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Relationship Between Iranian EFL Teachers' Self-Efficacy and Their Burnout

Level in Universities and Schools

Article · February 2021

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 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research – Volume 9, Issue 35, Spring 2021(2)

Relationship Between Iranian EFL Teachers’ Self-Efficacy and Their

Burnout Level in Universities and Schools

Ibrahim Safari*, Assistant Professor, Department of English Language, Imam Hossein

Comprehensive University, Tehran, Iran
[email protected]

Abstract
In every field of teaching and learning, there are some factors that have an important role in both
teachers’ and students’ performance. Two of these effective psychological factors in the context
of education include self-efficacy and burnout. This research was conducted to examine the
statistical relationship between English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ self-efficacy and
burnout levels in the universities and schools of Iran. The data collection instruments were two
questionnaires, ‘Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale’ and ‘Maslach Burnout Inventory’. The
participants included 152 randomly selected teachers working in universities and schools. After
data collection, the SPSS software was applied to convert the obtained data into numerical and
interpretable data. To quantify the statistical relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and
burnout levels, correlational analysis was used. Results indicated, there was negative correlation
between teachers’ self-efficacy and burnout levels. Furthermore, multiple regression analysis
was conducted to estimate the relationship between self-efficacy and burnout better, which
indicated that teachers’ self-efficacy was a negative predictor of their burnout.

Keywords: Burnout, EFL teachers, self-efficacy

Introduction
Teachers communicate with large numbers of students, parents, and principals whom each
have different demands and problems. This important responsibility as a teacher needs to better
understand social norms and values. By a better understanding of the norms and values, teachers
can become role models and community will identify with them. In Iran, many EFL teachers are
highly motivated to teach when they begin to teach. These teachers think of the ways to be more
creative and innovative in order to help their students in learning English as a foreign language
effectively. They like to interchange different ideas with other colleagues and learn new things.
Therefore, these teachers may lose the excitement and pleasure of teaching in time, or they may
begin seeing their workplace as a stressful environment.
As stated by Johnson et al. (2005), teaching profession is one of the stressful jobs. Long-
term stress can lead to chronic fatigue that has a close relationship with the burnout symptom.
According to Maslach (2015, p. 1415), burnout is “a psychological syndrome that develops in
response to chronic emotional and interpersonal job stressors”. Therefore, to decrease the level
of burnout, it is unavoidable to remove stress. Recently, teachers’ self-efficacy and its
relationship with their burnout have received substantial research interest. It is commonly
believed that these two factors considerably influence teaching and learning processes. Over the
past few decades, teachers have increasingly become the focus of attention in the educational
systems because they have the most important role in teaching contexts. Wright, Hom, and
Sanders (1997, p. 63) in their study argued that, “more can be done to improve education by
improving the effectiveness of teachers than by any other single factor”.
Human resources of each organization as the most important factor in achieving their goals
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research – Volume 9, Issue 35, Spring 2021(2) 26

play an important role and is considered the driving force of the organization. Job burnout is
defined as emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment in
which teachers are more susceptible to burnout because of their job nature. In other words,
because effective teachers are essential to the achievement of educational goals and objectives, it
can be quite clear to examine the factors affecting the burnout and self-efficacy of EFL teachers
in particular. Since self-efficacy is an important variable and can affect rate and time of burnout,
the relationship between self-efficacy and job burnout is studied. Keeping the two mentioned
variables into consideration, changes in the possible associations between these variables are
quite likely to affect the outcome of an educational program and therefore need to be widely
investigated.

Literature Review
This section is purporting to present an overview of the theoretical underpinnings of the
study as well as the empirical research conducted about the main variables under investigation,
namely EFL teachers’ burnout and self-efficacy.

