Analysis of Classroom Teaching Candidates’ Speaking Self-efficacy in Terms of Different Variables

Abstract

Human beings are social creatures by nature and one of their most important characteristics is the multifaceted communication they establish with their environment. There are numerous ways of establishing communication. However, the most preferred manner has always been speech. For the speaking skill to be used effectively, the individual should have self-confidence. Educational institutions are the places where the foundations of self-confidence are laid. In educational institutions where self-confidence is taught, it is fundamental that the educators have self-confidence themselves. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the self-efficacy levels of classroom teacher candidates, who will be teaching in primary schools where the basic characteristics of the speaking skill are taught, display any differences in terms of different variables. The study group of the study consists of students receiving education at the Department of Primary School Teaching, Faculty of Education in a state university in the 2016-2017 academic year. The study group consists of 225 students who were selected through the typical case sampling method, which is one of the purposeful sampling types. With the purpose of collecting data, the ‘Speaking Self-Efficacy Scale (SSES)’ developed by Aydın (2013) consisting of four sub-dimensions with a Cronbach Alpha value of 0.95 was used. SPSS software program (Version 22) was used in the analysis of numeric data. The data was analyzed with the Independent Sample t-test, One Way ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis tests. According to the results of the study, a significant difference has been determined in the speaking process and listener factor sub-dimensions of the students in favor of the male students. Regarding the grade levels, it was concluded that the upper grade levels regarded themselves as more self-sufficient in the skill of speaking in all of the sub-dimensions.

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“…In the sub-dimensions "the speech process", "linguistic structure" and "audience factor", the female students' speaking selfefficacy beliefs were more positive than those of their male peers. Kuru (2018) who employed the same scale also reported significant differences in the sub-dimensions "the speech process" and "audience factor"; however, the male students' speaking self-efficacy beliefs were found to be higher in these subdimensions. The fact that the difference based on gender in two different studies employing the same scale turnout out to be in favour of both genders and that there was no difference in the whole scale may show that gender is not an influential variable on speaking self-efficacy beliefs.…”

“…The significance of speaking skills that enable the verbal communication of feelings and thoughts have been highlighted by many researchers in the context of success in a variety of areas including work, personal life and social relationships (e.g. İşcan, 2013;İşcan & Karagöz, 2016;İşcan, Karagöz & Almalı, 2017;Aydın & Başoğlu, 2014;Uzuner Yurt & Aktaş, 2016;Kuru, 2018). Şahan (2012) argues that the development of speaking skills should start during the first years of elementary education since individuals strive to improve their poor communicative performance even after they complete their higher education.…”

“…In other words, the development of verbal skills are directly related to psychology, social psychology, and behavioural and communicative sciences (Ünalan, 2007). In particular, the self-confidence of a successful speaker (Kuru, 2018) is considered as the main factor affecting a good speech in many ways. Likewise, Aydın (2013: 34) states that speaking involves many qualities unique to human beings starting with sounds, and individuals' speaking skills are also related to their beliefs.…”

Environmental Factors for the Advancement of Teachers’ Self-Efficacy in Professional Development

“…These results are coherent with the theoretical framework. Both communication with teachers (CT) ( Green 2003 ; Kuru 2018 ; Kurudayıoğlu et al 2021 ) and communication with students (CS) ( Dhillon and Kaur 2021 ) are potential elements to boost teachers’ self-efficacy.…”

“…Excellent school environments also depend on creating effective communication processes between students and teachers in the classrooms ( Dhillon and Kaur 2021 ). Enhancing a teacher’s occupational environment, we must also concentrate on self-efficacy perceptions about their communication skills in the entire educational process ( Kuru 2018 ; Kurudayıoğlu et al 2021 ). Likewise, communication is a possible element for promoting self-efficacy ( Green 2003 ).…”