An exploration of the relationship between phonological and phonics knowledge, and self-efficacy for teaching

The purpose of the present study was to survey trainee teachers to find out if there was a relationship between phonological and phonics content knowledge, perceived proficiency in this knowledge, and feelings of self-efficacy as teachers. Participants were 51 undergraduate international teacher trainees from Malaysia studying in a 4-year university program to teach English as another language. They completed a phonological and phonics knowledge survey as well as a short questionnaire relating to self-efficacy for teaching. The survey results showed, similar to previous studies of the linguistic knowledge of teachers and teacher trainees, difficulties with phonological and phonics knowledge. Students who thought they were proficient in phonological and phonics knowledge were higher in phonological knowledge but not in phonics scores than were students who thought they were less proficient. The results for teaching self-efficacy showed that students with higher phonological knowledge had higher levels of external teaching self-efficacy in that they tended to disagree that factors outside their control made it difficult for some pupils to succeed. This suggests that higher levels of phonological knowledge gives prospective teachers more self-belief in their ability to help all their pupils.