An investigation into EFL teachers’ motivation to teach from a self-determination perspective

Abstract

Teacher motivation has recently received a lot of attention in different educational areas. However, little attempt has been made to explore the role of motivation in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in Iran from self-determination perspective. Feeling this gap, the present study employed a mixed method approach to identify the motivational profiles among Iranian EFL teachers and explore the relationships between their motivational profiles and their demographic variables. To these ends, the cluster analysis was used to identify the motivational profiles in a sample of 115 Iranian EFL teachers. The participants, who were selected through non-probability sampling, were asked to fill out the Motivation to Teach Questionnaire (MTQ) as well as demographic information questionnaire. A three-cluster solution resulted in three distinctive motivational profiles: Low, Moderate, and High groups. Additionally, results from Chi-square tests revealed that there were significant associations between cluster membership and demographic variables such as years of experience and place of work. Follow-up semi-structured interviews illustrated the underlying sources of the Iranian EFL teachers’ types of motivation within each cluster. Findings have implications for EFL teachers and educational policy makers to take into account teachers’ motivational types and attributes to foster teacher development, and consequently, promote EFL learning.