Efficacious and positive teachers achieve more: Examining the relationship between teacher efficacy, emotions, and their practicum performance

This study will examine the relationship between pre-service teachers’ efficacy, emotion, and practicum performance score. A sample of 963 pre-service teachers was approached from four universities in China. This study used two self-reported instruments (The Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale and the Teacher Emotion Inventory) and the participants’ practicum performance scores to test the relationship. Data were dealt using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modelling. As expected, the structural model generally shows that pre-service teachers’ efficacy significantly predicts their practicum performance through their emotions. Teachers with a higher level of efficacy on Instructional Strategies positively predict their practicum performance through more pleasant emotions such as Love and Joy. By contrast, pre-service teachers with a lower level of confidence of Student Engagement tend to experience more unpleasant emotions (e.g. Fear, Sadness, and Anger) and gain lower practicum performance. One interesting link identified is between the efficacy factor Classroom Management and negative emotion Sadness. On the top of these, three emotion dimensions had been identified to relate to their practicum scores, that is, Joy, Love and Anger. The findings concerning the three constructs can provide a new perspective for teacher effectiveness research by taking teacher emotion and efficacy into account. Copyright © 2018 De La Salle University.