Primary school teachers' perceptions of self-efficacy on first literacy teaching and their commitment to the programme of first literacy teaching

There were basically three objectives of this research. The first one was to examine the primary school teachers' perceptions of self-efficacy towards first literacy teaching and their level of commitment to the first literacy curriculum. The second one was to determine whether there was a significant relationship between the primary school teachers' self-efficacy perceptions and their commitment to the first literacy curriculum. The third objective was to question whether the primary school teachers' self-efficacy perceptions about the first literacy teaching predicted their commitment to the first literacy curriculum significantly. In this research, correlational research model was used. Therefore, a single group was studied in this design. Research universe was composed of 394 primary school teachers working in a selected provincial center of Western Black Sea region of Turkey. The sample was formed with maximum diversity sampling method and 288 of classroom teachers were reached. In order to ensure maximum diversity, variables such as school, gender, seniority and education level of teachers were taken into consideration. Data were collected from 32 different schools. 'Self-Efficacy Scale for First Literacy Teaching' and 'Scale of Commitment to Curriculum' were used as data collection tools of personal information. Printed forms were used in the process of data collection. The study was based on voluntariness. The application was completed in about 30 minutes. The data were analyzed by means of SPSS 20 and Lisrel 8 statistical programs. In order to answer the questions of the study, analyzes such as mean score, percentage values, correlation and simple linear regression were performed. The findings of the study indicated that primary school teachers' self-efficacy levels and their commitment to the first literacy curriculum were high; It showed that there was a moderate positive relationship between primary school teachers 'first literacy teaching self-efficacy and their commitment to first literacy programme and that classroom teachers' self-efficacy towards first literacy teaching was a significant predictor of their first literacy teaching programme. In the direction of the results of the study, suggestions were made for the variables of the research and future researches. Key Words: First Literacy Teaching, Self-efficacy, Self-Efficacy of First Literacy Teaching, Commitment to Curriculum