Self-efficacy in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language in Australian Schools

Participating in a research-oriented teacher education program, 20 university graduates from China were invited to teach Chinese as a foreign language in western Sydney schools and conducted teacher research for one and half years. By analysing their research on their own teaching through a qualitative approach, this study attempted to identify the factors that influenced their self-efficacy in teaching Chinese as a foreign language in an English-speaking school system. Influential factors identified in this research include teacher factors (proficiency in the medium of instruction, professional learning, teaching experience, and understanding of student), student factors (student responses, classroom discipline, students’ motivation, student-teacher relations, and students’ age) and contextual factors (culture, influence from other teachers, class size, and resources). Findings of this research have implications for foreign language teacher education.