Self-efficacy Beliefs of EFL Teachers when Having Transnational Students in their Classroom

Abstract

For many years, return migration from the United States to Mexico has been very present. According to Jacobo (2018), as cited in Despange and Manzano (2020), 1.5 million of these return migrants are school-aged children. Nonetheless, little do we know about how these transnational student teachers face the situation. The main objective of this study is to bring understanding to the self-efficacy beliefs EFL teachers present when receiving transnational students. For this purpose, a qualitative case study was conducted in which five EFL teachers at a public Mexican university were interviewed. Findings indicate that teachers’ self-efficacy perception tends to be positive and enriching. Teachers reported not having problems when integrating these students into their classrooms. However, when facing obstacles, they have developed different strategies to overcome them. This brings forth new information that had not been presented before, with the intent of closing the gap in the transnational literature.