Developing Pre-service Teacher Self-

efficacy through a Collaborative Teaching

Experience in Mexico
Wei Jiang, M.A., Edie Cassell, Ph.D.

AACTE 70th Annual Conference

March 2018
Presentation Outline
• Statement of the Problem
• Theoretical Perspectives
• Research Questions
• Methods
• Findings and Discussions
• Limitations
Statement of the Problem
Teacher preparation programs
• Inadequate preparation to work with culturally and
linguistically diverse (CLD) students (McKinney et al., 2008)
• High attrition rates of novice teachers from high-poverty
and diverse schools (Guarino et al., 2006)
• Lack of practice in culturally-responsive pedagogy (Gay,
2014)
Theoretical Perspectives
Teacher self-efficacy
• Higher levels of teacher burnout/attrition for teachers with low
self-efficacy (Siwatu, 2011)
• Low self-efficacy with CLD students (Geerlings, Thijs, & Verbuyten, 2017)
• Field experiences for pre-service teachers to improve self-
efficacy (Gu, 2005)
• Higher levels of teacher collaboration with higher levels of self-
efficacy (Guo et al., 2011)
Theoretical Perspectives
Culturally-responsive pedagogy
• Encompasses students’ “cultural knowledge, prior experiences,
frames of reference, and performance styles...to make learning
encounters more relevant and effective for them” (Gay, 2000, p. 29)
• Produces cognitive and affective transformations in pre-service
teachers (Garii, 2008)
• Enhances pre-service teachers’ ability to succeed in a diverse
classroom (Warren, 2017)
Theoretical Perspectives
Teacher collaboration
• Collaboration among teachers can serve as a vehicle for intercultural
exchange
• Teacher collaboration is the key to teacher professional development
(Durksen, Klassen, & Daniels, 2017)

• A positive relationship has been found between teacher

collaboration and student engagement and achievement (Guo et al.,
2011; Reeves, Pun, & Chung, 2017)
Theoretical Perspectives
International service-learning
• Connects service activities and academic content
• Offers a pathways for pre-service teachers to recognize real
community or school needs through teaching and reflective
learning (Cox et al., 2014)
• Provides opportunities to develop an enhanced awareness of
linguistic and cultural diversity as well as of global issues
(Pence & Macgillivray, 2008; Knutson et al., 2011; Willard-Holt, 2001)
Gap in the Research
More study is needed to investigate the impact of
international service-learning programs involving pre-
service teachers practicing collaborative teaching in a third-
country intercultural teaching experience.
Research Questions
1. How did the participants’ practice culturally-responsive
pedagogy during this international service-learning
experience?
2. What were the participants’ attitudes about
collaborative teaching during the experience?
3. How did this experience influence the participants’ self-
efficacy as teachers of English language learners?
Methods – Program Overview
Program duration Location
• 3 weeks in Summer 2014 • San Miguel de Allende,
Cost Guanajuato, Mexico
• $2500-3000 – Accepting of foreign visitors;
quiet and safe from crime
Participants
• 22 pre-service teachers
– Undergraduates: US (14)
– Graduates: US (2), Chinese
(4), Korean (1), Taiwanese (1)
Methods – Program Overview
ESL Program Schedule Classroom Team members
• Three weeks Grade 1-2 6 student teachers
• Monday-Friday, 2 hours/day Grades 3-4 5 student teachers
Curriculum Grade 5 5 student teachers
• Basic English through Grade 6 5 student-teachers
activity/game rotations
Grade-level Teaching Teams
• Four Teaching Teams
• Nightly planning meetings
Methods – Data Collection
14 reflection sets
Period Collected Data Collected • 3200-4000 words
June - July 2014 Daily prose reflections • Encouraged to write daily
• Seven participants received
Semi-structured tape-
March - April 2015 guided writing prompts
recorded initial interviews
Semi-structured tape-
Feb - March 2016 recorded follow-up Interviews
interviews
• Initial: 14 recordings, 45-60
minutes each
• Follow-up: 11 recordings,
20-30 minutes each
Methods – Data Analysis

Transcribing Coding Synthesizing

• Initial interviews • Reflections • Extract

• Follow-up • Initial and follow- representative
interviews up interviews examples
• Synthesize
themes
Findings & Being aware of cultural differences
1. Explicitly identify each other’s differences
Discussions in personality, cultural background, and
teaching style as attributes
Culturally- 2. Asian culture as reserved and collectivist
responsive and American culture as outspoken and
pedagogy through individualist
collaboration
“They [Asian “...too often Judy [US] and I
participants] don't have had to take charge...because
the same thought many members of our team
process as we do either didn’t know what to do
sometimes, because or would just ask us what we
we are so accustomed thought was best and
to English.” (Emily, US) followed along” (Ana, US)
Findings & Being culturally-responsive
1. Competence in building on others’
Discussions depths of knowledge and experiences
for teaching and learning
Culturally- 2. Negotiation of the sociocultural inequity
responsive between group members
pedagogy through
collaboration
“the American girls are more
“I need to explicitly
active…...so they will (sic) take
express myself when
responsibility for that part
meeting with other
[physical activities] mainly and
teachers or there will
when they teach reading or
be
writing…... I and Diana (sic) will
misunderstandings.”
do most of the work.” (Amanda,
(Amanda, Asian)
Asian)
Findings & Before During
After ISL
ISL ISL
Discussions
• Knowing • Acknowledgi • Viewing
about ng the collaboration
Participant’s collaborative benefits of as essential
attitudes toward teaching collaborative for teachers
collaborative teaching

teaching • Collaborative teaching helped them

discover their strengths by observing
others, giving and receiving feedback, and
allowing others to lead when they felt
themselves felt unsure or inexperienced
(Sara, Susan, Julie, US)
Findings & Cultural responsiveness
• Ability to be open to other cultures
Discussions “I'm more willing to start a conversation with
someone who has a different culture without so
Changes of teacher much embarrassment as I did before. Because
self-efficacy I realize they might be just as embarrassed as
me.” (Sara, US)
• Ability to apply cultural differences in
teaching
“I gained more knowledge about relating to
students from a different culture than mine and
how to make them feel comfortable and break
down those barriers so that they want to learn
and want to be successful.” (Elizabeth, US)
Findings & Teaching ability

