The possible relationship between self-efficacy beliefs, teacher identities, and choosing teaching as a career for EFL instructors

The aim of this sequential explanatory mixed methods study was fourfold: First, (1) to determine the self-efficacy levels of Turkish instructors teaching English at English Preparatory units of state and foundation universities in Istanbul, as well as to investigate whether their self-efficacy levels vary according to their educational levels, undergraduate field degrees, years of professional experience and gender. The second aim was (2) to identify what type of teacher identity the instructors have as well as to determine whether their teacher identities varied across their educational levels, undergraduate field degrees, years of professional experience and gender. The third aim was (3) to investigate the motivations why instructors chose teaching as a profession and whether these reasons varied according to their educational levels, undergraduate field degrees, years of professional experience and gender. The final aim of the study was (4) to explore whether there was a possible relationship between instructors' self-efficacy beliefs, their teacher identities, and their motivation for teaching profession as a career. In accordance with these aims, the study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional correlational research design. A total of 356 Turkish EFL instructors working in the English Preparatory Departments of 53 different state and foundation universities in Istanbul participated in this research voluntarily. The quantitative data of the study were obtained from three different Likert scale questionnaires, and the qualitative data were elicited from semi-structured interview questions. Findings illustrated that the instructors generally had high self-efficacy levels. These self-efficacy levels came to the fore in areas such as planning the teaching process and determining teaching strategies and classroom management. At the same time, it was also revealed that the teacher identities of the instructors, especially the pedagogical expertise, didactic expertise, and subject matter expertise, were highly developed. In addition, among the reasons why instructors chose the teaching profession as a career, the finding that stood out was their interest in language learning and seeing language teaching as a mental stimulant. Finally, while there was no significant relationship between the self-efficacy levels of the instructors and their teacher identities, a significant relationship was found between self-efficacy and the reasons for choosing the profession, as well as between the teacher identities and the reasons for choosing the profession. According to the conclusion drawn from the study, universities should assign more importance to professional development (PD) activities and help lecturers improve their teaching skills. In addition, it was concluded that institutions should take the necessary steps to ensure the continuity of EFL instructors' intrinsic motivation. Keywords: Self-efficacy, teacher identity, career motivation