Teachers' Motivation to Teach, Teacher Credibility, Metacognitive Awareness, and Students' Motivation and Affective Learning: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the possible relationships among teachers' metacognitive awareness, their motivation to teach, students' perceptions of teacher credibility and students' affective learning, and motivation to study. Three hundred sixty-five English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students and seventy-four EFL teachers participated in the study. Three questionnaires were administered to students and two questionnaires were administered to teachers. The collected data were subjected to Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test the significance of the hypothesized paths among variables. The results indicated significant positive paths from teacher metacognitive awareness to teacher credibility and teacher motivation, also from teacher credibility to teacher motivation and students' affective learning, and from teacher motivation and students' affective learning to student motivation. The findings also indicated that teacher motivation could significantly affect students' affective learning. Furthermore, the results revealed that teacher credibility promotes student motivation through full mediation of students' affective learning and the indirect intervention of teacher motivation. Moreover, the path leading from teacher metacognitive awareness to students' affective learning was justified through the indirect effects of teacher motivation and credibility. Implications for teachers and teacher educators are also presented.