“I’ve Decided to Become an English Teacher”: Pre-Service EFL Teachers’ Reasons for Choosing Teaching as a Career

Abstract

Purpose: The present study aimed to probe pre-service EFL teachers’ reasons for choosing teaching as a field of study and future career in the under-researched context of Turkey. The variance in their career motivations in terms of grade level was also examined in the study. Besides, the study aimed to explore whether any of the factors influencing their career motivations predict their academic achievement. Design/Methodology/Approach: The Factors Influencing Teaching Choice Scale (Watt & Richardson, 2006) was administered to 155 pre-service EFL teachers enrolled in the English language teaching (ELT) department of a state university in Turkey. The emergent data were first descriptively analyzed to find out the career motivations of the participants. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was also performed to explore whether grade level significantly affects pre-service EFL teachers’ career motivations. Lastly, a standard multiple regression analysis was used to investigate whether any causal relationships exist between the participants’ career motivations and their achievement as represented by their GPA. Findings: The results of descriptive statistics demonstrated that the participants had moderately high level of career motivations. Grade level did not have any significant impact on their career motivations. The findings of the multiple regression analysis demonstrated that, of the factors affecting teaching choice, only time for family, desire to work with children, intrinsic career values, and desire to make social contribution emerged as the predictors of GPA, explaining 47% of the variance in the pre-service EFL teachers’ academic achievement. Conclusion: In the process of teacher education, it is vital to acknowledge and incorporate the multiple motives of career choice that EFL student teachers hold. Organizing teacher education programs drawing on multiple motives might contribute significantly to completion of teacher education and teacher retention in future profession.