A survey on Vietnamese pre-service EFL teachers’ pre- and post-practicum self-efficacy in PCK and their changes

Abstract

This current study was conducted to achieve two research aims. First, the study aims to investigate the extent of Vietnamese pre-service English as a Foreign Language EFL teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs in their pedagogical content knowledge before and after the teaching practicum at high school. The second aim of the study is to compare changes in their self-efficacy, especially aspects of pedagogical content knowledge that the participants feel most or least efficacious during their 2-month teaching practicum. The participants were 65 Vietnamese pre-service EFL teachers majoring in English Teacher Education Program course 46 (2020–2024). The two main instruments used to collect the data included a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview, respectively. The data were collected using the same 54-item questionnaire pre- and post-survey. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and content analysis was used to analyze the interview data. The results of the data analysis indicated the levels of participants’ selfefficacy in pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) before the practicum was relatively high, and after the practicum their self-efficacy levels generally significantly increased. More specifically, the results showed that they felt most efficacious in their knowledge of classroom management and instructional practices but less confident in their understanding of learners at the start of the practicum. However, after an eight-week teaching practicum, there was a significant increase in all domains of knowledge except that their self-efficacy in knowledge of instructional strategies decreased. The content analysis confirmed that the participants found it difficult to understand students’ characteristics and learning needs. Implications for improving the efficacy of teacher educators in programs to raise the quality of Vietnamese pre-service EFL teachers were developed in light of these findings.