Investigating novice and experienced young learner Turkish EFL teachers' self-efficacy beliefs

The purpose of the present study is to investigate both novice and experienced young learner Turkish EFL teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and to reveal whether there are any differences between their beliefs pertaining to three main areas of classroom practice, namely classroom management, instructional strategies, and student engagement. Drawing on this purpose, two data collection tools were utilised; the short version of the Teacher Self-efficacy Scale (TSES) with 12 items by Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy (2001) and a semi-structured interview. The participants included 158 young learner Turkish EFL teachers in Turkey. 87 of the participants were experienced young learner EFL teachers, and 71 of them were novice young learner EFL teachers. It was signified in the findings of the study that there was no statistically significant difference in novice and experienced young learner EFL teachers' self-efficacy beliefs concerning student engagement and instructional strategies. However, the Mann-Whitney U test results demonstrated that there was a statistically significant difference in their beliefs pertaining to classroom management. Furthermore, the teachers who were interviewed agreed that the number of years of teaching experience was an indicator of classroom management skills, for the reason that working for years with young learners might give experienced teachers the chance to handle different types of students and teaching situations. As a result, there are certain implications of the study for curriculum developers and young learner EFL teachers. Firstly, pre-service and in-service training sessions might give the teachers the opportunity of increasing their self-efficacy levels. Secondly, seminars, conferences or workshops provide an enriching professional experience to develop teachers' self-efficacy beliefs. Lastly, experienced teachers can share their experiences with novice teachers via semi-structured, informal meetings for the reason that mastery experiences have a great contribution to teachers' self-efficacy for both novice and experienced young learner EFL teachers. In this process, possible issues that the novice might experience in the teaching profession, such as classroom management, could be addressed and dealt with. In this sharing practice, experienced teachers can mentor novice teachers so as to encourage their strengths and help them anticipate possible issues during their career. Key words: Self-efficacy, novice young learner EFL teachers, experienced young learner EFL teachers, classroom management, student engagement, instructional strategies