Self-efficacy, or teachers' beliefs in their ability to effectively handle the tasks, obligations, andchallenges associated with their professional activity plays a crucial role in influencing important academic outcomes (e.g., students' achievement and motivation). This is especially relevant in EFL/ESL language learning as teacher attitudes about their abilities to effectively instruct and motivate students affect their students’ perceptions of themselves as language learners and even their motivation to learn the target language. The COVID pandemic presented significant challenges to preservice EFL teachers worldwide, especially in Kuwait. This study examines preservice EFL teacher self-efficacy in the final semester of teacher education before the pandemic with preservice EFL teacher self-efficacy during the pandemic. Ninety secondary EFL preservice teacher education students (54 in the pre-COVID group and 36 in the during-COVID group) participated in the study. The participants completed a modified version of the STEBI-B, a self-report questionnaire designed to measure preservice teacher self-efficacy and outcome expectancy. The findings indicated higher levels of self-efficacy in the Pre-COVID group of preservice EFL teachers; especially on response items related to instructional methods/teaching content. The results of the study have implications for education programs offering online degree options as well as for traditional campus-based education programs. Received: 20 September 2024 / Accepted: 20 November 2024 / Published: 11 January 2025

This study hypothesized whether the gender group composition in traditional learning (TL) versus collaborative learning (CL) classrooms of undergraduate biology majors and nonmajors correlate with students' achievements. We measured the effect on gender and the gender-specific achievements of the TL versus CL approach in single-gender and mixed-gender classes. A significant gender gap was found in the achievements of both nonmajor and major students. Females achieved higher grades in TL and CL sections in single-gender classes; overall, academic achievements between females (F) and males (M) demonstrated a significant difference at P<.05. The effect size value between TL versus CL indicated that males benefited more than females implementing CL mixed-gender (2F+2M) in nonmajors and majors. While females in single-gender CL and TL classes performed higher than males, females performed relatively low in mix-gender CL (2F+2M). These findings indicate that gender-specific and context-specific learning pedagogies are required since they impact students' achievement.

The research investigates pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy within the context of Kuwait’s public education system. The purpose of this research paper is to investigate preservice teachers’ knowledge of teacher self-efficacy, their perceptions of its importance and impact on their instruction, and to identify factors that the preservice teachers feel contribute to the development of positive self-efficacy. The research was conducted directly with the preservice teachers using the qualitative research method with structured interview questions. Results indicate that preservice teachers are aware of teacher self-efficacy, believe it influences their instruction in specific ways and can identify specific factors they believe play a key role in the development of high levels of teacher self-efficacy as they complete their preservice teacher education programs. Received: 16 September 2023 / Accepted: 20 October 2023 / Published: 5 November 2023

This study investigates the social, psychological, and cultural dimensions of motivation involved in learning English as a second language in Kuwait. It focuses on students’ experience of motivation, emotions, and their cultural background in search of differences and similarities presented by gender, type of high school, and year in university. The effects of motivation and learning experiences are discussed through using the perpectives of Gardner’s socio-educational model, whereas the influence of learners’ cultural context in second language learning is discussed through using Hofstede’s cultural model. Data were gathered by surveying undergraduate students from a private university in Kuwait, which yielded 233 completed questionnaires. The study employed quantitative methods using SPSS application for descriptive data analysis, correlation analysis, t-tests, and ANOVA. The descriptive statistics were calculated based on the data submitted by the students’ responses. The results revealed significant levels of integrative and instrumental motivation, emphasized by female students, which could be attributed to Hofstede's cultural dimensions of certainty, femininity, and collectivist society. Significant levels were also reported for English classes and English use anxiety, which may be attributed to Hofstede’s power distance, which accounts for the high respect accorded to teachers and teaching. Collectively, the results gained from this study provide guidance to disentangle the multitude of factors that affect English language learners. The findings reported in this study may help instructors who need to understand how learners’ cultural values influence the nature of instruction and point toward future research in analyzing multiple factors that assist language learning.

The teaching of English as a second/foreign language to Arab students has received considerable attention during the past decade. The use of English as a medium of instruction in the Arabian Gulf has become prominent but has only recently been examined academically. In Kuwait, the need to learn and use English is emerging. Attention toward how English is learned and taught is considered important for students’ achievement of success and teachers’ awareness of learners’ needs. Many Arab students consider English difficult to learn, and as such, it has an impact on students’ motivation and attitude toward learning English. Students are often able to communicate effectively in educational and social settings, but struggle with reading, writing, speaking, and listening. This study aims to identify challenges to learning and teaching English in Kuwait. Using the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery, we measured various components of the socio-educational model of second language (L2) acquisition through students’ self-reported communicative competence. We found that all items of the socioeducational model play a role in L2 learning. However, parental encouragement is perceived to play the most significant role during the development of motivational intensity, desire to learn English, and attitude toward learning English.

