Pre-service efl teachers' beliefs on their readiness level to teach speaking skills: A quantitative study

Learners? beliefs and teachers? beliefs about language learning and teaching have been the focus of research in recent years. However, studies of pre-service teachers? beliefs and teachers? beliefs about teaching speaking have been scarce. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate pre-service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers? beliefs on their readiness level to teach speaking skills. The researcher aimed to find out for what speaking skills pre-service EFL teachers feel ready or unprepared to teach, and to what extent pre-service EFL teachers perceive themselves ready to teach speaking skills. The participants of the study were 100 senior undergraduate students enrolled in the English Language Teaching program in Uludağ University, Ondokuz Mayıs University and Başkent University in Turkey. The data were collected through a questionnaire which was developed using the items of a checklist provided by the literature. The chi-square test was used in the analysis of data and the interpretations were made based on the frequency distributions. For the validity of the scale which was developed in this study, factor analysis was conducted and for the reliability of the scale, Cronbach?s alpha coefficient was calculated (0.92). The results of the study indicated that the majority of the participants gave positive responses to the belief statements about teaching speaking skills. However, some of the participants stated that they disagreed with certain belief statements. Considering the results of the current study, some implications and suggestions were given.