ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the role of teacher self-efficacy beliefs in English Language Arts (ELA) instruction. It focuses on empirical research that built on Bandura's original framework and that contributed to understandings about the self-efficacy of teachers when teaching English Language Arts content, as well as the impact upon student self-efficacy for ELA and performance. Teacher self-efficacy and willingness to innovate are both a cause and an outcome of witnessing improvements in student achievement which suggests teacher self-efficacy may impact the learning of diverse students dependent upon teacher perceptions of those students. The use of teacher–student writing conferences within language arts instruction is accepted as an effective strategy for teaching writing as it provides for individual conversation and provides an audience for discussion of ideas. Bolstering the self-efficacy of ELA teachers is likely to contribute to their motivation in pursuit of the goal to develop proficient connoisseurs of the English language.
