Foreign Language Teachers' Attitudes and Motivation Towards Distance Learning

Abstract

Language is an important tool of communication, especially in a foreign setting. Foreign language teachers, help their students to access foreign experiences by reason of their ability to communicate with foreign nationals. Teachers’ motivation however influences foreign language education and its effectiveness. The aim of this study is to examine the predictive effect of foreign language teachers' motivations on their attitudes towards distance education. For this purpose, 356 foreign language teachers who teach in Turkey (240 females, 116 males) were reached. The ages of the teachers are in the range of 23-64 and the mean is 41.9 (SD =9.44). Personal Information Form, Attitude Scale Toward Distance Learning (ASTDL), and Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) were applied to the participating teachers. Multiple regression was used to analyze the data in the study. Accordingly, extrinsic motivation predicts both positive and negative attitudes towards distance education. In addition, motivation predicts a positive attitude.