Student teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs in realizing language stimulating interactions in preschool

This study developed a 20-item survey scale to assess student teachers' self-efficacy in fostering language-stimulating classroom interactions. The scale, based on Bandura’s concept of self-efficacy, was designed around three hypothesized factors: providing language input, opportunities for language production, and feedback. Contrary to the hypothesis, exploratory (n=199) and confirmatory factor analyses (n=600) revealed two factors instead: general self-efficacy in promoting language-stimulating interactions and self-efficacy in fairly distributing these interactions among children. Results indicate that student teachers have higher self-efficacy in general language-stimulating interactions (mean=5.08) compared to self-efficacy in evenly distributing language stimulating interactions across children (mean=4.51). These results offer insights into student teachers' confidence in fostering language development, suggesting that future research should explore targeted strategies for improving fairness in interaction opportunities across all children.