DOES EXPERIENCE MATTER? A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EFL TEACHERS’ CHALLENGES

Oct 15, 2026

Even-though teaching experience is linked to student academic gains and teacher cognition, research on how experience shapes EFL teachers’ challenges remains limited. This study comparatively analyses challenges among EFL teachers with different lengths of experience using a questionnaire of 208 language teachers. Results show a moderate overall challenge rate and statistically significant differences across experience groups, with novice teachers reporting higher challenges, while some experienced groups show higher estimates than less experienced teachers.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background: Experience and teacher challenges

Language teaching change drivers

Methodological eclecticism and teacher roles

DOES EXPERIENCE MATTER? A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EFL TEACHERS’ CHALLENGES Marianna Lőrincz,1 Doctor of Science, Department of Philology, Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education, Berehove, Ukraine [lorinc.marianna@kmf.org.ua](lorinc.marianna@kmf.org.ua)[ ](lorinc.marianna@kmf.org.ua)[ORCID: 0000-0002-2206-7113](ORCID: 0000-0002-2206-7113) Ildikó Greba,2 Senior Lecturer, Department of Pedagogy and Psychology, Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education, Berehove, Ukraine [greba.ildiko@kmf.org.ua](greba.ildiko@kmf.org.ua) ORCID: 0000-0002-0764-0858 Abstract. Even-though teaching experience has been identified as one of the main variables affecting student academic gains, teacher cognition, and practices, research focusing on the influence of experience on language teacher challenges is still rare. Hence, the study aims to analyse comparatively the challenges encountered by EFL teachers with varying lengths of teaching experience. Quantitative data were collected utilising a questionnaire involving 208 language teachers. The respondents self-reported being especially challenged by teaching speaking, learner motivation, teaching writing and listening, learner engagement, differentiating instruction, and providing effective learning. The overall challenge rate was moderate. Notably, a statistically significant difference in the perceptions of challenges was established between groups of teachers with varying lengths of teaching experience. As expected, novice teachers reported being more challenged than their most experienced counterparts. Contrary to popular belief, challenge estimates of a group of experienced teachers (10-15 years) were higher than that of less experienced teachers (1-5 years). The principal implication of the current study is that experienced language teachers also need assistance in dealing with professional challenges arising from the complexities of language teaching. To serve well, teacher development courses should be sensitive to language teacher needs and challenges, aligned with transformations they undergo as they move along the career stages. Keywords: challenges; English as a foreign language; teaching; teacher; experience. 1 Corresponding author, responsible for conceiving, designing and performing the data analysis and writing the paper 2 Co-author, responsible for data collection, contributing analysis tools © Author(s) . 2022. Published by Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the license CC BY 4.0 1. INTRODUCTION While teachers have been recognised to contribute substantially to student learning (Blazar & Kraft, 2017), relatively little attention has been paid to the challenges teachers experience throughout their careers. This neglect of the impact of teaching experience on EFL teacher perceptions of challenges is unjustified. Language teachers' professional mindset and expertise undergo transformations throughout their careers, which deserve heedin providing relevant teacher development opportunities. To study language teaching challenges and the influence teaching experience may have on teacher perceptions, it is necessary to trace the recent tendencies shaping language teaching and learning expectations, as they have ramifications for standards of effective practices. The conception of language teaching challenges is intertwined with the language learning objectives and the expectations of teacher competencies, the latter has seen a dramatic increase due to several reasons. The first group of evolving alterations occurs against the backdrop of lingual globalisation, the status of English as lingua franca, and World Englishes (Bilikova & Seresová, K. , 2021; Canagarajah, 2006; King, 2018) . All these movements call for the need to prepare learners for global citizenship, where the major staple is EFL proficiency. Such preoccupation with l

FAQs

What is the study’s main goal?

To comparatively analyse the challenges encountered by EFL teachers with varying lengths of teaching experience.

How was the data collected and from how many participants?

A questionnaire was administered to 208 language teachers, collecting their self-reported perceptions of challenges.

What did the study find about experienced versus novice teachers?

Novice teachers reported being more challenged than their most experienced counterparts, but experienced teachers with 10–15 years reported higher challenge estimates than teachers with 1–5 years.

Oct 15, 2026

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