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 academic years, and volunteered to participate in the study.Schumacker and Lomax (2010) state that the research sample ranges between 250-500 in most of the SEM studies.In this sense, minimum of 250 participants were aimed, and 367 participants participated in the study through convenient sampling.

Research Instruments and Procedures
ELT Context-Specific Teacher Efficacy Instrument (ELTEI), developed by Akbari and Tavassoli (2014) and adapted to Turkish by Kaygisiz (2018), was used to determine the ELT context-specific self-efficacies of the teachers.Turkish version of ELTEI consists of 25 items with six subscales, which are "Efficacy in Skill and Proficiency Adjustment", "Efficacy in Teaching and Correcting Language Components", "Efficacy in Classroom Management and Remedial Action", "Efficacy in Classroom Assessment and Materials Selection", "Efficacy in Age Adjustment", and "Core Efficacy".Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1= very little to 5= very much).
Language Teaching Method Scale, developed by Eslami and Fatahi (2008) and adapted to Turkish by Sekerci (2011), was used to determine which language teaching methods English teachers were employing.Language Teaching Method Scale consists of 10 items with two subscales, which are "Grammar Oriented Teaching Methods", and "Communication Oriented Teaching Methods".Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1= never to 5= always).
The factor validity of Language Teaching Method Scale was tested using firstorder CFA, which indicated a good model fit (χ2/sd=3.89,RMR= .06,GFI= .94,AGFI=.90,CFI= .90, and RMSEA= .08).Internal reliability for Communication Oriented Teaching Method subscale was .80,whereas it was .61 for Grammar Oriented Teaching Method subscale.The latter showed a rather low reliability; however, Cortina (1993) states that the number of items has a profound effect on Cronbach Alpha.Considering that this subscale has five items and was used in some other research in the literature (Eslami & Fatahi, 2008;Sekerci, 2011), this alpha value is acceptable.

Data Analysis
The data were analysed through SPSS 22 and SPSS AMOS 24 statistical software.First, all assumptions for the normality of the data were verified through checking skewness and kurtosis coefficients, and making a Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test for the data from ELTEI (p> .05)and Language Teaching Methods Scale (p> .05).In order to determine the self-efficacy levels of English teachers and the language teaching methods they employed; descriptive statistics were used.Pearson's Product-Moment Correlation was used to investigate the correlation between the variables of the study.Following that, a path analysis was used to test the theoretical model of the study which asserted that self-efficacy of English teachers could be a predictor of the language teaching methods they employed.

Descriptive Statistics Related to the First and the Second Research Questions
Table 1 presents the results of the descriptive analysis of the self-efficacy levels of English teachers.It was seen that the self-efficacy levels of English teachers were high (X= 3,44).The participants reported the highest self-efficacy in Efficacy in Classroom Assessment and Materials Selection (X= 3,64) while reporting the lowest self-efficacy in Efficacy in Age Adjustment (X= 3,28).

N=367
Table 2 presents the results of descriptive analysis of the language teaching methods English teachers employ.It indicated that while English teachers employed Communication Oriented Teaching Methods "usually" (X= 3,63), they employed Grammar Oriented Teaching Methods "sometimes" (X= 3,00).3 that there were statistically significant negative correlation between Grammar Oriented Teaching Methods and self-efficacy subscales except for core efficacy.On the other hand, there were statistically significant positive correlation between Communication Oriented Teaching Methods and self-efficacy subscales except for efficacy in age adjustment.These findings revealed that self-efficacies of English teachers correlated with language teaching methods they employed.The more efficacious an English teacher was, the more he/she would be inclined to employ Communication Oriented Teaching Methods in his/her classroom.Efficacy in Skill and Proficiency Adjustment was the subscale that had the highest correlation with Grammar Oriented Teaching Methods (r=-.48,p< .01)and Communication Oriented Teaching Methods (r= .45,p< .01).

Model Estimation Related to the Fourth Research Question
To verify the theoretical model of the research, a path analysis was run using maximum likelihood estimations regarding self-efficacy as the independent and language teaching method as the dependent variable.Figure 1 shows the proposed model of the study.
To check the model fit, goodness of fit indices were examined, and they indicated that it was a good model fit revealing that the data fit well to the model.Table 4 shows the fit indices of the model.Figure 2 shows the results of the path analysis.As it was displayed on Figure 2, the self-efficacy of English teachers was a statistically significant predictor of the language teaching methods they employed.

