'How are they different?'. A comparative study of native and nonnative foreign language teaching assistants regarding selected characteristics: Teacher efficacy, approach to language teaching/learning, teaching strategies and perception of nativeship.

摘要

In the field of English language teaching, several studies have been conducted to examine the differences between native and non-native language teachers regarding pedagogical advantages and disadvantages (Samimy & Brutt-Griffler, 1999; Medgyes, 1999; Arva & Medgyes, 2000). Unfortunately, similar study is scant in the field of foreign language teaching in the United States, and important factors, such as teacher efficacy, were neglected in those studies. Teacher efficacy, defined as "...the teachers' belief in his or her capability to organize and execute courses of action required to successfully accomplish a specific task in a particular context" (Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy & Hoy, 1998), is a significant predictor of more effective teaching in many domains; nevertheless, no journal articles and only two dissertations (Shin, 2001; Chacon, 2002) were found directly relating to teacher efficacy in language teaching. Both studies revealed the effect of language proficiency on both teacher efficacy and teaching methodology; however, the efficacy beliefs of native teachers and the different efficacy beliefs between native and non-native teachers have been unexplored.; This study aimed to investigate the differences between native and non-native foreign language teachers teaching at a large midwestern university. Primary areas of investigation were "teacher efficacy" and "teacher perceptions of language teaching." Teaching assistants from six language departments i.e. Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, German, French and Italian, were chosen in this study. Moreover, the researcher was interested in knowing how native and non-native language teachers were different in teaching less commonly taught languages, i.e. East Asian languages, versus in commonly taught languages, like Spanish.; The data shows a positive connection between teachers' self-perceived ability in teaching the target language and level of efficacy. The influence of teaching experience, such as years of teaching and level of students' language proficiency on teachers' sense of efficacy was observed in this study. Moreover, native and nonnative language teachers from different language departments were also found different in such areas as teaching methods in the classroom, levels of instructional strategic efficacy or nativeship issues. The results indicated the necessarily to consider the differences between teachers of different language departments in future studies.