A Study On The Effect Of Senior High School English Teachers’ Self-efficacy On Their Use Of Motivational Strategies In Class

Since the end of the 20 th century,second language motivation research has gradually shifted from the social psychology orientation to school education orientation.With the development of education-centered motivation research,researchers began to focus on how to motivate learners to learn,especially,more and more attention has been paid to teachers’ effect on motivating learners.English Curriculum Standard for Senior High Schools(2007)advocates that teachers should actively explore effective strategies of teaching and learning.In essence,the study of motivational strategies is to explore effective teaching strategies.Furthermore,studies have shown that the phenomenon of English learning demotivation has commonly appeared in second language learning and most students believe that teachers are the main factor causing their learning demotivation.Thus,senior high school English teachers’ use of motivational strategies is obviously a valuable topic that needs further exploration.Teachers’ self-efficacy is a key factor affecting teachers’ internal drive,which has been proved to affect teachers’ teaching behavior.Therefore,teachers’ self-efficacy has been investigated as a possible factor that influences teachers’ use of motivational strategies in the present study.This study was developed from the following aspects:(1)To investigate the current situation of senior high school English teachers’ self-efficacy and their use of motivational strategies.(2)To examine whether teachers’ use of motivational strategies vary significantly in terms of their teaching experience.(3)To explore the relationship between senior high school teachers’ self-efficacy and their use of motivational strategies.(4)To discuss the factors affecting teachers’ use of motivational strategies.A questionnaire investigation was conducted on 205 English teachers in Qiannan area by combining quantitative and qualitative research,among them,5 teachers were observed in classroom observation and 8 teachers participated in interview.The major findings are as follows:(1)Senior high school English teachers in Qiannan area have a high level of self-efficacy,especially efficacy for classroom management and efficacy for instructional strategies.Compared with these two dimensions,teachers’ efficacy for student engagement is at a relatively low level.As for teachers’ UMS,the frequency of teachers’ UMS is high at overall level but the use of individual strategies in each sub-scale is unbalanced.It indicates that teachers don’t have sufficient perception of the dynamic nature of teachers’ UMS.(2)No significant differences are found between novice teachers,skilled teachers,and senior teachers in using motivational strategies at the overall level.However,at categorical level,novice teachers is significantly positive in using the strategy “ILGO” than senior teachers.(3)Teachers’ SE at overall and sub-scales level are associated with teachers’ UMS.In addition,teachers’ ESE and EIS could significantly contribute to teachers’ UMS and teachers’ ESE has the strongest effect on teachers’ UMS.(4)The factors affecting teachers’ UMS are as follows: teachers’ concepts,teachers’ motivation,students’ English proficiency,curriculum reform,teaching environment,and teaching contents.Based on the above findings and discussion,the present study puts forward four implications:(1)Strengthen teachers’ perception of the dynamic nature of their UMS;(2)Establish teacher training curriculum meeting teachers’ need;(3)Enhance teachers’ efficacy for students engagement so as to promote teachers’ UMS;(4)Motivate students in accordance with their aptitude.