The Effects of Study Abroad on Spanish Teachers’ Self-Efficacy: A Multiple Case Study
Teacher efficacy, or the degree to which teachers feel as though they can affect positive outcomes in their classrooms, has received considerable attention over the last three decades (Bandura 1977, 1997; Tschannen-Moran & Johnson, 2011). Research has shown that, among foreign language teachers, self-efficacy is associated with their language proficiency (Chacón, 2005; Yilmaz 2011) and students’ achievement (Swanson, 2014). The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to better understand how the study abroad experience affected four, inservice Spanish teachers’ feelings of self-efficacy as it relates to language proficiency and instructional practice. Using a multiple case design (Stake 2006), we conducted interviews, recorded field note observations and collected participant reflection journals. Findings revealed that, as a result of the study abroad experience, participants described awareness of their foreign language proficiency, discussed re-assessing their classroom practice and explained a commitment to increasing target-language use in the classroom.