Mentoring as a Factor of Professional Adaptation among Early-Career Foreign Language Teachers in Higher Education

Abstract

The professional adaptation of early-career university teachers is an important factor influencing teaching effectiveness, job satisfaction, and long-term academic development. This issue is particularly relevant for foreign language teachers, who face additional challenges related to communicative language teaching, assessment practices, and continuous professional development. The present study examines the role of mentoring in the professional adaptation of early-career foreign language teachers working in higher education institutions. The study employed a quantitative survey design. Data were collected through an online questionnaire administered to 90 early-career foreign language teachers from Russian universities. The questionnaire explored participants’ mentoring experiences and measured various dimensions of professional adaptation, including teaching confidence, understanding of institutional requirements, workload management, collegial relationships, and overall adaptation satisfaction. Descriptive statistics and an independent-samples Student t-test were used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that only 21 participants had experienced mentoring during their first years of university employment. However, teachers with mentors demonstrated significantly higher levels of professional adaptation (M = 4.24, SD = 0.51) than those without mentors (M = 3.33, SD = 1.11), with the difference being statistically significant. The largest differences were observed in teaching confidence, understanding institutional requirements, integration into the university community, and satisfaction with professional adaptation. The results highlight the importance of mentoring as an effective mechanism for supporting the successful adaptation of early-career foreign language teachers and suggest the need for strengthening mentoring practices in higher education institutions.