The Influence of Student Language and Student-Teacher Relationships on Student-Specific Teacher Self-Efficacy in Early Childhood

Teacher self-efficacy (TSE) changes according to context. Limited research has been conducted to understand how TSE can vary in relation to student characteristics or the student-teacher relationship (STR) in preschool. The aims of the current study were to 1) examine student-specific TSE variability among monolingual English-speaking and Spanish-speaking dual language learners (DLLs) and 2) examine the extent to which STR quality moderates the relationship between student language and student-specific TSE. Results demonstrated that when controlling for closeness in the STR, teachers felt higher levels of student-specific TSE in the domains of instructional support and student engagement for English-speaking students versus DLLs. However, teachers reported equal levels of student-specific TSE in the domains of behavior management and emotional support irrespective of student language. Secondly, STR quality did not significantly moderate relationships between language and student-specific TSE. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.