Georgia’s Rural Foreign Language Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy and How It Relates to Teacher Attrition

Foreign language teachers are in critical need in many parts of rural America. Using Bandura’s conceptual framework of self-efficacy teaching languages as a theoretical lens, the researchers created a scale to measure foreign language teacher efficacy and administered alongside a well-known efficacy survey to in-service rural teachers (N = 167) in Georgia. Data analysis indicates that the new instrument is psychometrically sound and there are two dimensions to language teacher efficacy: Content Knowledge and Facilitating Instruction. Positive correlations between the two surveys suggest that teaching languages is more than just strength of content knowledge and FL teachers may need assistance engaging students. Additionally, it appears female novice Spanish teachers are more prone to attrition than teachers of other languages. This research holds implications for professional development opportunities as well as teacher preparation programs. Nationally, the number of students enrolled in K-12 public schools in the United States (US) has been steadily increasing while the number of certified teachers willing to work in US classrooms has been decreasing. Such a phenomenon has contributed to a teacher shortage prevalent in many parts of the nation (American Association for Employment in Education, AAEE, 2008). Research on the lack of teachers suggests a lack of consensus regarding the factors associated with the shortage. While Ingersoll (2001, 2003) finds a revolving door of teacher attrition and turnover that helps explain the teacher shortage (Ingersoll, 2001, 2003), Darling-Hammond (2000) indicates that the shortage is exacerbated by a surplus of certified Georgia’s Rural Foreign Language 2 teachers who actively choose not to teach. Yet, others argue that a shortage of teachers in many parts of the country exists regardless of the available teaching pool from which to draw (AAEE, 2006; Fideler & Haselkorn, 1999), because these professionals tend to avoid employment in urban schools and small private schools. Further investigation reveals that an uneven distribution of teachers nationally appears to contribute to the current teacher shortage (Wilson, DarlingHammond, & Berry, 2001). Nevertheless, the literature clearly indicates there is a teacher shortage throughout the nation and among the areas of critical need are special education, bilingual education, math, science, and foreign languages (AAEE, 2008, Draper & Hicks, 2002; National Center for Education Statistics, 2002). While there is an abundant literature base describing the shortage of math and science teachers, there is a paucity of research discussing the lack of foreign language (FL) teachers, especially in rural schools. Such a finding is alarming because approximately half of the nation’s 80,000 public elementary and secondary schools are located in rural areas or small towns, and nearly one in three of America’s school-aged children attends public schools in rural areas or small towns (Johnson, 2003). Research indicates that in four states (Maine, Mississippi, Vermont, and West Virginia) the majority of their population lives in rural areas. Two others, South Dakota and Arkansas, come very close to having most of their inhabitants residing outside of suburban areas (Beeson & Strange, 2003). Characteristically, rural districts tend to have declining student populations, lower property value assessments and increased transportation expenses, a higher proportion of residents in or near poverty as compared to metropolitan areas, and difficulty attracting quality teachers (Dewees, 1999; Phillips, 2003). In this article, the authors highlight the current situation facing FL teachers specifically and advance five factors that help explain the FL teacher shortage in the context of rural schools. Georgia’s Rural Foreign Language 3 Afterwards, the researchers describe the quantitative and qualitative methods and survey used to assess rural FL teachers’ sense of efficacy teaching languages in Georgia. The article concludes with a discussion of the results and the implications from the findings. The purpose of this research is to call attention to the lack of language teachers and investigate how rural FL teachers’ sense of efficacy plays a role in their decision to remain or leave the teaching profession at a time of critical shortage (Swanson, 2008). Current State of Affairs Three decades ago researchers warned of a severe shortage of teachers in America (Boe & Gilford, 1992; Darling-Hammond, 1984; Haggstrom, Darling-Hammond, & Grissmer, 1988; National Academy of Sciences, 1987; National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983) due to increased student enrollment and teacher attrition. Unfortunately, the prediction was correct and there is a shortage of teachers in America’s classrooms today (AAEE, 2006; Draper & Hicks, 2002; National Center for Education Statistics, 2002). Current research indicates that the shortage is not uniform across content areas and severe shortages are reported in special education, mathematics, science, bilingual education, English as a Second Language, and foreign language (AAEE, 2008; U.S. Department of Education, 2010). FL teaching positions are found to be the most difficult to fill, much more so than math, science, and special education (Murphy, DeArmand, & Guin, 2003). Moreover, rural schools continually have problems locating skilled teachers and now these schools are faced with a teacher shortage (Barley & Brigham, 2008; Darling-Hammond, Berry, & Thoreson 2001; North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 2003). Additionally, FL is an area currently facing a national shortage of teachers regardless of educational context (AAEE, 2009). Research on the Georgia’s Rural Foreign Language 4 shortage of FL teachers points to at least five factors that explain the shortage: retirement, attrition, increased enrollments, legislation, and perceptions of teaching (Swanson, 2008).