Teacher’s Burnout
Jennett, Harris, and Mesibove (2003) defined burnout as a result of long-term job stress,
particularly among teachers. They argued that most of the teachers may experience anxiety in
their job, while the reasons behind this problem are different. Actually, some of the teachers can
manage job stress successfully, while in contrast others may not be able to manage their job
stress. Further, burnout can be defined as a constant exhaustion with various cognitive,
emotional, physical, and social syndromes, originating from long-term job stress, especially in
jobs with continual human contacts (Brouwers, & Tomic, 2000; Johnson et al., 2005).
According to Maslach (1999), burnout is a psychological problem of mental and emotional
exhaustion because of the expanded stress factors on the job. It is consisted of three subscales,
emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Brouwers and
Tomic (2000) pointed out that Emotional exhaustion relates to being emotionally overextended,
depersonalization on the other hand, relates to representing negative responses to the others, and
reduced personal accomplishment relates to having a negative evaluation of one person. Put
differently, as stated by Byrne (1991), emotional exhaustion refers to the feelings of tiredness as
one’s energy is used up; depersonalization is related to the development of negative attitudes
about the others and considering them as enemies; and reduced personal accomplishment refers
to the individuals’ dissatisfaction with their achievements.
In the same line, Shirom and Melamed (2006) specified three aspects: emotional
exhaustion, physical fatigue, and cognitive tiredness. Both methods are alike as both focus on the
emotional aspect. For this reason, latest studies emphasize on the emotion-regulation ability, that
demonstrate a central part of emotional intelligence and dealt with the potential to control one’s
own and others’ emotional conditions (Brackett et al., 2010). It is necessary to mention that the
emotion-regulation ability affects how teacher’s express emotions, handle their stress, and
interact with the other people (Gross, 2002) and it additionally related to the burnout symptom
(Brackett et al., 2010). It should also have added that the specific emotion-regulation abilities are
not only considerable in this regard, but also, teachers’ thoughts about these abilities. It means
that emotion-regulation is a component of teachers’ self-efficacy.
In a study, Brouwers and Tomic (2000) represented that self-efficacy has a continuous
impact on depersonalization and a concurrent impact on personal achievement, whereas the
direction was reverse for the association between self-efficacy and emotional exhaustion.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research – Volume 9, Issue 35, Spring 2021(2) 27

Further, Skaalvik and Skaalvik (2007) indicated that there was a significant association between
teachers’ self-efficacy and burnout level, and particularly for emotional exhaustion. Therefore,
more researches on this area of study, particularly with regard to various educational
organizations, are required to understand the association between teachers’ self-efficacy and
their burnout. Without this broad sense, it is not possible to make a conclusion that self-efficacy
develops like a factor protecting from burnout syndrome nor is it possible discover the most
effective approaches to assist teachers’ self-efficacy with the purpose of decreasing their
burnout.
According to Maslach (1999), burnout is “an issue of particular concern for people-
oriented occupations in which (a) the relationship between providers and recipients is central to
the work and (b) the provision of education, service, or treatment can be a highly emotional
experience” (p. 209). Thus, teaching is one of the occupations in which burnout can be
developed. In addition, Huberman and Vandenberghe (1999) pointed out that entire burnout
process in a university or school refers to various elements like interpersonal tensions, overload,
role conflict, role ambiguity, along with the class size, demographics, heterogeneity of pupils,
pupils’ aptitudes and sociocultural backgrounds.
In a study, Brouwers and Tomic (2000) aimed to find the statistical relationships between
teachers’ efficacy and burnout. The results revealed that emotional exhaustion had an impact on
efficacy whereas the time-frame was synchronous, while efficacy had an impact on personal
accomplishment and depersonalization whereas the time-frame was longitudinal and
synchronous respectively. As a final, they proposed many solutions on how to remove and
decrease teachers’ burnout level. In another research, Grayson and Alvarez (2008) investigated
the relative contributions of teacher satisfaction, demographic characteristics and teacher-rated
school climate on their burnout level. Ultimately, they concluded that teacher stressors, which
cause increased degrees of burnout, should be decreased so that the school climate can be
improved. In spite of the above mentioned researches that concentrated on teachers’ burnout
level as an effective factor in mainstream education, burnout has not been well studied in the
field of EFL.

