Language knowledge and Self-efficacy of Pre-service Teachers in the United Arab Emirates - An Exploratory Study

Oct 15, 2026

The study examined English language learning among native Arabic-speaking pre-service teachers in the United Arab Emirates and assessed how their self-efficacy relates to academic English proficiency. Writing samples from ten female teacher-education students were analyzed using a rubric, alongside in-depth interviews. Findings showed limited reading and writing practice outside school in both languages, and interview results indicated predominantly skills-based instruction with little purposeful application. These constraints were associated with generally low self-efficacy toward second-language learning.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages23

Reading Time58 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background

Purpose and Study Design

Method: Interviews and Writing Sample Analysis

Data Analysis and Findings

Language knowledge and Self-efficacy of Pre-service Teachers in the United Arab Emirates: An Exploratory Study Arab Journal of Applied Linguistics e-ISSN 2490-4198 Vol. 1, No. 1, January 2016, 74-96 © The Authors [http://www.arjals.com](http://www.arjals.com) Sana Tibi1 Faculty of Education, Queen's University, Canada Patricia Stall California State University San Marcos R. Malatesha Joshi Texas A & M University College Station, Texas Yujeong Park University of Tennessee Abstract The study exploredEnglish language learning of native Arabic-speaking pre-service teachersand examinedtheir self-efficacy on academic English proficiency. Writing samples from ten Arabic speaking female teacher education students in a university in the United Arab Emirates were analyzed using a rubric along with in-depth interviews. Overall, results revealed limited reading and writing practice in either language outside of school. Key findings from the interviews indicated that all of the participants had taken English classes since early in their elementary school years; however both Arabic and English learning consisted of skills-based language instruction with little or no practical and purposeful applications. Further, the respondents reported limited reading and writing practice in either language outside of school and cultural practices, inadequate instruction, and limited views of relevance for improving their English. All these reasons generally led to low levels of self-efficacy with regards to second language learning. Keywords: Self efficacy, English academic writing, Arabic native speakers, preserviceeducation students 1Corresponding author: Sana Tibi, Faculty of Education, Queen's University, Canada Email: [s.tibi@queensu.ca](s.tibi@queensu.ca) It has been well documented in the literature that even though various factors, such as family background and oral language, may contribute to failure in children’s reading at early grade levels, good instructional procedures provided by teachers with good knowledge of systematic instruction can offset/counterbalance these early negative effects (Aaron, Joshi, &Quatroche, 2008; Joshi, Binks, Hougen, Dahlgren, Dean, & Smith, 2009; Vellutino, Scanlon, and Jaccard, 2003) . One of the studies that explicitly showed the influence of good teacher knowledge was by McCutchen and her colleagues. In a series of studies from her group (McCutchen, Abbott et al., 2002; McCutchen &Berninger, 1999; McCutchen, Green & Abbott, 2009), it was found that when teachers had the linguistic knowledge related to literacy development, their students performed better on literacy-related skills. However, most of the published studies are from English-speaking countries, mostly from the U.S.Additionally, most of the studies have been conducted using a survey type instrument without interviewing the participants. The purpose of the present study is to overcome the two aforementioned drawbacks. We interviewed participants in the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) who are primarily speakers of Arabic language about their perceptions of self-efficacy in teaching literacy skills in English. The intent of this study was to explore English language learners’(ELL) histories as well as current practices of native Arabic speaking teacher education students in an effort to examine the effects of self-efficacy on their academic English proficiency. The original source of the self-efficacy construct came from Bandura (1977), who theorized that one’s beliefs about his/her capabilities is strongly related to the way s/he behavesand learns.We conducted ten semi-structured interviews with questions regarding selfefficacy and history with English language learning and analyzednumerous writing samples to track the English writing errors of teacher education students in a university in the United Arab Emirates (UAEU) for purposes of targeted writing instruction. Drawing from thebelief that meaning and understanding a

FAQs

What did the study investigate regarding pre-service teachers?

It explored English language learning among native Arabic-speaking pre-service teachers and examined their self-efficacy in relation to academic English proficiency.

How were participants’ experiences and writing performance analyzed?

Writing samples from ten female teacher-education students were analyzed with a rubric, and the students were interviewed using a semi-structured format.

What key factors contributed to low self-efficacy in English learning?

Participants reported limited reading and writing practice outside school, skills-focused instruction with little practical application, inadequate instruction, and limited perceived relevance for improving their English.

Oct 15, 2026

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