Investigation of the contribution of EU projects to the English teachers' language teaching self efficiency

The aim of this study is to investigate the contribution of EU projects to the English teachers' language teaching self efficiency. In the research, the "concurrent triangulation" method, one of the mixed design methods that utilizes use quantitative and qualitative data collection methods together, was used. As the sample "easily accessible case sampling, one of the purposeful sampling methods" was chosen. The sample of the research consisted of 160 English teachers working in Manisa who participated in eTwinning or Erasmus+ projects. The data of the research was collected with a data collection tool comprising three sections: "demographic information, language teaching self-efficacy scale and semi-structured interview form". The first part, prepared by the researcher and containing demographic information; consisted of the variables "gender, age, professional seniority, education level, graduated program, workplace, type of project participated in, number of erasmus+ and eTwinning projects joined". In the second part of the data collection tool there is "Language Teaching Self-Efficacy Scale", prepared by Deregözü and Gündoğar (2020), with established validity and reliability studies, and in the third part, a semi-structured interview form designed by the researcher with expert consultation. To analyze the data in the personal information form frequency and percentage were used. Analysis of quantitative data was done with SPSS 27 program. Qualitative data were subjected to content analysis. After normality test of quantitative data, parametric tests such as t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used. The findings revealed that English teachers' overall mean scores on the Language Teaching Self-Efficacy Scale were at a "very high" level. In addition, a statistically significant difference was detected in the planning sub-dimension favoring teachers with postgraduate education and those participating in a greater number of Erasmus+ and eTwinning projects. Besides English teachers reported that they found EU projects beneficial, that they participated in EU projects for personal and professional development reasons, that EU projects contributed to their language teaching self-efficacy, and that the ESEP platform was useful but difficult to use.