Hidden Curriculum Components, Learners’ National Identity, and Self-efficacy: A Model for Iranian EFL Teachers

Much of what educators address is the overt curriculum; however, there is a hidden curriculum that affects education in a very profound manner. As educators, we need to be aware of the EFL hidden curriculum which affects our educational settings and what we teach. In view of that, the purpose of the present study was to determine the relationship of EFL teachers’ perspectives on hidden curriculum components in the Iranian institutional context with their students’ self-efficacy and national identity. More specifically, the present study surveyed the probable existence of any significant correlation between EFL teachers’ perspectives on the EFL hidden curriculum components, their students’ attitudes towards their own national identity, and self-efficacy. For this purpose, a model was suggested and tested using partial least squares variance-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to examine EFL teachers’ perspectives on the EFL hidden curriculum components contributing to their students’ national identity and self-efficacy. A total of 164 institutional EFL teachers in Iran completed the EFL hidden curriculum questionnaire. Besides, 987 students (about eighty percent of their learners) were asked to fill in national identity and self-efficacy questionnaires. Based on this model, all the correlations between the latent variables were significant except for three latent variables including the relationships among EFL teachers’ perspectives on the EFL hidden curriculum components (social atmosphere, organizational structure, and interaction between teachers and learners) and their learners’ self-efficacy. The findings highlight that EFL teachers’ perspectives on the EFL hidden curriculum had a positive significant relationship with their students’ national identity and self-efficacy. In addition, the results depicted all the relationships between latent variables were positive relations; while the relationship between EFL learners’ national identity and self-efficacy was proved to be negative.