Identifying Motivational Factors of Pre-service EFL Teachers

Abstract

For over sixty years what motivates individuals to become teachers and how they perceive teaching as a career have been investigated through a growing body of research. The underlying reasons for the research are mostly the problems of teacher shortages and teacher quality. To maintain informed and intelligent generations, teacher quality and teaching cover an important ground in the development of many countries all around the world. The issue of teacher shortages and teacher quality not only differs from one country to another but also from one field to another. In this regard, English language teaching (ELT) is one of the fields that experience teacher shortage and teacher quality issues in Turkey than other teaching fields. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the motivations of pre-service EFL teachers for choosing ‘teaching as a profession and their perceptions about teaching career’. A total of 210 pre-service EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers voluntarily participated in the study. The data was gathered by utilizing a motivation scale. The results revealed that prior experiences as a learner, social utility values were the most significant motivation factors for teacher trainees. The findings were discussed in relation to language teacher education.