Figure 2. The Path Analysis between Self-Efficacy and Language Teaching Methods
To explore the extent to which self-efficacy explained language teaching methods, the regression weights were checked.Table 5 shows the regression matrix of the model.

Table 5
The Regression Matrix .00.00 Table 5 showed that while self-efficacy explained 43% of the variance in employing Communication Oriented Teaching Methods, it explained 40% of the variance in employing Grammar Oriented Teaching Methods.This revealed that self-efficacy predicted employing Communication Oriented Teaching Methods positively (β= .66,p< .00).On the other hand, Grammar Oriented Teaching Methods were predicted negatively by self-efficacy (β= -.63, p< .00).

Discussion, Conclusion, and Recommendations
In this study, ELT-Context specific self-efficacy levels of English teachers, and the language teaching methods they employ were examined.The results of the study were discussed in the following section.
The participants of this study reported high self-efficacy levels indicating that the English teachers felt efficacious in English language teaching, which conforms to the findings of similar research in the literature (Akbari & Tavassoli, 2014;Chacon, 2005;Crook, 2016;Eslami & Fatahi, 2008;Ghasemboland & Hashim, 2013).However, the subscales that English teachers reported the highest self-efficacy might have differed in those studies as a result of cultural differences (Phan & Locke, 2016).While English teachers in Iran reported the highest self-efficacy in classroom management and remedial actions (Akbari & Tavassoli, 2014), English teachers in Venezuela reported the highest self-efficacy in classroom management (Lee, 2009).Vieluf, Kunter, and Vijver (2013) express that teacher self-efficacy levels are not the same in both individual and country levels by emphasising that cultural norms and values have an effect on self-efficacy.According to Lin, Gorrell, and Taylor (2002), the different selfefficacy levels of teachers from different countries may result from the fact that they have different expectations in teaching as well.
As for the language teaching methods, English teachers reported employing Communication Oriented Teaching Methods more than Grammar Oriented Teaching Methods.However, there are some studies in the literature (Chacon, 2005;Li, 1998;Okmen & Kilic, 2016) which reveal that teachers employ Grammar Oriented Teaching Methods more.Although employing communicative language teaching is encouraged, teachers sometimes employ Grammar Oriented Teaching, the reason of which needs further research.
The present study demonstrated a positive correlation between self-efficacies of English teachers and Communication Oriented Teaching Methods, which is parallel with the findings of some other research in the literature (Chacon, 2005;Eslami & Fatahi, 2008;Sekerci, 2011).However, those studies do not demonstrate a significant correlation between the self-efficacies of English teachers and Grammar Oriented Teaching Methods while this study does.The reason for this difference may result from the fact that in this study a context-specific self-efficacy instrument was used, unlike other research which used the teacher efficacy instrument by Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2001), which does not cover the context-specific nature of teaching English (Akbari & Tavassoli, 2014).The fact that ELTEI includes the context-specific nature of teaching English and correlates significantly with employing both Grammar and Communication Oriented Teaching Methods indicate that this instrument reflects the context-specific nature of ELT setting better.In accordance with this finding, it would not be wrong to claim that using context-specific instruments would be more appropriate while determining teacher self-efficacies.
The findings of path analysis showed that self-efficacy of English teachers was a significant predictor of the language teaching methods they employed.The more efficacious an English teacher felt, the more he/she would be inclined to employ Communication Oriented Teaching Methods, or the less efficacious an English teacher felt, the more he/she would be inclined to employ Grammar Oriented Teaching Methods.This finding conforms to the findings of other research, which demonstrate that self-efficacy is an important factor for teaching methods and techniques.Appleton (2006) states that science teachers with low levels of self-efficacy employ teachercentred activities more.Considering that Grammar Oriented Teaching activities are teacher-centred, it supports the finding of this study well.While teachers with low levels of self-efficacy teach less content, and deal with low-risk activities (Davis, Petish, & Smithey, 2006), teachers with high levels of self-efficacy can create rich content teaching environments (Dembo, 1985).Ghaith and Yaghi (1997) also state that teachers with high levels of self-efficacy consider innovative approaches as "congruent", "easy to implement" and "important."Similarly, Sangueza (2010) states that science teachers with high levels of self-efficacy employ recommended teaching strategies in their classes.Considering that the current English curriculum in Turkey recommends teachers to employ Communication Oriented Teaching Methods, Sangueza's (2010) findings correspond well with the findings of this study.In another research which investigates the effect of self-efficacy on the foreign language teaching methods and techniques, Tavakoli, Pahlavannezhad, and Ghonsooly (2017) state that some teachers employ traditional methods like reading and translation; however, when their selfefficacy levels increase, they adopt contemporary teaching methods more easily, and manage their classrooms more effectively.Considering the context of this study, those contemporary teaching methods are surely Communication Oriented Teaching Methods rather than Grammar Oriented Teaching Methods.As it is also seen in the findings of the similar research in the literature, self-efficacies of teachers have an effect on the strategies, methods, and techniques they employ; the classroom atmosphere they create; and the teaching content they use.This is the case for teaching not only mathematics and science but also for English.
