Abstract
Language teacher motivation has been explored through various contexts in recent decades. However, less attention has been paid to teachers’ motivations for furthering their professional development in multilingual academic environments, such as by becoming visiting scholars at top universities at home or abroad. This study adopts a mixed-method approach to investigate language teachers’ motivations for being visiting scholars. First, a questionnaire was conducted on 169 teachers who spoke both English and languages other than English (LOTEs). Following an exploratory factor analysis, six separate motivational sources were identified: internal needs, stress relief, academic positioning, academic contact, academic symbolism, and policy support. For triangulation purposes, further interviews were conducted with three visiting scholars and one supervisor for in-depth qualitative data analysis. Interview findings reveal an imbalance between high demand for visiting scholarship funding and the financial allowances granted by governments and universities. Visiting scholars also experience inadequate academic guidance from their supervisors and few opportunities to participate in supervisors’ projects. Based on the research findings, this study proposes ways to sustain teacher motivation at the macro (policy) level, the meso (tutor system) level, and the micro (individual supervision) level.
Highlights
Teacher education has long been researched due to the critical roles that teachers play in society
To address this research gap, the current study examines the motivations of university language teachers to apply for visiting scholarships at top universities in mainland China, discussing possible solutions for sustaining and developing their motivation for professional development
The current study focuses on the motivations of teachers from different disciplines at mainland Chinese universities in terms of why they participate in Visiting Scholar Programs (VSPs)
Summary
Teacher education has long been researched due to the critical roles that teachers play in society. For policymakers and higher education administrators to construct effective frameworks to further sustain teacher motivation in continued professional development, it is beneficial to explore the various reasons why university teachers pursue Visiting Scholar Programs (VSPs) in the first place. To address this research gap, the current study examines the motivations of university language teachers to apply for visiting scholarships at top universities in mainland China, discussing possible solutions for sustaining and developing their motivation for professional development Adopting both questionnaire and interview as research instruments, this paper aims to unpack visiting teachers’ motivations of choosing the programs (through 30 items in the questionnaire), understand the various problems encountered in sustaining teachers’ visiting motivations (through three items of the questionnaire and the interview) in order to propose some suggestions for sustaining an ecology-friendly atmosphere for VSPs both in China and abroad. The resulting information will be used to suggest ways of fostering friendly and sustainable VSP experiences both in China and abroad
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