iranian efl teachers’ perceptions of the strategies they use to maintain self-efficacy in online teaching

Teacher self-efficacy is highly important in both face-to-face and online teaching environments. although the literature is replete with studies concerning teacher self-efficacy, the area of investigating the strategies teachers draw on to maintain their self-efficacy in online teaching is quite under-explored. therefore, the present study, aiming to fill the gap in the empirical literature, set out to explore the strategies iranian efl teachers perceive to use to maintain their self-efficacy in online teaching. the participants included 30 iranian efl teachers who were selected based on convenience, purposive sampling procedures due to availability reasons. to recruit the participants, the researchers posted an advertisement on telegram and managed to win the consent of the target teachers who were involved in online teaching for the majority of their teaching practice. the teachers were within the age range of 24 to 41 years old (m=31.45, sd=4.27) and their teaching experience fell within the range of 1 to 15 years (m=8.21, sd=1.75). to collect the required data, semi-structured interviews were given to the participants. each interview lasted approximately 30 minutes and the contents were transcribed verbatim. the results of thematic analysis indicated that teachers used a variety of strategies including collaboration, help-seeking, negotiating with learners, negotiating with language school administrators, trying to employ a variety of applications for teaching, and developing computer skills. the results promise pedagogical implications for efl teachers and teacher educators in promoting their awareness regarding the strategies teachers can employ to maintain their self-efficacy in online teaching.