The Impact of Teaching Experience on Iranian EFL Teachers' Sense of Efficacy and their Perception of English Teacher Distinctive Characteristics

This study investigated the effect of Iranian EFL teachers' years of teaching experience on their sense of efficacy and beliefs about teachers' distinctive characteristics. To this end, 135 Iranian EFL teachers completed a validated questionnaire developed by (Borg, 2006) and Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale developed by (Tschannen and Hoy, 2001). The results of MANOVA revealed significant effect of experience on teachers' sense of efficacy; however, it indicated no significant impact on their beliefs about characteristics that differentiated them from teachers of other subjects. Three sets of characteristics were discovered through interview; "Similarities" (also reported in Borg's study); "Differences" mentioned differently by participants of both studies, and "unique characteristics" only specified by Iranian teachers. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.