In this study, teachers were asked to evaluate their own writing skills in Icelandic and English using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from Very good (score = 1) to Very poor (score = 5). The results, presented in Table 6, show that teachers perceived their writing skills in Icelandic to be high, but lower in English.
The majority of primary school science teachers (70%) and secondary school language teachers (70.8%) reported their writing skills in Icelandic to be Very good. However, language teachers in primary schools (54.9%) and science teachers at secondary schools (55%) reported lower perceptions of their Icelandic writing skills. These results suggest that teachers feel more confident in their writing abilities in their first language.
When reporting their writing skills in English, primary school teachers regarded their skills as mainly Good (42.7%-56.7%), with science teachers reporting the highest perception of writing skills in English. Meanwhile, secondary school teachers had more diverse responses, with some reporting their skills as Very good (29.2%-33.8%), Good (25%-41.7%) and Neither good nor Bad (24.6%-35%). Language teachers reported a higher percentage of Very good writing skills (33.8%) compared to social studies teachers (41.7%). These results suggest that teachers have varied perceptions about their abilities to write proficiently in English.
The study also found a distinctive difference in perception of writing skills between male and female teachers. Female teachers reported higher levels of perceived writing skills in Icelandic, with 59% of primary school and 68.8% of secondary school teachers reporting their skills to be Very good. In contrast, male teachers at primary and secondary school levels reported their skills as Very good (21.1% and 42.3%, respectively). However, when it comes to English writing skills, female primary school teachers evaluated their skills as Very good (12.8%), Good (43.6%), and Neither good nor Bad (32.1%) while secondary female teachers reported their skills as Very good (30%) and Good (32.5%). Male teachers did not report their skills in English in significant percentages.
Overall, this study highlights the importance of teachers' perceptions of their language proficiency and how these perceptions can vary among language skills and gender. These findings may have implications for teacher training programs and curriculum development.