EFL Teachers’ Perceptions, Perceived Self-Efficacy Beliefs, and Practices of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) in Teaching Reading Skills: Selected Secondary Schools in Hawassa City in Focus
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Date
2024-11
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The endeavor to improve teacher quality and instructional quality seems to be a pressing concern in modern education. It is also becoming crucial, particularly in the realm of foreign or second language learners’ pedagogy. The present study was sought to investigate secondary school English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ perceptions, perceived self-efficacy beliefs (SEB), and practices of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in the teaching of reading skills to grade nine students across selected secondary schools in Hawassa City administration. To achieve this objective, the researcher employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods design. In the pursuit of gathering the relevant data, the researcher employed questionnaires, a semi-structured interview, and classroom observation protocols (CROP). The teachers’ self-report questionnaire was meant for collecting pertinent data regarding English teachers’ perceptions of PCK in teaching reading. It was adapted from the standard questionnaires prepared by Janga et al. (2009). Orignally the questionnaire consisted of 28 items, but the present researcher modified and increased the number to 42 items comprising six distinct components so as to make it more comprehensive and appealing. Hence, these questionnaires were administered to (N = 70) EFL teachers to extract information about their perception of PCK. These items in teachers’ questionnaires were tested for reliability and found to be interanally consistent in that they yielded Cronbach’s alpha (α = 0.952). In its other continuum, to generate teachers’ perceived self-efficacy beliefs (SEB), a self-constructed or researcher-made questionnaire containing 21 items was also administered to those same number (N = 70) of teachers. The internal consistency reliability for items of SEB in teachers’ questionnaires was Cronbach’s alpha (α = 0.852). Data was also collected using a researcher-made questionnaire containing 34 items from secondary school students (N = 258) in order to capture their own perceptions regarding their teachers’ PCK performance. The items yielded Cronbach’s alpha (α = 0.948), indicating strong internal consistency and reliability. Moreover, an in-depth, semi-structured interview was conducted with (N = 10) EFL teachers from the six selected secondary schools in order to capture pertinent information about teachers’ perceptions, perceived self-efficacy beliefs, and practices of PCK under the umbrella of teaching reading skills. To get insight into the implementation of pedagogical content knowledge in the context of teaching reading, the researcher employed classroom observation protocol (CROP) as a tool, which includes a structured observation checklist that consisted of 55 items, and un-structured video recorded teaching episode, and field notes during the first academic semester in 2023. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS version 26, while qualitative data were subjected to thematic analysis using the grounded theory approach. The grand mean value of teachers’ perception of PCK was (M = 3.91; SD = 0.559), indicating the presence of a moderately high positive perception of PCK in teaching reading skills. Similarly, the grand mean value of teachers’ perceived self-efficacy beliefs was (M = 3.74; SD = 0.533). This indicates that these teachers were somewhat efficacious. The results from the teacher interviews corroborated the questionnaire findings. The findings from students’ perception of their teachers’ PCK (SPTPCK) revealed that students had a moderately positive perception of their teachers’ PCK (M = 3.32; SD = 0.926). The Spearman’s Rank-order Correlation Coefficient between students’ perceptions and teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs was (r = -0.027; p=0.826) suggesting a weak, negative relationship between these variables. The results from the Classroom observation protocols (CROP), both from the observation checklist and video recordings together with field notes, revealed that EFL teachers lack the required level of competence in pedagogical content
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knowledge implementation. The relationship between EFL teachers’ perception of PCK and classroom observation result was Spearman’s Rho correlation coefficient (r = -0.306; p = 0.360). This value indicates inverse proportionality and the existence of weak relationships between the two variables. This finding seems to be consistent with what was gained through video recorded data. Therefore, to mitigate these shortcomings and to bridge the existing noticeable gap, tailor-made continuous professional development training schemes should be organized by concerned inistitutions. Such type of trainings should be given to EFL teachers, as they might play pivotal roles in enhancing teacher quality, instructional quality, and again gains in students’ reading skills achievement.
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EFL teachers’ perceptions, students’ perceptions