The fact that English curriculum asks the teachers to employ Communication Oriented Teaching Methods and the self-efficacy of English teachers is a significant predictor of them indicate that self-efficacies of English teachers are important factors that should be paid attention in curriculum development and teacher training.Cobanoglu (2011) states that self-efficacy level of preschool teachers is a significant predictor of their implementing the curriculum effectively.Similarly, Fettahlioglu, Ozturk, Yucel, Kartal, and Ekici (2012) state that science teachers with low levels of self-efficacy think that the objectives in the curriculum are not understood, performance assignments do not serve the purpose, and curriculum is not manageable for an academic year; on the other hand, science teachers with high levels of selfefficacy think that the curriculum is optimal for students' level, and objectives are clear.These findings show us that the self-efficacy affects how a teacher values the curriculum as well.
This research contributes to the field in that it has found self-efficacy level as a significant predictor of the language teaching methods English teachers employ.This finding indicates that self-efficacy levels of English teachers should be taken into consideration while developing the English language curriculum or updating it as it was found in previous research that self-efficacies of teachers had an effect on both their practices in their classrooms and their beliefs and opinions about the curriculum.Considering that mastery experience is the most important source of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977), both pre-service and in-service training should be paid attention so that teachers can have successful experiences, and be readier for the reported difficulties in teaching English.It should always be kept in mind that successful experiences people have will raise their self-efficacy; on the other hand, repeated failures will lower it causing pre-service and in-service teachers to believe that they do not have the necessary qualifications to perform that action (Bandura, 1977).Therefore, special attention should be paid for the novice teachers as leaving them alone in the first years of their career might result in unsuccessful experiences causing them to have low levels of self-efficacy, which in turn will affect their beliefs and teaching practices.Bandura (1995) notes that there are some factors which can affect how efficacy-relevant experiences are interpreted such as one's preconception of his/her capabilities, perceived difficulty of the task, amount of effort put in, physical and emotional state at the time of performing the task, amount of received external aid, and situational circumstances.While planning school experience lessons, all these factors should be taken into consideration so that student teachers can have successful experiences and have high levels of teaching self-efficacy.The schools that student teachers will attend, and the classes they will observe and teach should carefully be planned and organised.This research, however, does not measure the other predictors of language teaching methods English teachers employ.As it was found that there was a statistically significant relationship between the self-efficacies of English teachers and the language teaching methods they employed in this quantitative research, a qualitative research can provide us more insight about the nature of this relationship.A research focusing on what other factors can predict language teaching methods English teachers employ can also provide significant data for the studies which aim to make teachers employ Communication Oriented Teaching Methods more in their classrooms.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Theoretical Model of the Study

Table 1
Descriptive Statistics for ELT-Context Specific Self-Efficacy Levels of English Teachers

Table 2
Descriptive Statistics for Language Teaching Methods English Teachers Employ N=367Correlation Analyses Related to Third Research Question

Table 3 displays
Pearson's Product-Moment Correlation results conducted to determine whether there was a correlation between the variables of the study or not.It was clear on Table

Table 3
Pearson Correlation between Self-Efficacy and Language Teaching Methods Gr.Or.Met.=Grammar Oriented Teaching Methods, Com.Or.Met.=Communication  Oriented Teaching Methods, Cl.Man=Efficacy in Classroom Management and Remedial Action, Asses-Mat= Efficacy in Classroom Assessment and Materials Selection, Lang.Skills= Efficacy in Skill and Proficiency Adjustment, Lang.Comp= Efficacy in Teaching and Correcting Language Components, Age Adj= Efficacy in Age Adjustment

Table 4
Fit Indices of the Model