Teacher’s Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy theory is originated from the Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory.
Bandura (2006) has defined self-efficacy as individuals’ faith in their capacity to be successful in
certain conditions. Our understanding of environmental opportunities depends on efficacy beliefs
and it affects the degree of exertion applied on a performance, and the degree to which anyone
would preserve when confronted with difficulties (Pajares, 1997). According to the social
cognitive theory, teachers’ self-efficacy can be defined as their beliefs in ability to plan,
organize, and implement different educational activities that are critical to achieve pedagogical
purposes. Self-efficacy influences how teachers to understand the opportunities and difficulties
and how much effort and what activities they need to use in overcoming these difficulties
(Bandura, 2006).
In spite of the fact, the relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and their students’
accomplishments was confirmed by many researches (Caprara, Barbaranelli, Steca, & Malone,
2006; Collie, Shapka, & Perry, 2012), leading to a priority to consider teachers’ self-efficacy as
set of professional attitudes that includes all necessary challenges in their everyday work.
Teachers with high self-efficacy are capable to effectively handle these challenges containing
problems with reference to the students’ learning and behaviour, contact with colleagues and
parents, school leadership, and long-life learning. Therefore, they do not experience them as
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research – Volume 9, Issue 35, Spring 2021(2) 28

stressful, unlike teachers with low self-efficacy. It implies that teachers’ high self-efficacy can be
seen as a factor to protect them from stressful situations, containing lasting strong stress leading
to the burnout symptom.
According to Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy and Hoy (1998), efficacy relates to
individual’s viewpoints about their potential to carry out at a given level of achievement.
Bandura (1977) stated that these viewpoints affect how much attempt individuals make, how
much they tolerate failures, how much stress they experience in dealing with challenging
situations, and how long they continue in front of problems. As stated by Henson, Kogan, and
Vacha-Haase (2001), a strong meaning of efficacy is one of the best features of effective
teachers as it referred to a range of positive teaching behaviors. Further, Tschannen-Moran and
Woolfolk Hoy (2001) argued that a teacher with a high level of efficacy has more organization
and planning, is more energetic about new thoughts, and is more involved in the needs of
students.
To better interpret the notion of teacher’s efficacy, various studies have been carried out in
the literature (Gibson & Dembo, 1984; Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001). The most
extensively applied of these models is that of Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy (2001),
which was also applied in the present research. In their model, teacher efficacy includes three
components namely, classroom management, student engagement, and instructional strategies.
Classroom management refers teachers’ beliefs in their ability to control students’ disruptive
behavior; student engagement deals with teachers’ beliefs in being able to involve students’ in
classroom activities; and instructional strategies relates to teachers’ beliefs in their ability to
engage alternative or new strategies in the classroom. Despite the rich literature on both
theoretical and empirical characteristics of teacher efficacy in mainstream education (Gurvitch &
Metzler, 2009; Liaw, 2009; Shidler, 2008; Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001; Wheatley,
2005), there have been few studies on teacher efficacy in the EFL field (Abednia, 2006; Atay,
2007; Chacon, 2005; Moradkhani, 2009; Safari, Davaribina, & Khoshnevis, 2020).
In a study, Abednia (2006) attempted to create an instrument to measure a teacher efficacy
for foreign language contexts. Although his instrument was an important development in teacher
efficacy researches in the field of EFL, it does not have a clear theoretical framework behind it,
and its subscales measure total teacher efficacy rather than teacher efficacy in specific activities
and contexts, which is much highlighted in the teacher efficacy literature by Tschannen-Moran et
al. (1998) and Wheatley (2005). In another study, Chacon (2005) indicated that there was a
positive relationship between teachers’ efficacy and their language proficiency, in which
teachers with higher level of efficacy had more language proficiency. Eventually, Moradkhani
(2009) also conducted a study on the efficacy of English language teachers, in which he
concluded no statistical difference between the teachers’ efficacy and their students’
achievements.

