Pre-service EFL teacher´s self-efficacy beliefs in speaking english: a narrative study.

Abstract

The following bachelor's thesis Pre- service EFL teachers’ self -efficacy beliefs in speaking English: a narrative study was written in order to fill the gap in the literature within a Mexican context that addresses the speaking skill in isolation from the other linguistic skills. This thesis has three major purposes: to determine pre-service English teachers’ main contextual and personal characteristics, to investigate the factors and sources of self-efficacy that hinder or encourage pre- service teachers’ self- efficacy beliefs in speaking English, and to analyze the development of participants’ self- efficacy beliefs in speaking during their major. The participants were two men and two women from the English Language major. The method used to collect the data was a semi- structured interview and timelines. The results revealed that personal and contextual characteristics have an impact on participants' self- efficacy development. In addition to this, diverse factors such as participation, English experiences and English classes can hinder or encourage pre- service teachers’ self- efficacy beliefs. Furthermore, the findings support Bandura’s self- efficacy theory, which proposes four sources of self- efficacy, namely enactive mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion and emotional and physical states. As a final recommendation, the authors of this study encourage other researchers to study further this topic in a Mexican context as there is not much literature about it.