The relationship between the professional competences, self-efficacy and work motivation levels of English teachers

The main purpose of this research is to examine the professional competence, self-efficacy and work motivation levels of English teachers and the relationship between them. In addition, it is aimed to determine whether the professional competence, self-efficacy and work motivation levels of English teachers differ according to gender, age, school level and school, education level, geographical region, faculty they graduated from, professional seniority, participation in sports, artistic and social activities. The research was carried out in survey model. The study group of the research consists of 382 English teachers, 316 (82.7%) female teachers and 66 (17.3%) male teachers working in public and private schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in Turkey. The data of the study were obtained with an online data collection tool using the Professional Competence Scale of English Teachers, the Teacher Self-Efficacy Perception Scale and the Job Motivation Scale. In the analysis of the data, independent samples t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Spearman correlation tests were used. According to the analysis results; while the professional competencies and self-efficacy of English teachers are high, their job motivation levels are moderate. The professional competence and self-efficacy and work motivation levels of English teachers differ statistically significantly according to the school type and personal participation in social and sports activities. It was seen that the levels of professional competence, self-efficacy and work motivation of English teachers working in private schools are higher than English teachers working in public schools. It has been determined that English teachers who personally participate in social and artistic activities have higher professional competence, self-efficacy and work motivation. In addition, the professional competencies of English teachers differ significantly according to the geographical region they work. It has been concluded that the professional proficiency levels of English teachers working in the Aegean, Black Sea and Central Anatolia Regions are higher than the teachers working in the Eastern Anatolia Region. In addition, a statistically positive and highly significant relationship was found between the professional competence and self-efficacy of English teachers. On the other hand, a moderately significant positive correlation was found between the professional competencies and self-efficacy of English teachers and their work motivation. KEYWORDS: English Teachers, Proficiency, Professional Competence, Self-efficacy, Work motivation