The Relationship Among Elementary School English teachers' Teacher Efficacy, Job-related Burnout and Teaching Behaviors

• Main Authors: Hsin-mei Huang, 黃心媺
• Other Authors: Yu-jung Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/41667163252737771670

碩士 === 立德大學 === 應用英語研究所 === 98 === Ever since the Ministry of Education announced English as a required subject in elementary schools and started to provide formal English lessons in the third grade in 2005 (TESEC, 2008), elementary school teachers have more tasks than ever before, not to mention the elementary school English teachers who are encountering the various challenges and conflicts at work. The purpose of this study aimed at exploring the relationship among elementary school English teachers’ teacher efficacy, job-related burnout and teaching behaviors. In addition, the current level of elementary school English teachers’ teacher efficacy and job-related burnout, and the effects of elementary school English teachers’ demographic factors such as years of teaching, school sizes and school locations on their teacher efficacy and job-related burnout were also examined. The study adopted a survey research approach. The participants were elementary school English teachers from 10 cities in the northern, central, southern and eastern parts of Taiwan. The instrument used in this study was “Elementary School English teachers’ Working Experiences Questionnaire,” and the response rate was 87.8%. The data was analyzed by means of statistical software SPSS. In summary, the results of descriptive analysis indicated a high level of elementary school English teachers’ teacher efficacy and a low level of job-related burnout. The findings of One-way ANOVA showed that there was no significant difference of elementary school English teachers’ teacher efficacy, job-related burnout and teaching behaviors in terms of their years of teaching, school sizes and school locations. The results of Pearson-product moment correlations revealed that a moderate, negative but significant relationship existed between teacher efficacy and job-related burnout; a high, positive and significant relationship between teacher efficacy and teaching behaviors; a moderate, negative and significant relationship between teachers’ job-related burnout and teaching behaviors. Therefore, the higher the level of elementary school English teachers’ teacher efficacy, the lower the level of their job-related burnout. Furthermore, the finding suggested that the higher the level of elementary school English teachers’ teacher efficacy, the more they would make efforts to improve the quality of teaching and have more expectations to students. In addition, if elementary school English teachers experience higher level of job-related burnout, they are more likely to make less effort to improve the quality of teaching, have less expectation to students, and scarcely use the first and second language flexibly in classes. As a result, it is recommended that the authority, the schools and elementary school English teachers can take some measures to promote teacher efficacy and lower job-related burnout.