Mathematics teaching efficacy and reform beliefs of elementary school teachers in Taiwan.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of the study was to investigate mathematics teaching efficacy and reform beliefs of elementary school teachers in Taiwan. Three major research questions provided the focus for this study: First, what are Taiwanese elementary school teachers' mathematics teaching efficacy (MTE) beliefs? Second, what are Taiwanese elementary school teachers' mathematics teaching reform (MTR) beliefs? Third, how are Taiwanese elementary school teachers' MTE beliefs related to their MTR beliefs? The quantitative process was used to gather, analyze, and report the data. The population included all elementary school teachers who teach mathematics in Taiwan.
The instrument used was a questionnaire which includes two sections. The first section investigates teachers' demographic characteristics. The second section is a composite 44-item instrument consisting of two scales: Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Belief (MTEB) and Mathematics Teaching Reform Belief (MTRB). Teachers were asked to respond to the 44 items by means of a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree with a neither agree nor disagree mid-point. It was assumed that a teacher's responses to the questionnaire items indicate his or her beliefs about mathematics teaching efficacy and reform.
Descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Pearson Correlation were utilized to analyze the collected data. In general, the teachers participating in the study showed positive beliefs about MTE and MTR. They held positive beliefs toward 36 statements on the 44-statement questionnaire. Some teachers had significantly higher MTE beliefs than the other teachers. They were those teachers who taught in an experimental, urban, and/or high SES school, who graduated from a teachers college, who has spent more time at mathematics or mathematics education workshops during the last year. Some teachers had significantly higher MTR beliefs than the other teachers. They were those teachers who taught in an experimental, high SES school, or both, who taught the low grade class, and/or who has spent more time at workshops during the last year.
There was a positive and statistically significant relationship between teachers' MTE and MTR beliefs. Some teachers' MTE beliefs were not significantly related to their MTR beliefs. They were those teachers who taught in a remote school, who had only 1–5 years teaching experiences, who taught less than 20 or more than 39 students, who graduated from a non-teachers college, who majored in science, and/or who has spent 6–15 hours at workshops during the last year. The study results have implications for teacher preparation and professional development activities.