Culturally Responsive Teacher Self-efficacy and Teacher Practices for ELL Instruction in a Social Studies Classroom

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to explore two types of teacher self-efficacy and how they relate to teachers’ beliefs regarding classroom instruction for English Language Learners (ELLs) within the context of an American history professional development program. With guidance from theoretical and empirical research related to social cognitive theory, a measure – the Self-efficacy for Student-oriented Teaching (SE-SOT) Scale– was developed. The SE-SOT, in conjunction with a measure of Culturally Responsive Teacher Self-efficacy (CRTSE) and a measure of ELL best practices, was administered to in-service teachers in the mid-Atlantic region. The purpose of this investigation was threefold. Firstly, it sought to explore the relationship between self-efficacy for student-oriented teaching and culturally responsive teacher self-efficacy. Secondly, it sought to examine the relationships and predictive nature of these two measures with that of a third measure – the Best Practices for ELLs in Social Studies (BPELS) Scale– the development of which was guided by research and literature that described appropriate classroom instruction for ELLs. Thirdly, it sought to explore the factorial nature of these three measures and investigate how the resulting dimensionality of the CRTSE Scale relates to that of previous research. This study revealed several important findings: (1) teacher’s self-efficacy for student-oriented teaching and culturally responsive teacher-self efficacy are moderately correlated, (2) both measures of teacher self-efficacy are correlated to teachers’ projected use of best practices in the classroom, (3) culturally responsive teacher self-efficacy was revealed as a mediator between teachers’ self-efficacy for student-oriented teaching and best practices for ELLs in social studies, and (4) three factors appear to be key when measuring best practices for ELLs in social studies. The limitations and implications of these findings are discussed.