Purpose of the study

Taking the previously stated factors into account, it is quite wise to assume that having
effective teachers in order to achieve the objectives of an educational program is undeniable.
This research was an effort to examine the association and interaction between two determining
aspects of EFL teachers' social cognitive behavior, namely their self-efficacy and burnout. Some
of the researchers proposed that lacking sense of mastery (i.e., self-efficacy) in EFL teachers
ultimately leads to their incapability of adaptation and accordingly their being burnout
(Brouwers & Tomic, 2000; Chwalisz, Altmaier & Russell, 1992).
The present research aimed to shed more light on EFL teachers’ burnout process by
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research – Volume 9, Issue 35, Spring 2021(2) 29

considering their self-efficacy. This research also attempted to examine Iranian EFL teachers’
self-efficacy and its relationship with their burnout level. Therefore, it investigated the following
research question.

RQ. Is there any statistical relationship between EFL teachers’ self-efficacy and their
burnout?

Methodology
Design of the Study
The present research is quantitative in nature and the following procedure was followed in
order to achieve the purpose of the study. After preparing the questionnaires (Teacher Sense of
Efficacy Scale and Teacher’s burnout scale) in print, the researcher took the advice of a number
of professions colleagues concerning the validity of the questionnaires in order to make sure that
they are suitable for the intended purposes. They confirmed the construct and content validity of
the questionnaires. The reliability of the test was also calculated through Cronbach Alpha.
To examine the statistical association between EFL teachers’ self-efficacy and their
burnout level, correlational survey research design model was employed. After measuring these
teachers’ self-efficacy and burnout level quantitatively, correlational research design was used to
observe whether there was a statistical association between the variables. According to Lodico,
Spaulding, and Voegtle (2006), the reason behind the design of this study is composed of testing
if the measurement number of one variable varies systematically in relation with the
measurement number of other variable.

Participants
This study consisted of 152 EFL teachers from different universities and schools
volunteered to participate in the research. Table 1 shows the demographic characteristics of the
teachers. According to the Table 1, more than half of the participant (58.552 %) were male
teachers. Majority of the participants aged between 26 and 45 years (82.236 %), representing
that most of the teachers were young, whereas only 2.631 percent of the teachers were between
56 and 65 years.

Table 1
Demographic Characteristics of the Participants of the Study
Variables Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Male 89 58.552 58.552
Gender
Female 63 41.447 41.447
26-35 76 50.000 50.000
36-45 49 32.236 32.236
Age Group (Year)
46-55 23 15.131 15.131
56-65 4 2.631 2.631
6-15 82 53.947 53.947
Year of Teaching gp. 16-25 67 44.078 44.078
26-35 3 1.973 1.973
Universit
74 48.684 48.684
Place of Teaching y
School 78 51.315 51.315
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research – Volume 9, Issue 35, Spring 2021(2) 30

Total 152 100.0 100.0

It is worth mentioning, this study was investigated only on teachers whose experience of
teaching has ranged between 6 and 35 years. Taking into account the fact that the dominant age
group was 26-45, it is quite logical that the majority of the participants had a lower teaching
experience (53.947 %). In accordance with Table 1, the highest teaching experience was between
6 to 15 years and 16 to 25 years, whereas only 1.973 percent of the participants had teaching
experience between 25 and 35 years.
Because some of the EFL teachers work in other educational settings in addition to their
fixed work place, this study divided them into two groups (e. g., universities and schools) that
teachers themselves mentioned at the time of completing the questionnaires. In accordance with
Table 1, the higher percentage belonged to those teachers who work in the schools (51.315 %),
and the lower percentage related to those teachers who work in universities (48.684 %).

Instruments
Two questionnaires of Burnout and self-efficacy were used in this research, and
demographic form asked about the participants’ demographic information involving age, gender,
year of teaching (experience), and place of teaching.

Teacher’s burnout scale

To measure the burnout level of Iranian EFL teachers, Maslach Burnout Inventory-
Educators’ Survey (MBI-ES) by Kokkinos (2006) was applied. This 22-item measurement scale
includes three subscales, namely Emotional Exhaustion (EE), Depersonalization (DP) and
Personal Accomplishment (PA). The frequency scale ranged from zero (never) to six (every
day). High scores on emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and low scores on personal
accomplishment are indicators of burnout. The scoring is as follows: emotional exhaustion: Nine
items 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 13, 14, 16, 20, which illustrate feelings of being emotionally overextended and
exhausted by job, depersonalization: Five items 5, 10, 11, 15, 22, which identify a doubtful attitude
and impersonal response between oneself and service recipients, and personal accomplishment:
Eight items: 4, 7, 9, 12, 17, 18, 19, 21, which explain feelings of efficacy and achievement in
employee’s work with individuals. The Cronbach Alpha Coefficient for the entire of the questionnaire was
estimated as .897. The coefficients for subscales were also measured. The coefficient for Exhaustion was .895;
.754 for Depersonalization and .815 for Personal accomplishment.

Teachers’ self-efficacy Scale

Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale, designed by Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk-Hoy
(2001), consists of 24 items and is divided into three factors: Efficacy of classroom management
(8 Items), efficacy of students’ management (8 Items) and efficacy of instructional strategies (8
Items). The participants were requested to report their beliefs on a scale of 1 to 9, with 1
meaning “nothing,” 3 meaning “very little,” 5 meaning – “some influence”, 7 meaning – “quite a
bit”, and 9 meaning – “a great deal”. The Cronbach Alpha Coefficient for the entire of the
questionnaire was calculated as .872. The coefficient was .824 for Efficacy in Student
Engagement subscale; .782 for Efficacy in Instructional Strategies and .844 for Efficacy in
Classroom Management.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research – Volume 9, Issue 35, Spring 2021(2) 31

Data Collection Procedure

When the questionnaires were piloted with a group of 34 teachers, minor modifications
were made in the wordings of some items to improve their intelligibility. Additionally, the scores
obtained from these teachers were fed into Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)
and Cronbach's alpha was estimated for the scales to make sure the scales were sufficiently
reliable. It is worth mentioning that a group of teachers in Tehran and Ardabil provinces of Iran
were contacted and requested to distribute the prepared questionnaires among their own
colleagues and ask for their cooperation. As stated before, the questionnaires were given to 64
teachers in person and 88 copies were sent via email or social networks (mainly Telegram and
WhatsApp). Totally, 152 teachers answered completely the questionnaires and returned them
back. These questionnaires were scored and the obtained data were given into SPSS version 16.
It is necessary to mention that the negatively worded items were reverse-coded and the necessary
preliminary computations were done to prepare the data for the SPSS.

Data Analysis Procedure

Data were analyzed employing the SPSS analytic software through calculation of means,
frequencies, correlation and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The data were tested for
multicollinearity and singularity, outliers, normality, linearity and homesce-dasticity before
doing the analyses. Specifically, assumptions for the linear regression analyses were examined.
EFL teachers’ age, gender and year of teaching (experience) factors were controlled and
hierarchical multiple regression test was conducted, while investigating the prediction of the
teachers’ burnout level by their self-efficacy.

Results
As mentioned above, a number of statistical procedures were implemented to examine the
association between teachers’ self-efficacy and their burnout level, the participants’ mean scores
for these variables were estimated to measure their self-efficacy and burnout levels.
According to achieved results in the Table 2, teachers perceived their self-efficacy levels in
their job as quite high (x̅ = 3.97; Often). Then, the mean score for the Classroom Management
subscale is the highest in comparison with other subscales (x̅ = 4.11; Often). These results also
indicated that teachers perceived them to be most efficacious in classroom management. It was
followed by teachers’ perception of self-efficacy in employing instructional strategies (x̅ = 4.02;
Often) and students’ engagement in the process of learning actively (x̅ = 3.82; Often).

Table 2.
Means, standard errors and standard deviations for teacher self-efficacy scores
x̅ SE SD
Classroom Management 4.11 0.03 0.54
Instructional Strategies 4.02 0.03 0.52
Student Engagement 3.82 0.04 0.58
Teacher Efficacy Total 3.97 0.03 0.44

Results of the study in the Table 3 represent that teachers’ burnout levels were found
relatively lower (x̅ = 2.18; Rarely) in comparison with their self-efficacy. The highest mean score
among the subscales was for Exhaustion (x̅ = 2.37; Rarely). These results show that teachers
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research – Volume 9, Issue 35, Spring 2021(2) 32

recognized that they were physically and emotionally worn out. Exhaustion was followed by low
Personal Accomplishment (x̅ = 2.21; Rarely) and Depersonalization (x̅ = 1.64; Never).

Table 3
Means, standard errors and standard deviations for teacher burnout scores

x̅ SE SD
Exhaustion 2.37 0.05 0.79
Low Personal Accomplishment 2.21 0.03 0.51
Depersonalization 1.64 0.04 0.64
Burnout Total 2.18 0.03 0.52

It is necessary to mention that Pearson correlation coefficient was estimated before

examining the prediction of teachers’ burnout by their self-efficacy in order to observe whether
there was any statistical relationship between these variables. The correlation test between
teachers’ burnout scores and self-efficacy scores put forward a medium, significant and negative
correlation between the variables, r = -.480. p < .01. These findings represent that by increasing
the teachers’ self-efficacy scores, their burnout scores decrease significantly. Then, hierarchical
multiple regression was conducted to get a better description of this relationship. The findings of
the hierarchical multiple regression test, which was conducted to observe whether teachers’ self-
efficacy had a predictive power on their burnout level, are represented in the Table 4.

Table 4
The hierarchical multiple regression test results for teachers’ self-efficacy and burnout
Model Dependent Variable: Burnout
Independent Variables B Std.Error Beta t p
(Constant) 2.144 .355 6.004 .000
gender .007 .093 .006 .086 .928

year of teaching -.09 .015 -.135 -.655 .510

1.Step

Age .004 .014 .067 .330 .739

(Sabit) 4.294 .433 9.866 .000
gender .089 .081 .076 1.088 .275
year of teaching -.013 .013 -.190 -1.054 .291
2. Step

Age .09 .012 .143 .794 .425

Self-efficacy -.578 .080 -.493 -7.086 .000
ΔR2 = .244***
*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

According to the Table 4, in the first step, age, gender, and year of teaching (experience)
variables were controlled and in the second step, teachers’ self-efficacy points were added to the
model. It is worth mentioning that in the first step, control variables explained 0.5 % variance of
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research – Volume 9, Issue 35, Spring 2021(2) 33

teacher burnout. But, after adding self-efficacy points to the model in the second step, explained
variance increased to 24.4 %, F (4.156) = 12.87, p < .001. Therefore, teachers’ self-efficacy
explained an additional 24 % of variance. When the values related to self-efficacy variable are
estimated, the findings revealed that the influence of teachers’ self-efficacy on their burnout
level is significant, β = -.493, p < .001. These findings represent that when age, gender, and year
of teaching (experience) variables are controlled, teachers’ self-efficacy negatively predicts their
burnout.

Discussion
The present research attempts to find the statistical relationship between Iranian EFL
teachers’ self-efficacy and their burnout level in universities and schools. As stated in the
literature, one of the main factors increasing teachers’ burnout level is a lack of professional
skills leading to teachers’ stressful situations more often than teachers whose capabilities are
higher. Therefore, it can be stated that it is not only capability itself but also “simply” the belief
about self-efficacy is beneficial. Several researches about teachers’ self-efficacy represented that
self-efficacy is an important prerequisite for professional development. The present research has
confirmed the statistical relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and their burnout level.
Particularly, this research has investigated the main role of self-efficacy and its close relationship
to job burnout. Teaching profession is a highly emotional activity; Therefore, it is necessary to
both teachers’ professional development and students’ achievement that more studies are
conducted in the field of emotion-regulation in teachers’ life.
As mentioned above, the purpose of this research was to find the statistical relationship
between EFL teachers’ self-efficacy and burnout at university and school settings. Therefore,
this relationship between the variables was evaluated by correlation analysis and a significant,
medium and negative correlation was found. Regression analysis was conducted after the
examining the existence of the relationship. Demographic data such as age, gender and
experience variables were controlled while conducting hierarchical multiple regression test. The
findings of the regression analysis proposed that teachers’ self-efficacy negatively predicted their
burnout. Put differently, teachers with low self-efficacy experienced burnout more than those
teachers with high self-efficacy. In a research, Brouwers and Tomic (2000) pointed out that
teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs about classroom management were remarkably related to their
burnout level. Further, Skaalvik and Skaalvik (2009) stated that exhaustion and
depersonalization dimensions of burnout have a negative relationship with teachers’ self-
efficacy, which is in line with the results obtained in the present study.
In the same way, Karahan and Balat (2011) stated that there was a negative relationship
between private school teachers’ self-efficacy and their burnout. Schwarzer and Hallum (2008)
in a study on Syrian and German teachers also suggested a negative relationship between
teachers’ burnout and their self-efficacy. The result indicated that this relationship is an inter-
cultural phenomenon. Later, Çelikkaleli (2011) found a negative relationship between teachers’
burnout and their self-efficacy in an education center for adults. These results in agreement with
the current study pointed out that the negative influence of the low teacher self-efficacy on job
burnout is common for teachers of different school levels. When the results of the present study
and previously conducted studies are reviewed, it can be concluded that teachers’ self-efficacy is
a crucial factor that should be taken into account by teachers and all the educational
administrators.
In line with the results of current study, Kerry-Henkel (2017) stated that teachers with
higher self-efficacy experienced less burnout. Higher teacher self-efficacy was correlated with
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research – Volume 9, Issue 35, Spring 2021(2) 34

fewer referrals for students to the student support team and the identification of fewer students
at-risk for emotional difficulties. Higher teacher burnout was not correlated with number of
referrals but was found to be associated with the identification of more students at-risk for
emotional difficulties as well as the number of total students identified as at-risk overall
Maslach et al. (2001) argued that if the relationship between burnout, self-efficacy and job
satisfaction and the results of the present study and other similar studies that represent the
negative relationship between teachers’ burnout and their self-efficacy are taken into account, it
can be argued that teachers’ self-efficacy is an important factor for effectiveness of universities
and schools. As stated by Hoy (2000), there are three main factors which have an important role
in constructing teachers’ self-efficacy. The first factor is the teachers’ positive teaching
experiences particularly at the beginning of their job. The second factor is the observing other
teachers’ effective teaching practices. The third and last factor involves convincing teachers
about their effectiveness or potential effectiveness by offering positive and constructive feedback
for effective teaching practices.
Bolat (2011) explained the role of positive experiences as a necessary factor to increase the
teachers’ self-efficacy. To achieve this goal, teachers should be given opportunities to increase
their skills and knowledge, to have practice their responsibilities. Teachers should also be
provided courage and rewarded for their skills and knowledge. Education administrators and
stakeholders are recommended to consider these mentioned elements in increasing teachers’ self-
efficacy. These attempts may involve the job or in service training to increase teachers’
capabilities and other necessary arrangements.
Although the results of this study suggested a negative relationship between teachers’
burnout and self-efficacy, the answer to the question of which methods can help to increase their
efficacy is not discussed. Tschannen-Moren and Hoy (2001) stated that taking into account
teachers’ self-efficacy has an influence on student achievement, behaviors and attitudes along
with their performance, studying how to improve teachers’ self-efficacy seems a very important
area of study. Understanding teachers’ self-efficacy factors that contribute to its continuity make
it necessary to collect qualitative data by instruments like observation and interview or
quantitative data collection techniques when necessary.
According to the above mentioned discussions, burnout is considered to be a potential
problem for all EFL teachers, particularly in universities and schools, where teachers have to
deal with students and other colleagues. Another substantial point related to the teachers’
burnout was its direct and indirect costs and damages. Accordingly, the implementation of
measures to control the level of burnout, results in improving teachers’ mental health, teaching
effectiveness, interpersonal relationships and finally their job satisfaction.

Conclusions
Effective teachers have a pivotal role in the performance and success of educational
systems and different psychological and sociological factors can influence their success and
failure. For this reason, the present research intended to investigate two important factors
influencing the performance of EFL teachers. More specifically, it aimed to investigate the
interaction and relationship between two determining aspects of EFL teachers' behavior, namely
burnout and self-efficacy. One-hundred and fifty-two Iranian EFL teachers from different
universities and schools participated in the study. As the main data collection instruments, two
questionnaires were submitted to the participants in three different ways: email, social networks
and in person, and they were requested to complete and send them back. After data collection,
SPSS version 16 was employed to find the relationship between the main variables.
 International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Research – Volume 9, Issue 35, Spring 2021(2) 35

According to the findings of the data analysis, there was negative correlation between
teachers’ self-efficacy and burnout levels. Furthermore, multiple regression analysis was
conducted to estimate the relationship between the self-efficacy and burnout better, which
indicated that teachers’ self-efficacy was a negative predictor of their burnout. The results of this
study proposed the significance of conducting different courses for EFL teachers to increase
their self-efficacy. EFL teachers are recommended to acquire skills related to control their
stressors in order to manage their burnout level. In the same line, education administrators and
managers also have an important role in providing the necessary requirements for these teachers.
In this regard, chancellors and Colleagues can help and support for stressed-teachers.
Any language teaching investors or stakeholders, such as educational policy-makers,
teachers, and researchers might benefit from the findings of this research. Moreover, this study
can help educators and administrators to better understand the psychological and sociological
aspects of EFL teachers and take measures to remove barriers in this regard and foster the
achievement of educational objectives. The education policy for EFL teachers should
concentrate on developing skills for different aspects of the educational process, because of the
teacher’s multifaceted role. It has been proposed that teachers should achieve their potential
skills and develop the proficiency which are necessary to manage the classroom. EFL teachers
are recommended to be trained on how to deal with conditions and challenges related to the
social environment of Iran. According to this study, it is recommended to assist the EFL teachers
by giving feedback to reduce their job stress and increase self-efficacy.
This study has different limitations which should be kept in mind in order to interpret the
findings. At first, it is necessary to mention that, as the sample included EFL teachers from
specific areas, that make it impossible to generalize the findings to other teachers. As a second
limitation, the present study did not consider the differences among cultures, religious beliefs,
and their educational autonomy. Studying the previously mentioned aspects of EFL teachers are
recommended to get more precise conclusions. In spite of the limitations, the findings have
provided new insights that deserving additional studies.
Because the teachers studied in this research were English language teachers working at
universities and schools, further research can be conducted in the field of teachers of other
disciplines and elsewhere. Future studies could be intended to investigate deeply into other
factors regarding self-efficacy and burnout like commitment, job satisfaction, professional
development, engagement, and leadership. Developing and extending this study may involve a
greater sample size, involving various types of educational workplaces and demographic
examples.

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