An examination of english teachers' differentiated instruction self efficacy and technopedagogical education competencies

In today's globalized world, English has become one of the key elements of communication between individuals and societies. Therefore, improving the quality of English language teaching is directly related to enhancing teachers' pedagogical competencies. In particular, differentiated instruction and technopedagogical education competencies play a crucial role in establishing a student-centered and effective teaching process. The aim of this study is to examine English teachers' self efficacy regarding differentiated instruction and their technopedagogical education competencies, as well as to reveal the relationship between these two variables. A correlational survey design was employed in the study, and data were collected through two measurement tools. The first is the Differentiated Instruction Self Efficacy Scale (FÖY), which consists of three sub-dimensions (Planning, Implementation, Evaluation) and a total of 26 items. The second is the Technopedagogical Education Competency Scale, which is based on the TPACK model and measures the interaction of technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge, consisting of 55 items in total. The study sample comprised 201 actively employed English teachers, selected through convenience sampling. For data analysis, descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation and regression analysis were used. The results of the study indicated a significant and positive relationship between English teachers' self-efficacy in differentiated instruction and their technopedagogical education competencies. Furthermore, it was observed that teachers' technopedagogical competencies had a positive effect on their adoption of differentiated instructional practices. Furthermore, the analysis shows that professional seniority has a positive and statistically significant effect on teachers' self-efficacy for differentiated instruction. This suggests that as years in the profession increase, teachers report stronger beliefs in their capacity to differentiate—that is, experience strengthens self-efficacy. The most salient finding, however, is the negative and significant interaction term: the positive association between technopedagogical competencies (TPACK) and differentiated-instruction self-efficacy weakens as seniority increases. In other words, technopedagogical competencies predict differentiated-instruction self-efficacy more strongly for early career teachers than for their more experienced counterparts. This pattern may indicate that, with experience, adherence to traditional methods—together with seasoned teachers' established pedagogical content knowledge and classroom management skills—partly reduces the marginal effect on differentiated instruction. In line with these results, the study outlines implications for future research and offers recommendations for enhancing English teachers' competencies in these domains.