الملخص الإنجليزي
The study aimed at investigating the levels of teaching anxiety and self-efficacy beliefs among novice Omani EFL teachers. In addition, it aimed at examining whether the levels of teachers' teaching anxiety and teaching self-efficacy beliefs vary by region, years of experience, or by the types of mentorship received in the schools.
Two instruments were used to obtain answers to the main questions of the present study. First, a scale was used to examine the level of teachers' teaching anxiety and their self-efficacy based on their regions, years of experience, and the types of mentorship received in their schools. One hundred seventy nine novice teachers with experience varying from one semester of teaching up to four years of experience in teaching, all of whom were from Batinah North and Batinah South, participated in completing the measurement scale. Second, 20 novice teachers were interviewed and were asked to reflect on the main difficulties they had encountered in their first years
of teaching.
The study revealed that novice Omani EFL teachers in both regions had the same levels of teaching self-efficacy beliefs, in spite of differences in their regions and types of mentorship. However, according to the study, the teachers in Batinah North showed higher levels of teaching anxiety than those teachers in Batinah South. In considering years of experience, teachers with two to less than three years of teaching experience showed higher levels of self-efficacy in instructional strategies and classroom management than the other three groups 0- <1 year, 1- <2 years, and 3- <4 years. At the same time, the fourth group with three to four years of teaching experience showed more teaching anxiety in interacting with students than the other groups. The study also revealed that most teachers have the same level of teaching anxiety regardless of the type of mentorship received. Finally, the correlation between teachers' teaching anxiety and teachers' self-efficacy beliefs was found to be negative. This means that a high self-efficacy belief is associated with a low level of teaching anxiety.
Based on these findings, a number of recommendations were made and suggestions
for further research were proposed.
