Abstract:
The decision of using English as medium of instruction for mathematics and
science subjects in public sector schools of the Punjab province of Pakistan invokes
serious issues regarding its potential impacts on teacher effectiveness and student
achievement. So far as the teachers are concerned, perhaps one of the best
documented attributes of effective teachers is a strong sense of efficacy (Henson,
Kogan, & Vacha-Haase, 2001).
The study at hand was designed to explore the self-efficacy beliefs of school
teachers make a comparison on the basis of medium of instruction. For comparison
purpose, the sample consisted of teachers who taught mathematics and/or science any
of the classes that had been declared to be English medium by the government. These
classes generally include class 1,2, and 6. In some schools where this innovation had
been introduced earlier, however, class 3 and 7 were also English medium.
Present study, intended for comparison, is descriptive in nature and the
method used was a survey research. Multistage stratified random sampling
technique was used to draw sample from the population of school teachers from all
public-sector primary, middle, and secondary schools of the Punjab province.
Sample size was 1761 with 880 male teachers and 881 female teachers, 861 Urban
and 900 rural teachers, 923 English medium and 838 Urdu medium teachers
selected from 419 randomly selected primary, middle and high schools of the nine
districts selected from nine administrative divisions of the Punjab province
randomly.
Data were collected through Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES)
developed by Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk (2001). Long form of this
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questionnaire having 24 items on three different sub scales was used. The
statements were translated into Urdu through translation-back-translation method
with the help and guidance of a panel of experts. The bilingual version of the
questionnaire was used to collect data. The collected data were analyzed using
independent samples t-test, two way analysis of variance, and multivariate analysis
of variance.
The study revealed that Urdu medium school teachers had a higher level of
self-efficacy as compared to English medium teachers on overall TSES scores as well
as on the three sub-scales of the instrument. Gender was not found significant for
efficacy difference. School level, school local, designation and teaching experience
wise difference reached the level of significance. The findings of the study invite for a
deeper probing into the matter and rethinking over the recently taken decision of
transforming school education system form Urdu to English medium.