The relationship between EFL teachers' continuing professional development and their self-efficacy: A structural equation modeling approach

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between Iranian EFL teachers' Continuing professional development (CPD) and their self-efficacy. The participants comprised of 247 EFL teachers teaching at different language institutes in several cities of Iran. Their selection was based on convenience sampling and the participation was entirely voluntary. In this study, two instruments were used: Continuing professional development questionnaire and self-efficacy scale. Pearson's correlation coefficient and structural equation modeling (SEM) were run to analyze the relationships among the components. The results revealed that all the subscales of CPD are positive significant predictors of self-efficacy: collaborating, decision-making, reflecting, and updating. Also, according to the results, CPD has the highest positive correlation with instructional strategies and the lowest positive correlation with student engagement. In addition, there is a positive moderate significant relationship between CPD and total self-efficacy. Finally, these findings and their implications were discussed.