Understanding and Enhancing Chinese TEFL Teachers' Motivation for Continuing Professional Development Through the Lens of Self-Determination Theory.

Jie Yang

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.768320

Abstract

Teachers’ continuing professional development (CPD) is a dynamic process that coordinates teachers’ external behavior and internal states. Most teachers participate in varied forms of CPD activities either voluntarily or contractually. The more motivated teachers are to engage in CPD, the more likely they achieve professional and personal growth. Against this backdrop, the current study, adopting the framework of self-determination theory (SDT), sought to investigate the types and levels of Chinese college TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language, hereafter TEFL) teachers’ motivation toward CPD. The questionnaire survey was administered to 402 academics who taught the English language in diverse universities in China. The quantitative analysis showed that teachers exhibited stronger identified regulation and intrinsic motivation than external regulation. Specifically, the exploratory factor analysis identified five motivational orientations: inner-directed academic improvement and cognitive interest, academic self-fulfillment and obligation, academic and social responsibility, social recognition and promotion, lacking the intention for CPD, which corresponded to the SDT motivation continuum. To triangulate, further interviews were conducted with 12 TEFL teachers. The findings of the qualitative analysis—the thematic analysis through Nvivo (Version 12) on the open-ended question and the interviews, revealed that teachers’ struggles in CPD were mainly concerned with the school-related, CPD-related, and teacher-related problems. Moreover, a big gap between teachers’ needs and contextual support was found to be bridged. Based on the findings, this study proposed that social conditions should support teachers’ basic psychological needs in order to sustain and enhance TEFL teachers’ motivation for CPD.

Highlights

Teachers’ continuing professional development (CPD) is a continuous and lifelong process whereby teachers could manage their own personal growth and professional learning
The current study examined this issue through mixed research methods under the framework of selfdetermination theory (SDT) theory
The quantitative analysis found that five motivational orientations, namely, inner-directed academic improvement and cognitive interest, academic self-fulfillment and obligation, academic and social responsibility, social recognition and promotion, lacking the intention for CPD, emerged as the TEFL teachers’ main tendencies engaging in CPD

Summary

Introduction

Teachers’ continuing professional development (CPD) is a continuous and lifelong process whereby teachers could manage their own personal growth and professional learning. The types of CPD, such as courses, workshops, education conferences or seminars, qualification programs, etc., vary widely in their content and format, most of which share the common purpose of maintaining and improving education quality. As a contributing factor to the improvement of student learning and teaching practice (Guskey, 2003; Caena, 2011; OECD, 2014; Kennedy, 2016; Anąic, 2020), CPD has been attached great importance in nourishing teacher quality in the national and international context. Relevant policies have been enacted in order to trigger teachers’ motivation for participating in various CPD programs. Motivation is the reason “why people decide to do what they do, how long they are willing to sustain the activity and how hard they are going to pursue it” (Dörnyei, 2001a, p. 7)

Methods

Results

Conclusion