Language Teachers’ Self-efficacy Beliefs: A Review of the Literature (2005-2016)

Research into language teachers’ self-efficacy (LTSE) beliefs, a domain-specific branch of research into teachers’ self-efficacy (TSE) beliefs in general education, has emerged in the past 16 years. To date, though, this emergent domain-specific research field has not been described in depth, with most accounts of it summarised very briefly, even in published research that provides empirical data relating to the specific topic of LTSE beliefs. Guided by a synthetic research ethic, this literature review aims to explore the gap. It highlights the characteristics of this LTSE beliefs research field, discussing the methodology employed by various studies that have elicited LTSE beliefs, indicating their areas of focus and evaluating what can be learned from them. Finally, it raises implications for teacher education and highlights potential research directions for quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods designs, offering suggestions that may benefit (teacher-educator) researchers.