The Impact of MA TEFL Curriculum on Student Teachers’ Self-Efficacy

The importance of professional development programs in enhancing teacher self-efficacy has attracted the attention of researchers in the realm of teacher education for two decades. However, the role of university programs and their curriculum in developing teachers’ self-efficacy has not been given adequate attention, specifically in educating EFL teachers. This study investigated the impact of MA TEFL curriculum on student teachers’ self-efficacy. To control the influence of experience, the self-efficacy of experienced students in teaching and novice ones was examined as well. To this end, 277 MA TEFL students from the seven major state universities of Tehran participated in this project. The results indicated that MA TEFL courses did not significantly affect teacher self-efficacy of MA TEFL students. However, a significant difference was found between novice teachers and experienced ones in terms of their self-efficacy and its subcomponents. Also, the findings of the semi-structured interviews revealed unlike the novice ones who were more interested in practicum, the experienced ones were in favor of both theoretical and practical courses. Despite this difference, some similarities were found, specifically in efficacy for classroom management and instructional strategies.