The relationship between EFL teachers’ self efficacy and their students’ willingness to communicate (WTC)

The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between EFL teachers’ self-efficacy and their students’ willingness to communicate (WTC). To achieve this goal 150 male English teachers and 1815 male students in Hamadan province participated in the study. Two instruments were used to gather data: Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES) and Willingness to Communicate Questionnaire (WTCQ). The gathered data were analyzed by correlation and multiple regressions methods. The results of correlation revealed that there is a positive and significant relationship between EFL teachers’ self-efficacy and their students’ WTC (r =.224, p˂.001), indicating that if English teachers can boost their self-efficacy, in a similar way their students uplift their WTC in the process of learning a language. Further, the results of multiple regressions revealed that teachers’ self-efficacy explains around 5% of the variance WTC and can function as a facilitator of students’ WTC in the process of language learning. The findings of the study give certain orientations to teachers and teacher educators on the role of self-efficacious teachers in promoting students’ active role in language classes.