Discussions “It was a great experience

and it gives me more
“I do feel like I am more
confident when I teach ELL
confidence for if I do have
students, because I can
Changes of teacher an ELL in my classroom, like
I feel more confident and
always think that I taught
first and second graders in
self-efficacy more excitement to help
them in my classroom.”
Mexico, so you can learn
this.” (Judy, US)
(Julie, US)

“I started to know many

activities, teaching activities
“I'm definitely more confident
I could use to teach
going in to classroom setting
students. I also begin to
because I feel like if I can
understand young students
teach a classroom full of non
like engage in physical
English speaking students, I
involvement that would
can probably do just about
prevent them, diverted from
anything.” (Stephanie, US)
other related …” (Diana,
Asian)
Findings & Self-identify
• View themselves from a different
Discussions perspective
• Notice the unknown individual
Changes of teacher characteristics
self-efficacy
After going on the trip I noticed that I may have
and getting to know a lot of patients after
people on a deeper level dealing with the little kids
than just that superficial I behaviors because I
already have this have to talk to them, I
preconceived notion of have to grab them, I have
who you are and to catch them. (Cindy,
everything. (Ana, US) Asian)
Findings & Long-term impact
• The influence on self-efficacy lasted one
Discussions year after the experience
• Participants carried the ability and
Changes of teacher knowledge gained through the
self-efficacy experience to their career

I understand all of I’ve just been building on that

those knowledge patience that I picked up in
because I got a Mexico. You know, trying to
chance to apply those get them to understand, this is
knowledge and I got a the bathroom, or stuff like
better understanding that, so trying to get them to
of those knowledge. understand, with the teaching
(Diana, Asian) I’m doing now… (Andrea, US)
Conclusions
 Multicultural and multilingual collaborative teaching during ISL
experience facilitated teacher efficacy positively in terms of
cultural responsiveness and teaching ability.
 ISL program with collaborative teaching component is strongly
recommended to be implemented in teacher education
programs as a means to enhance students’ preparedness for
teaching CLD students.
Limitations
1. Perceptions were self-reported - no other measures.
2. Teachers’ cultural backgrounds aligned with educational
experience:
– Graduate students were all Asian (MA-ESL)
– Undergraduate students were all U.S.
3. Not all participants submitted data at each stage of the study
– 22 participants; 20 reflections; 14 interviews; 11 follow-up
interviews.
References
• Cox, T., Murray, L., & Plante, J. (2014). Undergraduate student diversity paradigm expansion: The role of
international service learning. International Forum of Teaching and Studies, 10(1), 3-13.
• Durksen, T. L., Klassen, R. M., & Daniels, L. M. (2017). Motivation and collaboration: The keys to a developmental
framework for teachers’ professional learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 67, 53-66.
• Garii, B. (2008). Beginning Careers in International Settings: Impacts on Continued Classroom Practice. Paper
presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, NY, New York.
• Gay, G. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. New York, Teachers College Press.
• Gay, G. (2014). Culturally responsive teaching principles, practices, and effects. In H. R. Milner IV & K. Lomotey
(Eds.), Handbook of urban education (pp. 353-372). New York, NY: Routledge.
• Geerlings, J., Thijs, J., & Verkuyten, M. (2017). Teaching in ethnically diverse classrooms: Examining individual
differences in teacher self-efficacy. Journal of School Psychology. In press.
• Gu, Q. (2005). Intercultural experience and teacher professional development. RELC Journal, 36(1), 5-22.
• Guarino, C.N., Santibanez, L. and Daley, G.A. (2006). Teacher recruitment and retention: a review of the recent
empirical literature. Review of Educational Research, 76, 173-208.
• Guo, Y., Justice, L.M., Sawyer, B. and Tompkins, V. (2011). Exploring factors related to preschool teachers’ self-
efficacy. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 961-968.
References
• Knutson Miller, K., & Gonzales, A. (2011). Challenges and rewards associated with service-learning in international
contexts: Pre-service teacher outcomes. International Journal of Research on Service-Learning in Teacher
Education, 1, 56-68.
• McKinney, S.E., Haberman, M., Stafford-Johnson, D., and Robinson, J. (2008). Developing teachers for high-
poverty schools. Urban Education, 43, 68-82.
• Pence, H., & Macgillivray, I. (2008). The impact of an international field experience on preservice teachers.
Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 14-25.
• Reeves, P. M., Pun, W. H., & Chung, K. S. (2017). Influence of teacher collaboration on job satisfaction and student
achievement. Teaching and Teacher Education, 67, 227-236.
• Siwatu, K.O. (2011). Pre-service teachers’ sense of preparedness and self-efficacy to teach in America’s urban and
suburban schools: Does context really matter? Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 357-365.
• Warren, C. A. (2017). Empathy, Teacher Dispositions, and Preparation for Culturally Responsive Pedagogy.  Journal
of Teacher Education, 69, 169-183.
• Willard-Holt, C. (2001). The impact of a short-term international experience for preservice teachers. Teaching and
Teacher Education, 17, 505–517.
 Contact Information
Ms. Wei Jiang: [email protected]
Dr. Edie Cassell: [email protected]

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Culture

College of Education and Human Development
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX