WERE WE PREPARED ENOUGH? A STUDY ON THE BURNOUT LEVELS AND PROFESSIONAL SELF-EFFICACY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS IN DISTANCE EDUCATION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

The corona virus, which first appeared in 2019 and has caused deaths all around the world, has had an impact on all aspects of life and has resulted in social constraints. These mesasures have resulted in significant educational changes. Distance education, which has only been a supportive education type until today, has become the only alternative in education for a long time due to COVID19. This study was carried out to find out English language teachers’ general perceptions related to the obligatory distance education in the process of COVID19, their burnout level, and their professional self-efficacy perceptions. In order to examine these three categories, a questionnaire was developed using Maslach’s Burnout Inventory and Bandura’s Self-efficacy Scale. A total of 172 English teachers from Turkey responded to the questionnaire. In addition, a semi-structured interview research was conducted. The interview study included 16 teachers. It was determined that the English language teachers' burnout levels were relatively high in the process of obligatory distance education. English language teachers’ professional self-efficacy perceptions are found to be high as well. Participating teachers stated that they are professionally competent enough, but that the compulsory distance education process is a difficult process to carry out.