Secondary school EFL teacher`s self-efficacy, understanding of and practices in school-based curriculum development in the district of Kerinci, Indonesia

Abstract

This study sought to measure the self-efficacy of Indonesian secondary school EFL teachers in developing school-based EFL syllabus, explore their understandings of the School Based Curriculum Development policy, and examine their practices in developing the syllabus. In doing so, it aims to identify the tasks in the syllabus development on which the teachers feel more or less efficacious and examine whether there are significant differences in their self-efficacy across some relevant demographic variables. This study also aims to establish a qualitative model of the teachers’ understanding and practice in developing the syllabus. In addition, this study seeks to produce the instrument for measuring teachers’ self-efficacy in developing the syllabus that can be used for similar purpose in other contexts. Using Concurrent-Embedded Mixed-Method Design, the quantitative data on the teachers’ self-efficacy were collected through a survey, while the qualitative data on their understandings and practices in the syllabus development were obtained through semi-structured interviews. The quantitative data were analysed using Rasch Analysis and tests of inferential statistics while the analysis of qualitative data drew on Thematic Analysis. This study reveals that the teachers had a high-self efficacy in developing the syllabus. However, they tended to be less efficacious on theoretical tasks and on tasks that were not part of their responsibility in the previous curricula. Significant differences were found in their self-efficacy across the demographic variables of age, length of teaching experience, experience in training on curriculum and syllabus development, and experience in syllabus development. The thematic analysis indicates that the participants had different understandings of SBCD. Some of them also seemed to have understood the steps of syllabus development partially, while other tended to see the issue as irrelevant. Syllabus development had been mostly practiced as syllabus adaptation or adoption.