This study investigated fourth grade students' perceptions of abilities to use the Internet. The 31-item research instrument measuring Internet Self-Perceptions was adapted for use from the Reader Self-Perception Scale (RSPS) developed by Henk and Melnick (1995). The RSPS survey was based upon Bandura's (1977, 1986, 1995) research in the areas of perceived self-efficacy. Information from an administration of the Internet Self-Perception Scale (ISPS) uncovered four correlated factors, which described children's self-perceptions about their Internet skills. These four dimensions matched factors found with previous studies of self-efficacy and self-perceptions in other content areas and showed high reliability (Cronbach's alpha ranged .73–.87). Additionally, cluster analysis revealed five different types of Internet learners thought to be present in elementary school classrooms. Suggestions for teaching strategies and fostering children's perceptions of Internet skills are provided.

As Internet usage increases nationally, it becomes more apparent that the Digital Divide (the gap between those who have information access and those who do not) is related to demographics. Although the number of low income and ethnic households that have Internet access is increasing, the Digital Divide is expected to widen because access continues to be tied to income. WISH (WorldGate Internet School to Home) gives students, parents and teachers Internet access through a television set and a cable set-top converter. No computer, modem, or telephone line is needed. In this way, WISH TV is unique because it allows users to access the Internet through their television sets and as a result, extends Internet availability to virtually all children in their homes. This is especially important for students whose socio-economic status inhibits Internet access through any other means. This article focuses on the effects of WISH TV on fourth grade students' behavior, attitudes, and motivation in the community of Belle Rose, Louisiana. Data were gathered through guided interviews with 15 students, their parents, the four fourth grade teachers, and the principal. Interview questions focused on: how teachers are integrating WISH TV into their teaching practices; how students and parents are using WISH TV at home; and what changes teachers, parents, and students have noted since the program began. (MES) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.

This study examined 40 kindergarten and first-grade teachers' abilities to use a rubric to rate 20 first-grade writing samples. Twenty-three of the teachers were trained to interpret the scoring dimensions of the rubric, while seventeen were not. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether training raters to interpret the scoring dimensions on a rubric would increased reliability. Generalizability theory was used to enable the researchers to estimate reliability by examining multiple sources of errors and their possible interactions simultaneously. Because the teachers were nested within training conditions (schools), ANOVA was run using a partially-nested design. Variance estimates and generalizability coefficients were calculated from the ANOVA results for each scoring dimension and the total raw score of the rubric. Variance estimates were calculated for each school (trained vs. untrained) on each of the scoring dimensions. Initial results indicated no increase in reliability due to training. Raters were nested within training, and because of this, it was impossible to separate rater main effect from the rater by-training effect. To further examine the nature of variation in the rater within-training term, separate analyses were performed on the data for trained and untrained raters. Data indicated a greater amount of variation in four of six scoring categories for the untrained raters. When comparing the two groups, the same pattern was also present in the total raw score of the writing samples. Less variance suggests that training increased raters' abilities to reliably interpret these scoring items. These findings have implications for rubric design and teacher training in the use of portfolio assessment.

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in students' reading self-efficacy, students' personal perceptions of the learning environment, and change in reading level across instructional programs. In addition, the study explores the relationship between students' personal perceptions of the learning environment as measured by the My Class Inventory-Short Personal Form (MCI-SPF) and student reading self-efficacy as measured by the Reader Self-Perception Scale (RSPS). Analyses showed that: (1) Students in the Success for All (SFA) reading program exhibited higher levels of general reading self-efficacy than did students in the language-based comparison group, (2) Students in the SFA instructional program felt more positive about their performance than did students in the language-based comparison group, (3) Students participating in the SFA instructional program were more likely to describe the social feedback received more positively than students participating in the language-based comparison group. With respect to reading levels the analyses indicated that change in students' reading levels as measured by the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) was not significantly different between the two programs. Also, the relationship between changes in students' reading levels as measured by the DRA and student self-efficacy as measured by the RSPS is weak and manifests itself only within the RSPS-Progress subscale. In addition, analyses suggested that students with high subscale scores on MCI-SPF Satisfaction and MCI-SPF Difficulty subscales were more likely to be members of the language-based instructional program. The relationship between students' personal perceptions of the learning environment as measured by the MCI-SPF and student reading self-efficacy as measured by the RSPS is weak and manifests itself as a positive relationship between the MCI-SPF Satisfaction subscale and the RSPS-Physiological State subscale, and as a negative relationship between the MCI-SPF Difficulty subscale and the RSPS-Physiological State subscale. This repeated pattern of findings across instructional programs suggests that specific components of an instructional program in reading may exert a certain degree of influence on student self-efficacy toward reading. The findings suggest the need for additional research to identify which components of instructional programs are most instrumental in contributing to the formation of high reading self-efficacy and positive perceptions of the learning environment.